This is why you've been hearing sirens this afternoon. A terrible fire has broken out in an apartment block called the Jiaozhou Building (胶州大厦) at 707 728 Jiaozhou Lu Building 1, near the corner of Yuyao Lu in Jing'an. The huge fire is reportedly 10 stories high and the blaze started with the scaffolding. Ambulances have already been called to the scene but photos show there are trapped workers in the building. We'll be following this story closely as more details unfold. Please send tips to tips@shanghaiist.com. more ›

According to this Sina post (with a picture), Police cars and fire vehicles rush:ed to the Bund at around 6:50am, after onlookers found a man hanging from one of the trees. News about him seemed to have first appeared on various Weibo (Chinese twitter) feeds before showing up as a post on local forum KDS (now removed, it seems). According to Xinmin, he was middle-aged and was already dead by the time police found him. He has not been identified and police are still investigating how he got up there. (h/t to @Chinasmack) more ›

• A kitten dressed in lambs clothing? Hmm, we’re sure that’s not how the saying goes. Oh well, that’s the least of our worries; latest rumours to reach us are that street vendors are selling “lamb shiskabobs”….without the lamb; opting instead for kitty cat.
• Well that’s the mid-autumn festival over for another year. Unfortunately it isn’t the end of the hectic ‘holiday’ timetabling that we’re sure many of you are suffering. This mid-autumn festival, Google joined in with the ‘festivities’ by ‘pimping’ their homepage for the day. They paid homage to the lady on the moon; a lady soon to be joined by Chinese astronauts! Obviously remembering her by eating mooncake’s is far easier…and far more cost efficient. You may just want to disregard any leftover cakes though - no point in expanding China’s waistline anymore.
• We’ve been struck with a dose of i-Fever this week. Not only were we slightly puzzled by the over eagerness of some Macnerds to get their hands on an i-pad, (including one guy who queued for 19 hours….despite already owning one?!) but we also realised that Apple get off on seeing people form ‘en mass’ outside their shops; there second store in Shanghai opened yesterday - the same day as the China iPhone4 launch.

That's right - people actually got SHOT in Shanghai, despite the country's incredibly strict laws on gun control! Two men are said to have received gunshot wounds in the Huili Garden apartment complex off Changshou Road in the Putuo District. more ›

So how effective are China's emergency provisions against contracting swine flu? We're not sure right now! While news reports are coming out saying that, according to the World Health Organization's representative, authorities are investigating several suspected human cases in the country, that doesn't mean there IS swine flu here. It's just that some people that have come in contact with certain swine flu risky situations are now being checked out. In fact, WHO told the public it's not really "probable" that swine flu's hit the country yet... despite what your twitter feeds might say. Hmmm... maybe there was some logic to accusing twitter of being a panic monger after all. (thanks to @RodrigoMX and @doubleleaf for links) more ›

Chen Liangyu (陈良宇), the former Mayor of Shanghai and member of China's Politburo, was sentenced to 18 years in prison after being found guilty on taking bribes and abusing power. During the course of the trial in Tianjin, it was revealed that amount of money stolen of Shanghai's pension fund, $480 million USD was 10 times worse than initially believed, somewhere in the neighborhood of 33.9 billion RMB ($4.8 billion USD). more ›

For most of the day yesterday, we here at Shanghaiist were wondering if we should post anything about the horrific mass shooting at Virginia Tech, a university in the United States. On the surface, the answer should have been an easy "no" — Blacksburg, Virginia, is nowhere near Shanghai. But news started to trickle in about the suspected killer: He was Asian, possibly Chinese. And then, yesterday morning, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed posted a story labeled "exclusive" that started out like this: more ›

Breaking News: No 'valid' UFO sightings in city since 1999 more ›

If you've lived in Shanghai long enough, you're probably already accustomed to the laughs and good times that are experienced daily when using public transportation. Pushing and shoving your way onto a crowded car is commonplace, adding to the charm and excitement of Shanghai. For a seasoned Shanghai resident, pushing on and off buses and subway trains is like being in a mosh pit and crowded quarters during rush hour become fun endurance tests for your olfactory system. For visitors, it's enough to go mad. Shanghaiist once saw a foreign visitor break down in sobs after fighting her way onto a Line 1 train during rush hour at People's Square, weeping into her partner's arms, "I can't do this anymore!" Amateur. So what's a civilized commuter to do? As reported today on Shanghai Daily, a new campaign has been started to promote better manners when using the city's public transport. more ›

Via AsiaPundit we learn some breaking news: It has been confirmed where Xiangyang Market will move once it it officially shut down on June 30. Where? Online of course. Visit xymarket.cn for all your fake goods needs. Here's what Pacific Epoch wrote about the site: more ›