We spotted these yesterday (they are hard to miss) in a shop on Shimen Er Lu near Fengxian Lu. Notice, of course, that the warnings are in English — these cigarettes are intended for sale in Australia and Europe, not China. Still, amusing to see these packs on the streets of Shanghai. more ›

Shanghaiist likes to smoke. We used to enjoy Davidoff, but it seems since summer we can no longer get our favourite brand (at a cheap price) in our regular cigarette store. We normally pay RMB 11 a pack — at government run stores you have to pay RMB 18 for a pack. We have no idea what happened. Some said there is something wrong with smuggling imported cigarettes out of airports now, but why this particular brand? No idea. more ›

Photo of Glen Frey, whose song "Smuggler's Blues" was a hit in the mid-80s, from eaglesfans.com. more ›

In the context of ever-increasing divorce rates, and with Chinese parents placing pressure on their offpsring to marry, a "Lightning Round" of marriages is the next crazy attempt at finding a VW Passat, an unfurnished apartment in Pu Dong and someone else to help make paper money to burn for your deceased relatives happiness (article in Chinese). It seems that 100 people arrived in order to meet a partner, decide in a matter of minutes if they are "the one", and then marry each other there and then. more ›

Chien-Chi Chang has the distinction of being not only a member of Magnum Photos, widely considered the most prestigious photo agency in the world, but also of being the only the only full member of Chinese ancestry (Chang is from Taiwan, a citizen of the US). more ›

If the internet itself is relentlessly unreliable when it comes to the dissemination of accurate information -- aside from Shanghaiist.com, of course -- then internet forums really take the cake. And recently we've witnessed plenty of unsubstantiated statements tossed about on Shanghai's plethora of online discussion boards like so many Double Happiness cigarette wrappers in the street. more ›