Though most of the roster is filled up, there are still a couple spaces open for sumo wrestlers in our Sumo on the Suzhou competition. Namely, we need: THREE women competitors and ONE male competitor. Do sign up, it's promising to be awesome! Instructions below: more ›

The awesome folks at Fly Films helped us create this super sumo-sized commercial for our upcoming charity event Sumo on the Suzhou (Friday, June 10)!!! For more information: more ›

Sumo on the Suzhou is still a few weeks away, but it's never too early to get ready! On June 10th the Shanghaiist and BEAN Shanghai will host a fundraiser for Concordia Welfare and Education Foundation. There's still room to become a competitor, so please sign up to be one of the sumo wrestlers! more ›

26 teams ran around Shanghai yesterday for four hours high-fiving grandmothers, performing for large groups of people and climbing into police cars, documenting it as they went. Altogether, they took some 2,045 photos. Here are some of the best pictures of the day. more ›

If our Flickr pool is anything to go by, a whole lot of Shanghaiist readers are also enthusiastic photographers. So why not turn that hobby into a way to give to charity two weeks from now? BEAN Shanghai has organized a Shanghai Photo Scavenger hunt... a great one, with all the proceeds benefiting a worthy cause. more ›

French priest Jean Gabriel has spent the last six years helping to raise the living standards of lepers in one of China's famous leper villages. This Sunday, BEAN Shanghai and French volunteer organization A Pleines Mains will be hosting a talk with him at Jiashan Market's Melange Oasis, facilitated by yours truly. more ›

Congratulations to BEAN Shanghai's successful sock hop! DJ B.O. (Brian Offenther) had Lune packed to the gills and quite a bunch of you cool cats even dressed for the occasion, making the dance floor look like a Grease Original Broadway cast reunion. BEAN was able to raise 6000RMB, which will go to three different charities for the elderly. more ›

To celebrate all the awesome people that helped make dozens of charity endeavors a success this year, over the weekend, volunteering group BEAN Shanghai held a sleepover party in one of the coolest venues in town: the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium. Over 50 BEAN volunteers packed sleeping bags, snacks and bottles of booze for an after-hours night with the fishes. As you can see, mayhem (the fun, respectful kind) ensued. more ›

On Thanksgiving night, nearly 300 people packed the quarters at Lune to listen to music, win some grand prizes and give to charity! And how much did you guys raise? A stunning 17,406 RMB, which will help pay all schooling costs for the next school year at Mengshan Middle School in Shanghai's Jinshan district (through the Concordia Welfare & Education Foundation. Thanks again to BEAN Shanghai, and a special mention to Claire Barco, for their help in organizing this great event. more ›

Yesterday we announced the bands that would be playing at our Rocksgiving charity concert. Today, the prizes. That's right, not only are you not paying ridiculous amounts of money to get an imported turkey on your table, you're actually also upping your chances to win some fine loot. So what fine loot can you win? The full list after the jump: more ›

Sure, you could spend the night gorging on turkey and smearing cranberry sauce all over your face, and we wouldn't judge you for it - but in case you were into a more low cal, active and philanthropic mood, here's something to consider: We and the awesome folks over at BEAN Shanghai have decided to make this year's American Thankgiving actually about giving. more ›

Thanks to the 300 or so people who stopped by Kaiba on Kanding Lu Saturday night to help raise funds for the victims of the apartment building fire in Jing'an District. Almost as soon as news of the fire spread, the volunteers at BEAN Shanghai were scrambling to work with the Shanghai Red Cross, Kaiba and the Jing'an government office to find a way to help in the tragedy. In the end, everyone managed to raise 20,543 RMB for the Shanghai Red Cross' "November 15 tragedy" fund, which will help with medical and other costs for the victims. more ›

Once again it’s Friday and the end of the working week is nigh! If you embraced last weekend and followed our Weekendist guide, you would have been run ragged - get ready to do it again, because boy is Shanghai delivering! This weekend is serving up a rather eclectic mix of entertainment; drag queens, food fests and birthday parties - just to give you a rough idea. As always, use this ‘Hot List’ to supplement our Midweek Music Preview and to complement our calendar; here are the hottest picks for the coming weekend… more ›

Every Friday, we tell you what sounds exciting to us over the next three days! This weekend, look forward to dance opportunities - both watching and learning, and charitable events galore! Not to mention, rugby fans get to cheer for their favorite leagues LIVE at the Shanghai Sevens and the father of minimal music, Robert Hood, is in town (for all you DJ lovers). more ›

Every Friday, we try to make things easier for you by bringing you a roundup of events going on this weekend. If you're in the mood for a little night music this weekend, have a look at our Midweek Music Preview. more ›

Every Friday, we try to make things easier for you by bringing you a roundup of events going on this weekend. If you're in the mood for a little night music this weekend, have a look at our Midweek Music Preview. more ›

At Fenfa Migrant School with volunteer organization BEAN Shanghai. Head to their website for more information about how you can volunteer around the city as well. more ›

Check out our picks for fun things to fill your weekdays with in Shanghai: networking nights, celebrating French National Day, Thursday pub crawls and more! more ›

Playboy is turning 50 this week! Who hoo! Time to break out the champagne at M1NT! If bunnies are not your scene, check out Books and Brushes which will benefit underprivileged Chinese kids or the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Celebrating bunnies or kids? Decisions, decisions, decisions. more ›

Gay, straight, jock or art critic, there is something for everyone this week! Mix it up with psychedelic Japanese art, ultimate Frisbee and chill out sessions with the girls.  more ›

It seems that several of you readers have actually been around Dongjiadu/come across the Dongjiadu family that we pointed out this morning. In fact, one of you had even gone and photographed their protest. According to freelance journalist Remko Tanis, these nail house residents are the Wang family and they'd rather die than move out (with the compensation the city's planned for them): more ›

Lots to do this week! In case you missed it, we've already outlined several opportunities to get involved with Earth Hour celebrations as well as enjoy the last couple days of the JUE Festival. Now, for the other stuff: more ›

Every Monday, we bring you the best of what's to come in the next couple of weeks. And aren't you lucky - there's quite a bit to add to your calendars. Besides plenty of birthday and anniversary celebrations, there's also theater, concerts and ways to give back to the community. more ›

Every last Saturday in March, Earth Hour happens. The event asks everyone in the world to turn off everything they possibly can for just one hour. And the last Saturday of March (March 27th) is in exactly two weeks! How are you going to celebrate/commemorate? more ›

Congratulations BEAN and all of you in Shanghai. Saturday night's reggaeton drink-a-thon saw roughly 600 people come through Cotton's on Xinhua's doors, and pull 63,000RMB out of their pockets to donate to Haiti. Thank you Shanghai community, for opening your hearts and your wallets to this cause! In case you haven't had enough of exercising your charitable spirit, there are still more ways to help out coming up! more ›

In our ongoing Threesday feature, Shanghaiist takes the time to count out three of....well, whatever catches our fancy that week. Here we present three different ways to help with the relief efforts in Haiti without having to leave Shanghai. more ›

UPDATED WITH MORE PRIZES! Yes, yes, we know - you guys are all awesome enough to give charity for charity's sake. But the many businesses around Shanghai are also remarkably giving souls as well, and to help facilitate your help for Haiti, they've sent BEAN Shanghai a bunch of amazing raffle prizes for this weekend's Drink up for Haiti fundraiser. more ›

We know a lot of you have been racking your brains, trying to figure out how else you can help the ongoing relief efforts in Port au Prince. While we've outlined some of the ways you can donate in this article, city-wide volunteer organization BEAN is now organizing a way to donate while having fun with friends: A reggaeton party on Saturday with all proceeds going to the Red Cross Haiti fund. more ›

Put down your eggnog! If you aren't already tired of Christmas parties, there's plenty more reasons to get out of the apartment this week. The Shanghai Chamber Music Festival is coming to a close, Shanghai Photographer Night is going for round dos, Exit Bar is saying farewell, and Cantina is throwing a birthday party with a lot of free alcohol. more ›

It's that time of year again: soon the Shanghai exodus will begin and everyone will head to far-off lands, whether for family or just for warmth. Hang out with your buddies before they leave at some of the events going on this week, from book talks to tweetups to a Christmas gala for the city's four-legged friends. more ›