A new infographic from the Shanghai Daily looks at the situation of China's 'leftover' women, a somewhat objectionable term that's gained traction to describe unmarried women in their late twenties and older. The data are the results of a poll that sought the opinions of nearly 2000 single women in Shanghai. more ›

Forlorn empty nesters in the twilight of their days: shall they be content with long days parked in front of televisions, and long evenings that might include a stroll here or there, to sit on street corners and chatter? Or finding a Chinese chess game to watch, while grasping their hands behind their backs? For some elderly locals, the routine process of getting old isn't good enough, and you can find them twice a week at the Shanghai IKEA on Caoxi Road in Xuhui district, looking around for one last chance at love. more ›

In this episode of Sexy Beijing, Sufei hits the streets and asks Beijingers what they think of Shanghai girls. She then interviews Mina Hanbury-Tenison, the author of a Shanghai Girls, Uncensored & Unsentimental, a book she wrote based on conversations with a friend called Lan Lan. more ›

Well gee, we guess this city is prohibitively expensive. Shanghai college students looking for romance can't catch a break - not from snooping Anti-PDA patrols and definitely not from their meager moneybags. According to Enovate, most college students get some allowance from their parents every month, but it's a pittance if you actually want to get romantic... more ›

Singletons rejoice! Crack out the champagne and chocolate because today is the anti-Valentines day - it's singles day in China. As you know, one is the loneliest number and today is 11/11: four singles smack together, representing all the single folk out there. We think this day calls for a celebration, so we're going to treat ourselves to dinner! more ›

On-line dating is already one of the most successful business ventures to spring out of dot com mania, but it looks like one Shanghai based company is going to take the dating service idea one step further. more ›

Bet you never thought this would be a victim of the recession: foreign men with yellow fever. According to a Shanghai Daily article, they've been losing their attraction as potential husbands for unmarried Chinese women since the financial crisis began. more ›

The personal ads at enjoyclassifieds.com are generally good for a guilty chuckle, and none more so than this honest young Shanghainese lady: more ›

Didn't think the Chinese celebrated Valentine's Day? Chengdu apparently does, constructing this love-themed traffic crossing close to the city's Hejiang Pavilion, a popular dating venue for young couples. The local traffic bureau wanted to give the crossing a romantic atmosphere - and what's more romantic than gleefully stepping on hearts and the words "I love you"? Source: Ananova more ›

This new episode of Queer As Folk Beijing, China's first independent gay video podcast, discusses long distance relationships. Has technology, cheap phone calls and the possibility of phone- or cam-sex made it easier for people in long distance relationships? Interesting questions that are relevant to both gay and straight couples. more ›

Available in either a Day or Night versions, this motorised marvel displays images of the Bund drifting by for a maximum of 8 hours. Leave the DVDs alone for a while and enjoy the music of your choice (the clip features "Carbon Dating" by the Super Furry Animals) as you try to understand why on earth the Pinyin is written from right-to-left. more ›

Yesterday evening, China’s central bank hiked deposit reserve requirement another 50 basis points (1 basis point=0.01%) to 12.5 percent, the seventh such maneuver this year, and ten dating back to June 2006. “Deposit reserve” is a balance all retail banking institutions must maintain at the nation’s central bank, often expressed as a percentage of its total deposit. A higher reserve requirement means banks have less funds for lending or other investment projects. This latest move is a part of Beijing’s continuing effort to rein in excess liquidity (and the attending inflation) and slow down what appears to be an overheating economy. The People’s Bank of China has also raised interest rates four times this year for a total of 108 basis points. Currently, a one year savings account will net you somewhere around 3.6 percent. So far, China has favored a gradual approach in tightening its monetary policy, with frequent but modest tinkering along the way. But with inflation still soaring at 4 percent (or more, have you been to Carrefour lately), one has to wonder if the PBoC dropped the ball somewhere. Was there ever a time (or perhaps even now), a more drastic measure would have been more appropriate? There doesn’t appear to be any sense of urgency in fighting inflation coming out of the PBoC and a general lack of concern/appreciation for risk in China, very troubling indeed. more ›

Recently, internet traffic ranking site Alexa reset the counters of a large number of Chinese websites that have been suspected of manipulating their rankings, including Zhanzuo.com, Kooxoo.com, Pomoho.com, UUSee.com and 67.com. Dating website Marry5.com was another hit by Alexa's move. At one time, it ranked 270 on Alexa (even higher than Match.com!). A China Business Post report also cited a source that said almost all Chinese video sharing sites were manipulating their Alexa rankings. Many new Chinese portals hungry for funding have all resorted to cheating through various means. more ›

Photo by Slow Boat to China taken from the Shanghaiist Contribute page.
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After watching this video from a Price Waterhouse Coopers employee event in Beijing last fall, we wondered if we had been misjudging Beijing men all these years. Were they really softies at heart? more ›

According to the Shanghai Youth Daily (via CRI), 10 women have been scammed selected to make a trip out to Silicon Valley to meet the potential loves of their lives. more ›

When the new Tang Hui opened back in May, most people were pretty excited. A legit live music venue in the heart of downtown Puxi (and 20 kuai bottles of Xinjiang Black Beer). Things looked promising for a little while, but then shit happened (and they never once had Xinjiang Black Beer available when we were there). Last May, we never thought we'd be reading an international wire story about a dating website holding a pillow fight party at Tang Hui, but that's what happened yesterday (the story didn't mention Tang Hui as the venue, oddly). Tang Hui's website still says it's the "best live music bar" (and we wish that were true, since it is right down the street from Shanghaiist headquarters), but anyone who likes live music knows there are much better options. We're not even sure if Tang Hui is trying to be a live music venue anymore. While the website proclaims "live music is back," it's in reference to a gig on Nov. 10 (they are also pimping "hard core salsa music") and a look at Upcoming.org shows no gigs on the horizon. Let's face it — it just isn't easy being a live music venue in Shanghai. Is Shuffle Bar still around? more ›

It's good to know the good members of the Shanghai police force are rolling up their sleeves and hitting the mean streets in an effort to protect us from all the ills of modern China ... like shops that sell bubble tea. From the Associated Press: more ›

Sunday. Usually, a quiet, contemplative day in the Blogosphere. But not here in the Ist-a-Verse. Nonono! Just look below and see all of the wild and crazy stuff our staffs are up to. more ›

What's a rich, young, Shanghainese bachelor to do? You've got a bustling business to run, cars to buy, xiaojies to entertain, a face to maintain, a fully-booked KTV schedule, bribes to pay, and a carton of Chung Hwa to smoke. And now, you're sitting alone, smugly self-satisfied in your splendid, newly-decorated Lujiazui high-rise penthouse, and yet somehow, something seems to be missing. Well, if you're like the passengers on Saturday's Huangpu cruise aboard the good ship, "Captain One," that something is romance. more ›

Many of you might have read our post regarding the horrible mass-slaughter of dogs in August. Sadly, it seems we could be experiencing the third wave of the canine cull, based on this Economic Daily report (in Chinese) that says five major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou and Wuhan are going to address "dog problems". more ›

Last year, we told you about some self-obsessed Chinese netizens who became online celebrities. Just this last week, a few new additions to this Chinese pantheon of Internet idols have emerged that threaten to put Muzimei and Furong Jiejie to shame. We will introduce them to you over the next few days. more ›

A summary of what's in Shanghai's magazines more ›

No, Shanghaiist isn't talking about xanadu or China's “rediscovered” Shangri-La. And, we are definitely not referring to the Tongren Lu establishment that just opened (no offense, but Tongren sucks!). Anyone who reads Danwei (or China Daily) knows that "lala" is a synonym for lesbians. So, welcome to the long-awaited post on Shanghai’s lala land. more ›

Photo by 2 dogs 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 ›

Photo by the shanghaieye 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 ›

Once again, our city government has stuck its nose where it doesn’t belong, and in the process dashed hundreds of local women’s dreams of finding true love and an American passport (not necessarily in that order), and likewise chances for 11 middle-aged divorced guys from the state of Washington to score some Azn Honeyz. The ever informative Shanghai Daily tells us: more ›

Every gay man Shanghaiist knows has a taxi driver story. It’s not the typical long-way-around-the-block taxi tale either. The details vary by person, but they all start at the end of a long night at a popular gay bar. more ›

Lonely (or just plain horny) city residents have taken to a new fad -- wearing bracelets which let people know that you are single (or at least still looking): more ›

We have learned in the past that many single people in the city (sometimes with the aid of their parents) are desperately looking for a mate and massive matchmaking events are organized for the singles because of the huge demand. However, there are many problems with matchmaking events, too. Lily Marriage Introduction Company in Changning District finds many singles don’t know "matchmaking date etiquette", like not to ignore your date (it's becoming clear why some of these people are single). more ›