Say what you will about celebs talking politics, but perhaps, this is Jackie Chan at his best - wearing his Greennovate Green T-shirt and looking sweet as a little kitten. And come on, who didn't enjoy the bathtub scene in Shanghai Noon with Owen Wilson and Jackie Chan drinking baiju and wearing nothing but bubbles? That almost makes it okay that he thinks Chinese people need to be controlled... right? more ›

The tenth Shanghai International Film Festival starts on June 16, and as the time draws near, people have been wondering what actors and celebs will grace the red carpet on opening night. One report we've read says that Oliver Stone, Maggie Cheung, John Woo, and Stephen Chow will be among the stars that show up. A slightly more snarky report states that Sharon Stone will show up, which is great for we connoisseurs of older women, but which the report says presents something of an image problem for SIFF because, artistically speaking, Sharon Stone is somewhat past her prime. more ›

star Adrian Grenier, who misses NYC public transportation when he's working in LA. They also reported on NYU students protesting a band whose name is also known as a slur, the new graffiti king in town, Bill Cosby's adorable dog, and the disturbing tale of a yoga instructor who was found guilty of killing his girlfriend, a dancer from Ohio who stripped to make ends meet. more ›

The shallow folks at Shanghaiist just can't get enough of celebs. This time we turn our attention to Shaquille O'Neal, who, in August 2006, signed a five year deal with Chinese athletic shoemaker Li-Ning. Part of the deal was to develop a line of Shaq shoes. We're not avid TV watchers, but this commercial is the first one that we've seen with Shaq so far. That leaves just one question: is Shaq a disciple of Chen style or Yang style taichi？ more ›

This has nothing to do with Shanghai, or China for that matter. But we can't get enough of these Japanese television commercials for Suntory Boss coffee drink featuring Oscar-winner and Harvard-grad Tommy Lee Jones. Jones has been appearing in Boss ads for a year now, we think, but we first learned of the campaign recently after a friend returned to Shanghai from Japan confused about the billboards he saw all over the place featuring huge, and not particularly flattering, head shots of the craggy-faced Mr. Jones. more ›

SFist commeters pose for before and aftershocks when the mayor commemorates a 1906 earthquake...at 4:30 in the morning. A hot tip on the Chronicle vending machines comes in and the SFist war correspondent risks life and limb to post this dispatch from the frontlines. more ›

Chen Yifei's film Barber (aka The Music Box or 理发师) was completed posthumously and shown for the first time in Shanghai on April 9. The renowned oil painter cum businessman and film director died on April 10 of last year. The film's producers had originally intended that the film be theatrically released on the first anniversary of Chen's death, but it seems that they couldn't finish up in time, so they did the April 9 commemorative showing, which you can read about here (in Chinese) and are planning for theatrical release later this month. Hong Kong mega-actress Rosamund Kwan (关之琳), a friend of Chen's, was one among the various celebs and personalities who showed up to watch the film and pay their respects. The film, which is a love story set at the end of World War II and the beginning of Chinese Civil war period, was finished by Chen's good friend, the Hong Kong film director Ng See-Yuen. The reports say that the film should be released around April 28. Here is more information on Chen Yifei's previous films. You can also try the Chinese Wikipedia's entry on Chen Yifei for more information. more ›

Shanghaiist is neither fashionable nor interested in fashion, but we know a good party when we hear of one. Which is why we held on to the three invitations that landed on our desk for the opening of the Giorgio Armani Retrospective at the Shanghai Art Museum, a Giorgio Armani fashion show in the Shanghai Grand Theatre, and a Vogue China after-party at Three on the Bund, all on Saturday night. more ›

Yao Ming is tall. He is also good at basketball. We already told you that. He is also China's top celebrity, three years running, according to Forbes. The list takes into account all that is important in life: income, television appearances, newspaper mentions, magazine covers, internet searches, and the like. (Hmmmm. We do a lot of internet searches and we weren't ranked. Likely because we weren't born in Mainland China. Same reason why Jay Chou isn't on the list.) more ›

We all have our list of favourite China blogs (just check the left hand panel for some), for example the clever and always-entertaining Wanbro. When feeling the need to brush up our Spanish skills, we love to check out Chinochano. The language is rarely complex (thankfully -- we really need to brush up our Spanish language skills), but even if you are not a cunning linguist then you will enjoy his latest excellent article, in which he has admirably taken the time to compare and contrast Chinese Super-Beauties. Gong Li, Zhang Zi Yi, Maggie Cheung, Cecilia Cheung, Cheng Hong, Lucy Liu, Bai Ling, Michelle Yeoh, Valeria Chow, Shu Qi, Zhou Xun, Zhao Wei, Li Bingbing, Rene Liu, Wang Fei, Anita Mui, and (gasp) Ruan Lingyu are all pictorally honoured. Now that's blogging. more ›

After Wired ran a story documenting the GoogleCenter of the United States a bunch of ists jumped on the opportunity to figure out their own middle. Gothamist, Chicagoist, Bostonist and Seattlest all zoomed in on their creamy GoogleCenters. A crack cartography team is hard at work determining the GoogleCenter of the Ist-a-verse as you read this... more ›

UPDATE: Chinese government: Sister Hibiscus "must be disappeared"! more ›