Disney English is old news, we know, but let's just take a break from the train crash tragedy for a minute and see what Colbert can come up with. "We cannot allow a princess gap!" more ›

Office ladies rejoice! Plans have been announced for a theme park that would bring Hello Kitty and her blank-faced cohorts to China. Purveyors of kawaii kitsch Sanrio Co., Ltd. have reached an agreement to license their characters to Zhejiang Yinrun Leisure Development for a theme park project in Zhejiang's Anji county, an hour and a half's drive northwest from Hangzhou. more ›

• Pudong unveils plans to revitalise two traditional towns, Xinchang and Hengmian, near Disney Shanghai, which is expected to attract 7.3 million visitors per year.
• The Shanghai government may start offering licenses for street food vendors that meet hygiene requirements.
• Seven cheetah cubs were born at the Shanghai Wildlife Park.

Earlier announcements already tagged November as the start to the building of Shanghai Disneyland, but recent reports have the whole deal going down today. According to the city and Shanghai Shen Di (Group) Co., who's joint venturing with Disney over the 25 billion RMB ($3.6 billion) deal, the theme park will be a "strong international tourism resort," with a pleasant, low-carbon environment. Right. Low-carbon. Anyone else having trouble getting excited over the "happiest place on earth" all things considered? more ›

Remember the Chinese version of High School Musical that would actually follow several College freshmen around Shanghai as they sang and danced to their hearts' content. Well, quite unceremoniously, it's out now. more ›

Out with the old, in with the newest ridiculously expensive development project. As Shanghai is finally gearing up to start construction on its Disneyland (the appropriate reaction to this is still, "Why?"), more people are being forcibly evicted to make room for the theme park. Evictions are one of China's most notorious repeat offenses as thousands of people were forced out and displaced for both the Beijing Olympics and the Expo. more ›

This is an advertisement. Disney is looking for experienced individuals to instruct children aged 2-9 at Disney English Language Learning Centers in Shanghai. Trainers will use an innovative and immersive Disney program, leveraging Disney’s beloved characters, stories, songs, animation and other materials, to provide a highly engaging and effective premium learning experience. The English Language Trainer reports to the Language Learning Director (LLD) in the Disney English Language Learning Center. more ›

If you've been waiting with baited breath for the last...few years or so for Disneyland to open in Shanghai, good news: you can get a wintry taste of magic starting next Wednesday. For five days, the Shanghai International Gymnastics Center will be turned into a magical kingdom of icecapades in "A Disneyland Adventure:" all your favorite Disney characters will be ice skating their way through a fantastical story about, well, going to Disneyland. Sounds great for the kids, but since we've already had our share of the Disney experience with ice, we'll probably pass. more ›

As someone once said, “Sex is like snow, you never know how many inches you're going to get or how long it will last”. So while our snow ended kinda prematurely yesterday, we can only look on with envy at the many many inches everyone else is getting (we're looking at you, Harbin!). For a start, check out this mass wedding in Harbin that will totally give the Moonies a run for their money! Catch the lone (relatively underdressed) midget without a bride at 0:24 (everybody say awwwwww!) more ›

As we take a look back at the last year of our reporting, Shanghaiist brings to you a list of the most important news events of 2009. Whether they be political, cultural, or social, these were the things that happened that changed our lives and perceptions of the world around us, for the better or worse. Without further ado, here's the top five news events from around Shanghai more ›

Disneyland has faced so many bumps in the road in its long and arduous quest to build a theme park in Shanghai, the latest of which have involved obtaining land for the theme park. First, farmers wanted compensation for demolishing their multiple houses, then the park shrunk exponentially in size, and now it looks like they'll have to uproot a couple graves in the process. more ›

After all the excitement surrounding Disney's future theme park in Shanghai, it seems that the Disney corporation has come under domestic fire for their seedy manufacturing conditions. A group of students from Nanchang university interviewed more than 100 workers at at five Disney factories in Guangzhou, and compiled their findings in a report titled "Mickey Mouse is no longer cute." Top on the list of complaints were frequent accidents, poor safety standards, and reduced wages for workers. Thinking about underprivileged, limbless workers really does take the cuteness out of those plush Disney toys, right? more ›

Those grand plans we've heard for Shanghai Disneyland to be a whopping four times bigger than Hong Kong's seem to have gone the way of Bambi's mother. According to the National Development and Reform Commission, the park will initially take up 287 acres of land, which would make it the smallest Disneyland in the world, measuring up to just over half of the size of the flagship park in LA. We're a tad disappointed at the sudden shrinkage (did Mickey take a cold shower before the meeting?), but the park may expand as business grows. Then again, who's really surprised that the plan for Shanghai Disneyland has changed once again? more ›

Thanks in part to the immense popularity High School Musical enjoyed whilst it was on the stage in Shanghai, Disney is now working with Shanghai Media Group and Huayi Bro.s on a Chinese-version of the made-for-TV movie - and it's based in our city! But those looking for a direct translation of the show will be pretty disappointed - it's being vastly adjusted to fit Chinese culture and sensibilities: more ›

Mulan, the old Chinese tale that was made into a Disney movie in 1998, is finally finding its way back home to its original country. Under the direction of Jingle Ma and with Zhao Wei in the leading role, the movie about the female warrior goes up on cinemas starting Friday. Who can resist another epic costume drama from China?! more ›

Yeah, it's sad but true: in order to build Disneyland Shanghai, a lot of villagers in Chuangsha will have to be forcibly relocated in order to free up space for the 4.12 square kilometer theme park. Like usual, the government has promised to provide those relocated with monetary compensation, but hasn't revealed exactly how much they'll give out. As a result, farmers have begun to erect new buildings overnight to try to drive up the value of their land. One part entrepreneurial, one part sad: but with the government notoriously bad at providing displaced people with fair settlements, who can blame them? more ›

Woah Mickey, now that Shanghai Disneyland finally seems to have gotten all its papers in order, it seems like everyone can’t stop gabbering on about it (for instance, has anyone else noticed that Shanghai Daily has kind of turned into Shanghai Disneyland Daily today). Except, we suppose, us. Hey, give us a break, we’ve been covering this roller coaster ride of a deal for so long that it being greenlighted has actually left us a little flabbergasted. And so, since we’re at a loss for words, we’ll let other people talk about what they think about the soon-to-be erected (well, at least by 2014) Sleeping Beauty castle in Pudong. more ›

After years of back and forth, it looks like Shanghai Disneyland has been given the go-ahead. According to news sources, the Shanghai Municipal Government Informatin offices announced the deal's approval early this morning. While details still have to be worked out between the mouse and the ministries, it seems like a pretty set deal. more ›

With the recent news about Beijing giving Disneyland Shanghai the go ahead, it looks like it's only a matter of time before the mouse lands in town. After a recent meeting of the City's International Business Leaders Advisory Council, Mayor Han Zheng declared that a decision could be announced as early as next week. But between the lines, we all know that's code for unequivocal approval, right? After all, it's not like the Shanghai government would announce a greenlight on Disneyland and then snatch it away last minute. Oh wait. more ›

Seemingly apropos of nothing, Li Bincheng, a leading tourism official in Shanghai, told people that China can sustain three Disney theme parks if it wanted to. "China has a population of 1.4 billion or 1.5 billion. It will not be a problem even if there are three Disneylands here," he said in response to a question about competition between Hong Kong Disneyland and the on again-off again Shanghai park. He then went on to add that if the Shanghai park ever actually came to be, it'd probably be ten times larger than its Hong Kong counterpart. But no worries, because Guangdong and Guangxi residents will probably still go to the much much smaller Hong Kong Disneyland since they live closer. Hmmm, that sure is a lot of talk for something that hasn't even won approval from the higher ups in Beijing yet. Source: SCMP more ›

After a rather disappointing Shanghai summer movie season (Terminator Salvation, Transformers 2, Ice Age 3), we're really looking forward to our annual Disney/Pixar pickup with the long-awaited China-release of "Up", hitting theaters tomorrow! more ›

"High School Musical" is a bonafide hit with Shanghai audiences! The stage adaption of Disney's record breaking TV movie musical first opened in South Africa as part of a global tour before coming to its second stop, here in Shanghai. According to CCTV news, "the show has been a box office success" at the Shanghai Grand Theater for the past two weeks since its June 30th debut, with "ninety-five percent of the house sold for each performance." more ›

Awww, how adorable! From another random shanzhai technology company comes this actually well thought out Winnie the Pooh-themed cellphone. more ›

Yesterday marked the worldwide premier of what's poised to be this year's feel good flick: Disney-produced panda movie 熊猫回家路 (Xiongmao huijia lu). more ›

This is an advertisement. Disney English, a private English language learning center, will be hosting an educator recruiting open house on Thursday, April 9, 2009 from 11:00am-2:00pm. They are looking for ESL, EFL educators with a Bachelor's degree and a minimum of one year experience teaching English as a foreign language. They seek candidates who will bring creativity and excitement to the Disney English classroom. Visit their first center in Shanghai, talk to staff and learn more about this exciting opportunity to join in the magic of The Walt Disney Company! Contact: Rene.e.dubose.-ND@Disney.com. Thursday, April 9, 2009, 11:00am to 2:00pm, Disney English Center, 165 Maoming Nan Road (Close to Nanchang Road), Shanghai 200021. More job ads. Place a job ad. more ›

With all that whining and wheezing earlier this year, you would've thought we'd reached a resolution by now. But even though Disney is pulling resources out of Hong Kong, it still hasn't committed fully to putting them into Shanghai - and it's hard to tell who's fault it is. more ›

As the global financial crisis hits rock bottom, especially in the US, the theme park industry is experiencing exceptionally hard times as visitor numbers plummet and projects as far off as the Middle East are put on hold. more ›

If we listened close enough, we could probably hear the words going through her head right at that moment: "I have an Asian friend, so it's okay." And to be quite honest, it probably is. more ›

According to China Daily, the Walt Disney Company and Shanghai's municipal government have finally signed a project proposal to build a Disneyland theme park on the Chinese mainland. Assuming the newspaper hasn't jumped the gun, this would put a stopper on the will they won't they drama that's shadowed the deal since it was a glint in Mickey Mouse's eye. more ›

Yesterday, Reuters (via Yahoo!) reported that the Walt Disney Co. has reached an agreement with the Shanghai government to move ahead with the plans to build the theme park in the city. CNN Money on the other hand reported on the same day that no agreement has been made. The saga continues. more ›