Tonight, for those of you who can speak Chinese or French, there is a play at the Shanghai Arts Center that we strongly recommend you to watch. It takes place at the Shanghai Drama Arts Center until July 22. What is it about? Le diner de cons in French (The Dinner Game in English or 超级笨蛋 in Chinese) was a popular play in France that was turned into a movie in 1998 and was released......

Our round-up of some of last week's highlights from China's English-language blogosphere: Ben Ross, an ethnographer who has decided to work for one month as a trainee in a Fuzhou hair salon, continues his near daily account of his ongoing experiment. Here, he is surprised to find corruption seeping down into businesses as basic as hair salons. In this post, he breaks down the money flow and salary system of his coworkers, and estimates that......

From the Associated Press: Shanghai television host Mao Wei (毛威) has been detained on drunk driving charges after driving for several kilometers on the wrong side of a main downtown freeway, newspapers said on Wednesday. A blood test showed Mao had a blood alcohol level four times over the legal limit, the Shanghai Daily said. Mao was stopped by police at about 2:30 a.m. on Monday on the Inner Ring Road, an elevated highway that......

Another week, another edition of Shanghaiist Reads. SH and Shanghai Talk are on the clock … SH With Shanghai fashion week in full bloom, it’s hardly surprising that the bulk of SH’s coverage is devoted to hot young designers, hot fads, and hot, hot hotness. “Design Time” is a no-frills sampling of the city’s rising fashionistas, though it’s probably safe to say that an all-gray background is hardly the most fashionable layout to accompany all......

We are beginning to tire of starting off posts with what seems to be an ongoing Chinese soap opera (sans “Da Shan” scandal) with Tanghui -- but it seems to be something every weekend. Just in case you left before the end of the Second Hand Rose show, word on the streets says you missed "the man” coming in and taking away the drum set (or part of it, at least) from the controversial rockers......

Yeah, we know -- unfair fight. Pop music versus (diluted agitprop) theater. But that's what this article is about: "Most of my friends and colleagues like Western pop music as we appreciate their sense of taste," said Samuel Zhu, a recent graduate of Shanghai's elite Fudan University. "Traditional Chinese music is very outdated and I find most of the lyrics rather immature and stupid." Just 20 minutes away by car from the Westlife venue is......

Shanghaiist has always been intrigued by the bits of Western history and culture that seep into the Chinese mainstream — the terrifying, ungodly mix of Buicks, Kenny G, and Da Shan gives us a headache, but is fascinating to behold. Though not quite as fascinating as washing your hair with birth control pills. The latest addition to the cultural canon is an encouraging step up: The American civil rights pioneer Martin Luther King. His life......

Shanghaiist once visited Madame Tussauds in London after a big night of Theakston’s Old Peculier and, while sitting ashen-faced and stupefied in a chair, was mistaken for one of the exhibits by two elderly ladies. We’re not sure who they thought they were looking at, but it sure as hell wasn’t Brad Pitt. We’re unsure, too, whether Brad Pitt will feature in the new Shanghai version of Madame Tussauds -- coming to the city next......

Looks like Ice-T and the Princes of the Night got in just under the wire. Xinhua reports: According to the newly revised Regulations Governing Commercial Art Performances, no company or individual is allowed to stage performances which run counter to the basic principles of China's Constitution, jeopardize national unity and security, sovereignty and territorial integrity or infringe upon national interests. The regulations state that no performances are allowed to stir up hatred or discrimination among......