All the things you'd want to do this Monday through Thursday. On the schedule this week: The general manager of Koryo Tours Simon Cockerell talks about North Korea, there's some Tuesday night music happened at Yuyintang and Mao Livehouse, take a stroll on the Bund for Wednesday, or check out an art gallery for Thursday! Read on for all the details, or head on over to our calendar for more! more ›

Shanghai urban planning authorities have lowered the heights of two side buildings on the planned Bund International Financial Service Center (from 95 down to 80 meters). The developers agreed to reconsider the proposed height after a public outcry against the project, but they still plan to build the two main 180-meter towers of the complex. "The bureau said they will be farther away from the historic Bund scenic area and therefore received approval." The towers will more than double the current highest building on the Bund, the Peace Hotel at 77m. We're not entirely sure what these urban planners are smoking if they think that lowering 80m buildings while leaving be the 180m towers will appease anybody.
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• HELL HAS OFFICIALLY FROZEN OVER: Shanghai urban planning authorities are actually reconsidering their real estate plans for adding high-rise complexes to the Bund after "a large majority of local citizens disapproved the design... In a public survey launched by the authority, nearly 70 percent of respondents said they consider the proposed 136-meter-high SOHO twin towers too high and out of harmony with the rest of the Bund's architecture."
• Speaking of construction, did you know that at least 60,000 residential building units in the city are illegally constructed or expanded?

So long an icon of Shanghai’s rich colonial history, the Bund is set to receive a modern overhaul. more ›

Photos by Jeremy Breningstall. more ›

Sometimes a particular gallery in our Flickr pool catches our attention - like this intriguing and adorable photo set from user cmar55. When asked what the toy was, and what he was doing, cmar responded: 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 ›

More photos on 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 (and here). more ›

Standing by the river, I watched the wind whip the clouds playfully as they gathered and rolled. The sun gained strength as it grew higher, its bold rays streaking across the skyline. more ›

Crossposted on Shanghai Street Stories more ›

Awesome fireworks, marred only by the awful commentators. Don't miss the Oriental Pearl Tower transformed into a fiery phallus towards the end. We thought for a moment it was going to blow up: more ›

More photos on 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 (and here). more ›

What better way to commemorate the end to two years of nonstop construction on our beloved Bund than by taking a trip back in time to see how it looked nearly a century before the new traffic tunnel was necessary? The stunning photographs you see before you are culled from Virtual Shanghai: Shanghai Urban Space in Time, a collection of more than 3,000 images edited by Christian Henriot from the Institut Universitaire de France. more ›

• Oooh, according to this photo, the Bund face-lift is finally nearing completion. Thank goodness - we're sick of all the construction dust around what once was the prettiest riverside scenic spot ever. [Shanghai Daily]
• Six months after the previous fashion week, Shanghai's now hosting another for Spring and Summer collections. It'll go on from October 29th to November 7th October 21st to October 27th. [SIFC]
• Shanghai Media Group, the conglomerate responsible for all those taxi and subway television ads, will be split into two parts - Shanghai Radio & TV (news, tech, public broadcast) and Shanghai Oriental Media Group (ads, production, distribution and market investment). You know, for all of you who care about this kind of stuff. [China Knowledge]

• The final Expo participants' meeting was held today in Shanghai, with 800 representatives from the 241 countries confirmed to attend. The results of the meeting: construction, exhibition, management, and planning are progressing nicely. We hope so, with 800 million tickets sold. [People's Daily]
• If wandering around Shanghai as an ex-pat isn't scary enough for you, check out Shanghai's first haunted house! It's set up in a 1902 warehouse and sounds likes it's been pretty well thought out, creepy, and generally kick-ass. [SmartShanghai]
• Shanghai Premier League (SPL) is kicking off a new season, and the deadline for player fees is November 15. So start getting in shape, sign up for a team, cheer on the sidelines, or just come out and support your city's athletes. [Urbanatomy]

As an update to yesterday's Bund fire, we present Xinmin's news report: The fire began at 4pm, across the street from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's Shanghai Bund branch. The flames sprung from the Bund renovation platform, starting after errant welding caused something to go ablaze. But firefighters managed to wrestle it under control without causing any casualties. Interestingly enough, the Bund wasn't the only thing to catch fire yesterday. In the same morning, six floors of Ocean Hotel in Hongkou began billowing smoke. The cause was also "welding." more ›

More photos on 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 (and here). more ›

Earnshaw Books will host an evening of conversation, books and live jazz featuring Graham Earnshaw to celebrate the release of Tales of Old Peking, authored by Shanghaiist contributor Derek Sandhaus! more ›

The Boston Globe has compiled a bunch of much prettier pictures of Earth Hour around the world, including a picture of the banks of the Huangpu River as seen from the Bund. The fun thing about this gallery is that when you click on the pictures, they fades into what the area looked like during the Earth Hour. We realized we have to apologize to the Aurora building - it did in fact turn its lights out. Perhaps the picture by the Earth Hour building was just taken a tad too early. Sorry, Aurora building! more ›

Dan Chung of The Guardian, who brought us that beautiful reel of the Longchang Apartments, has a new video documenting visitors on the banks of the Huangpu River. more ›

2008 Anno Domini / Year of the Rat will be remembered as a difficult one for China in general. Its effects were felt by all, including those involved in Shanghai's numerous musical scenes. It was a year in which artists, promoters and fans had to deal with even more obstacles and barriers than usual in their quest to generate culture and make the whole metropolis live up to its reputation as one of Asia's most dynamic and happening cities. more ›

It no longer matters whether you believe global warming is caused by man, or "just God hugging us closer." Because Chicken Little was right, Shanghai is sinking. more ›

The man who burnt himself to death on the Bund yesterday has been identified. According to Xinhua his name was He Rulong, a retired factory worker. The article gives no direct reason for his action, but mentions the facts that He was divorced, an alcoholic and that he suffered from severe back pains. It also notices that He worked in Xinjiang during the 1960s. more ›

From Xinhua News Agency:

"上海市警方确认，9月11日11时许，上海市外滩陈毅广场发生一起自焚事件，自焚者当场死亡。目前，死者身份及自焚原因正在查证之中。The Shanghai police has confirmed a self-immolation incident that happened at Chen Yi Plaza on the Bund at 11am on Sept 11. The self-immolator died on the spot. The identity of the deceased and the reason behind the action is being currently investigated."

...censors are blocking all comment on the motives of the man on every website. Was he an activist of the Falun Gong banned movement? Was he a Tibetan Buddhist? How about a disgruntled property rights activist? Whatever the cause, there is a story there, and the government may not want the motive to come out. But at least it’s a step in the right direction to allow Xinhua to report the news.

What we won't: Attitudinal door bitches and wait staff, preposterously priced weak drinks, and oh, the text messages they've been sending us twice a week for the last two years that we've had no way to opt out of. more ›

More photos on 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 (and here). more ›

Important elements for any anti-terrorism drill — great staging, great scenery and a great location where lots of people can see you. Yesterday's "terrorist" act was effectively countered by the highly efficient security forces in under an hour. more ›

Brit/Aussie pop star Amy Pearson (don't know her? neither do we.) has a video that recently came to our attention not for its cliched lyrics and overwrought vocals, but because it was shot in our city. Feel free to mute, sing along in front of the mirror or just fast forward to 3:12, when the major Bund shots start. more ›

Hopefully you'll catch this post in time to get down to Glamour tonight for Norwegian jazz band The Core. They played last night there already, and will do again tonight for their last show here in Shanghai. We'll be there tonight, as we had our own shows to play last night. more ›

American urban design and architecture firm Chan Krieger Sieniewicz was chosen by the town to revamp its former international concession port area. The Huangpu River and the heart of the city will be “reconciled.” more ›