This a rough translation of Fan Gui's response to Sun Liping's essay (which we wrote about here): 1. Regarding Sun's first point, I believe that he has ignored a very crucial fact—the growing gap between rich and poor. 20% of the population controls 80% of the wealth, how can you say that such a status quo has "flexibility"? While Professor Sun divides the population into urban and rural, does he mean that the urban poor... more ›

Back in April we did a post on the top ten books favored by the users of Douban.com, a book review and recommendation site. Since that time, tastes have changed and new books have been released so it's about time to take a new look at the site's top ten: more ›

Shanghaiist was delighted to learn that there is finally an environmentally-friendly way to get rid of the contents of her "electronic junk and bad DVD drawer of death." more ›

Property agents in Shanghai have come up with a novel way of giving house buyers important information about the home they intend to buy. Ask them about neighbourhood construction plans for malls, motorways and high rise appartments and they may take you to the third floor of the Urban Planning Museum in People's Square. There lies the model of the grand plan of the city centre for Expo 2010. more ›

On a recent stroll near the Bund, Shanghaiist chanced upon a curious joint that was billing itself as a restaurant, design house, hair studio, live music joint, and art gallery. Ma.Design, it was called. We were intrigued. more ›

Photo by 2 dogs taken from the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site. more ›

Sending money out of China more ›

The post's conclusion: Shanghai's subway system is cleaner than New York's. more ›

Photo by Shanghai Sky taken from the Shanghaiist photos page. To see your photos on our photos page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site. more ›

video clip entitled "巴士阿叔, Bus Uncle" on YouTube. more ›

LAist has so much fun this week! They go to E3, where they overhear the timeless remark "Man, this is where nerdy girls get laid." Is that a promise? They also give us this week's best CDs and make us realize that LA is the best place to use Zillow. more ›

Shanghaiist, admittedly, doesn't venture into online forums too often. But we do realize they can be a valuable resource ... if used properly. Shanghaiist readers possess a wealth of knowledge and insights about this wonderful city we call home, and you deserve a platform on which you can impart that wisdom to the rest of the world. So, today we are proud to present to you the Shanghaiist Forum, where your voice can be heard. The Forum offers a different outlet than just commenting on posts -- in the Forum, you dictate the topics and where the conversations lead. It should be a nice complement to the rest of site. more ›

Have we mentioned China Unicom is about to launch a pushmail service dubbed the “RedBerry”? Oh yeah, we have, here, here and here. This Shanghaiist went so far as calling it a worthy challenger to the BlackBerry. But, now we aren’t so sure. Sage Brennan from Pacific Epoch uncovered this interesting, albeit somewhat disturbing tidbit: more ›

Berry vs. Berry: Pushmail in China more ›

Back in September we told you about the new eco-city of Dongtan out on Chongming Island. It seems that it's made the news again though it seems that this new Reuters report doesn't tell much of anything new. A couple of trivial new facts: all the cars will be electric, and the precarious wetlands, which are what the environmentalists are mostly concerned with, will be protected and separated from the eco-city by a 5 km buffer zone. The reporter (we saw no byline) then does what every reporter does when they want to seem like they've canvassed local opinion -- talk to a cabbie. See for yourself: more ›

Shanghaiist isn't quite sure how this will affect us, but we are pretty sure that our American readers should go throw eggs at the corporate offices of Narus and Verso ... now. more ›

Gadget blog Engadget brings us the latest news on Skype in China: more ›

This Xinmin Evening News story (in Chinese) tells of Mr. Zhang, a labourer from outside of Shanghai, who arrived in our blurry city to find work. He correctly thought it was pretty cool to be a security guard, even if there is an element of risk involved. The recruitment methods of one company caught his eye, which effectively rents out guard dogs to other security companies and guards. If you are an employee of this company, you can earn an extra 200 RMB by simply recommending other people to fill positions as security guards. (Our pal Mr. Zhang earned 600 RMB this way.) more ›

If you choose to undergo the necessary procedures for hiring a car, or even easier, borrowing a friends, then where to go? more ›

Driving in Shanghai more ›

Dog Year treats more ›

That'll buy you a lotta Prada. The Shanghai Daily reports that Sun Hung Kai Properties, one of Hong Kong's largest property companies, is in in "final talks" to purchase the Xiangyang Market land from current owner Maxdo Group for RMB 3.6 billion. Sun Hung Kai is expected to invest a total of RMB 6 or 7 billion to turn the prime real estate into "office, retail and hotel space." The group already owns four other properties in Shanghai. more ›

In a crushing blow to faux fashion and a strong move to support intellectual property rights protection, the Shanghai Municipal Government has announced that Xiangyang Market will be closed by the end of 2006. more ›

There are several things Shanghaiist hates about winter in this city. First, the rain (which had mercifully stayed away until yesterday's drizzle). Second, the number of people gloating of their imminent escape to a tropical beach resort in Southeast Asia. Third, getting dragged to hotpot restaurants because it’s the "done thing" when it gets cold. Come on, does anybody really like that stuff? Okay, so that special hotpot sauce is good. Damn good. But other than that we’re happy to avoid hotpot wherever possible. Note: this may be due to an eventful visit to such a restaurant in Changchun a few years ago when a corroded gas tube threatened to put an incendiary end to our meal (and our lives). more ›

Watch! Bag! Shoes! Looka Looka! more ›

Hungry for turkey? more ›

In the latest news that may affect Shanghaiist's calls across the Pacific, Skype claims that it is in discussions with "Chinese operators" and is "optimistic" that SkypeOut will launch in China soon (we're not really sure what launching would entail, since we can already use SkypeOut here). Skype's chief also suggested that a supposed Skype-blocking-system released by a company in Atlanta is nothing but "vapourware." Ouch! The Financial Times has the story: more ›

Teachers' salaries, the burbs and long underwear more ›

Call abroad ... cheaply more ›

Or should we say Happy Night of Sevens! (七夕 or qi xi) or Happy Festival to Plead for Skills! (乞巧節 or qi qiao jie) or Happy Seventh Sister's Birthday! (七姐誕 or qi jie dan) or Happy Night of Skills! (巧夕 or qiao xi)? This is the day Shanghaiist has had circled on our lunar calendar for some time now, the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. Today we will display our skill at carving melons, we will decorate the horns of our neighborhood oxen with flowers and we will go to the "temple of matchmaker" and pray that we get hooked up. Good times, good times. China Daily fills us in on the holiday's history: more ›