Results tagged “bund”

• 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 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).

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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).

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.

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.

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.

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.”

Share with us how you see Shanghai, or China! Post your photos on Flickr, tag them with "shanghaiist", and we'll select one favorite image per day. Or you can simply email your photos to photos at shanghaiist.com.

After figuring out where we like to eat we thought it would be fun to ask Shanghaiist contributors about their favourite places to drink.

The former Garden Bridge was closed to all traffic on February 29th and workers have been hard at work preparing the bridge for tomorrow's trip. At approximately 9:30 in the morning when the tide is at its lowest point, a barge will be positioned under the bridge. Four hours later, the boat will have risen enough to lift the bridge off its foundations and shuttle the structure across the Huangpu to Pudong's Minsheng Dock. Once there, it will undergo 9 months of repairs and maintenance work before being returned to its original position at the mouth of the Suzhou Creek.

So our search for alcohol-fueled Friday lunches led us to New Heights the other week. Antipasti lunch buffet with soup and a complimentary glass of wine sound exactly like what we need.

By Jake Newby

Lin Dongfu and Song Lan have spent an extra-long time (and extra-huge amount of money) making the new space just right, using the same wood paneling decoration concept as the last place—in fact much of the paneling came directly from the old building. They have 2 levels again, but this time the second level has a whole section where you can look down onto the band. They had to rebuild the frame holding up the second level, as the original framework was rickety and unreliable. They have replaced all the windows and installed a central gas heating system so as not to have to use air conditioners blowing air to heat the place in winter. The stage is just big enough for a normal-sized band, certainly larger than the last one but in a bit of a strange shape we think. It's an even square, but because it's facing both into the bar area in one direction as well as the main music listening seating area, no one side can be considered the front. Instead, the front seems to be the corner that faces both the seating area and the bar area. We'll just see how the shape works out once people start playing on it.

The curved road ramp on the Yan'an Highway by the Bund is getting torn down in an operation that will take 120 days. It is a part of a larger makeover programme that will also see the Waibaidu Bridge dismantled, repaired and reassembled beam by beam. Such a pity! We used to LOVE the view whenever we go down there in a taxi. Now we may never get that view again. Coming in its place, according to the Shanghai Daily:

Eventually, the elevated ramp will be replaced by a lower ramp linking the elevated road to the tunnel.

Continue reading "More on the Bund makeover"

This Friday night will see the return of jazz quintet Five Below to the Bund. However it is not to the old digs where the band's name originally came from, but this time to Jean Georges, the bar and restaurant on the 4th floor of Three on the Bund. Their newly renovated bar will be hosting the event, with entry passwords costing 200 RMB. Of course, each person has to buy their own password....