The 3rd Annual Regional China Spelling Bee happens this weekend -- its assembled China's top spellers and the winner of the tournament will be flying for the US for more cutthroat spelling competition. There's also a trip to Chongming Island with the Gourmet Traveler. If that's still not enough, head over to our calendar for more. more ›

We've covered Chongming Island several times, mostly surrounding its new tunnel, and odd property development, but here's breaking news: you should go. Given the right day (when you have time), and the right weather (NOT raining), Chongming is pretty much a win situation. It's a relatively short ride over, has trees as far as the eye can see, and is a chance to reverse some of the lung damage that you may have accrued since arriving. You might even forgive its current lack of hairy crabs (only in the Fall, folks). more ›

Last month, while we were still looking forward to the October 31st opening of the bridge and tunnel linking Pudong and Chongming, we professed excitement at the prospect of easier access to the island's famous rice wine and hairy crabs, but we also worried about the environmental effects of this increased tourism, and whether Chongming has the capacity to handle an influx of visitors. more ›

• Denis McMahon searches for green in Shanghai... and ends up in Chongming Island. [WSJ]
• Guess who's coming to town? San Francisco! Well, at least the Bay Area Council part of San Francisco, which is looking for an office space in Shanghai. [SF Gate]
• The BBC explores the difficulties of selling Stilton cheese in Shanghai, despite its similar "big" smell. Price and lactose intolerance are big factors. [BBC]

As the ultimate tribute to Jacko, Shanghai's getting a little wacko by building a smaller version of the ex-King of Pop's Neverland Ranch on Chongming Island. The real ranch, located in California, contained an amusement park, a zoo, lakes, cinemas and an "Indian village" and housed Jackson from 1998 to 2005, when he moved out after police investigations into allegations of child molestation caused him to feel that Neverland Ranch had been "violated." According to the planners of the project, Shanghai's mini Neverland Ranch will have the same layout, and include a farm with an equestrian park as well as some Michael Jackson memorabilia. It is expected to cost around 100 million RMB. Source: Shanghai Daily more ›

• Those of you who want to buy a cheap DVD of the Olympic opening ceremony had better hurry up as the Shanghai Culture Inspection Team is planning a crackdown on pirated versions of this show. No worries though, the official DVD of the ceremony will still be available RMB 55.
• Just as school is about to start Shanghai has been listed as the most expensive city for university and college students in mainland China. According to the China News Agency's, a university student in Shanghai needs to spend about RMB1000 on food and housing each month. In the cheapest city for students, Chongqing, just RMB500 would suffice each month!
• As anyone living here will have noticed, a storm with heavy thunder and rain — the worst in 100 years — hit Shanghai on Monday the 25th. No casualties have been reported, but over 60 of the city's streets were flooded.

A group of 1,800 angry workers demanding overdue pay at a cotton mill in Xinhe, Chongming Island have held seven top managers of the Korean-owned mill hostage since Friday, including the chief executive officer of the factory. The news was reported in the Korean Chosun Ilbo, and as Fons Tuinstra of China Herald notes, the Chinese media has been silent on the story because "Chinese media cannot write about such unharmonious behavior". Our own search... more ›

The word is out. Shanghai's first nature reserve in Nanhui District's Dongtan area has officially been established. The 40.3 km long beach area will be a haven for birds such as white cranes and little stints. Many migratory birds also nest there each year. more ›

At least 20,000 police surveillance cameras are being installed along streets in southern China and will soon be guided by sophisticated computer software from an American-financed company to recognise automatically the faces of police suspects and detect unusual activity. more ›

Shanghaiist likes to think herself a little more adventurous and brave than the average Chongming Island girl, and we have always had late nights out without worrying about much, but this morning when we saw this thread (in Chinese) on a local forum discussing an apparent murder in the early hours of today, we got scared. more ›

Around a week ago, Shanghai Daily ran a story entitled "Top tourism sites named": more ›

Photo by captainvideo taken from 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. more ›

Lots of juicy news items in yesterday's Morning Post: more ›

Compiled by Peijin Chen and Dan Washburn more ›

Photo by monkeyking taken from the Shanghaiist photos page. To see your photos on our photos 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. more ›

Back in September we told you about the new eco-city of Dongtan out on Chongming Island. It seems that it's made the news again though it seems that this new Reuters report doesn't tell much of anything new. A couple of trivial new facts: all the cars will be electric, and the precarious wetlands, which are what the environmentalists are mostly concerned with, will be protected and separated from the eco-city by a 5 km buffer zone. The reporter (we saw no byline) then does what every reporter does when they want to seem like they've canvassed local opinion -- talk to a cabbie. See for yourself: more ›

Last summer, Shanghaiist snapped this picture of the grassy roofs of the Jin Jiang Hotel on Mao Ming Lu. Hotel workers said the grass had been there "for some time" and that it was "mandated by the district government." more ›

Shanghaiist liked this little article from Business Week which focuses on the innovative architectural landscaping that is going to make certain places look less shitty remake China from the ground up. Yessirree, we've got the National Swimming Center in Beijing, the new Beijing International Airport, the Shanghai World Financial Center (which looks like a huge sewing pin or snazzy bottle opener for giants), Shanghai's planned Donghai bridge that will connect us with the outlying islands, and the Dongtan eco-city on Chongming Island (the first phase to be completed in 2010, the whole thing by 2040 ... which means just in time for Shanghaiist to retire in what we hope will become an eco-Brooklyn on the Yangtze). There's also some less monumental but also interesting concepts, like "The Commune", eleven avant-garde villas by the Great Wall which we think is being run as a hotel, and what to us is the best of the lot -- the "Linked Hybrid", a residential complex which will house 2,500 people in 700 geothermally heated and cooled apartments that will be connected at a certain floor with a ring of cafes. Though we had problems opening up some related web pages, we think it will also include a movie theater, a kindergarten, and parking for all those extra Bentleys. more ›

A planned metro line -- No. 9 -- will stretch from Songjiang District, in western Shanghai, to Chongming Island, traveling through Xujiahui, and Waigaoqiao in Pudong, according to Shanghai Daily. It will travel through an 8.9 km tunnel between Pudong to Changxing Island, and then, perhaps, over a 10.3 km bridge from Changxing to Chongming. All of this is scheduled to be completed by -- you guessed it -- 2010. The tunnel and bridge, both under construction, are already designed to handle automobile trraffic. The plan, which also includes a 6.3 km elevated highway on Changxing Island, has a price tag of $1.56 billion -- and that's without factoring in all the subway stuff. Shanghaiist just suffered through a week of excruciating bus rides out to godforsaken Songjiang District for the recent pro golf tournament, so we're all for connecting it to the city via subway. Currently, the only way to access Chongming Island is on a ferry. The island is supposed to become home to the world's first eco-city -- not sure how all this added traffic will work with that. more ›

Adding to the list of miracles that are to happen in the city before the year 2010 is the installation of solar panels across the city. As part of a three-year plan, over 100,000 square meters of panels will be put on the roofs of office and apartment buildings, universities and nursing homes in Shanghai. more ›

Shanghaiist has just had the dubious pleasure of experiencing Guangzhou rush hour -- and even now, hours later, we still reek of eau de exhaust. So imagine how thrilled we were to hear that Dongtan (东滩) Chongming Island (崇明岛) right off Shanghai at the mouth of the Yangtze River, is going to become the site of the world's first eco-city. Here's an excerpt from the press release. more ›

The latest on Typhoon Matsa based on various news reports: more ›