Yao Ming might be accruing guanxi up the wazoo with his new standing committee gig, but it's Shaquille O'Neal who truly speaks to the people! Shaq showed up for Hunan TV's Spring Gala Festival to run around on stage with kiddie monks, and went through his usual patented brand of kung foolery while trying not to step on the children. more ›

An “Entertainment Restriction” (限娱令) has been issued by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) to impose further restrictions on entertainment shows of provincial TV stations, Netease reports. Dating and other 6 kinds of programs will be restricted, and only 2 entertainment shows will be allowed to air during prime time (7:30pm to 10pm) on one provincial satellite channel weekly. more ›

Club Angel, the gay club caught in the middle of a bureaucratic wrangling with district authorities over its licensing after 40 complaint letters were sent to various government bureaus, has decided to temporarily move its parties to Obama Club, the ginormous club not named after the President of the US of A. more ›

How did we miss this?! China's Got Talent finally began auditions for its second season yesterday, and they started with Shanghai! Reports about the number of registrants who showed up in Zhabei district yesterday vary - Sina says around 9,000, which is three to four times the number of participants last year. more ›

It looks like the latest international television programme to be lined up for broadcast in China is... The Office. Ricky Gervais wrote in his blog on Thursday; “I have some amazing news ... We are about to start work on developing a Chinese 'The Office.' How cool is that?” more ›

Oh great - Gossip Girl, the super popular series about super rich teens in New York doing super racy things, may be coming to China, with Chinese actors and broadcast for the Chinese/Asian market. According to their producer, more people stream the show illegally here than watch it in the States. Says Josh Schwartz, series creator, people have pursued him for a China-fied version and they're "100 percent we would love to do that...But I assume there would be a little bit of censorship." Um, I'm not sure it's called censorship when it's remade to be a whole new localized show, but I guess you can't expect much from the maker of a vapid teen drama. Still, it'd be interesting to see how well will a show about salacious rich kid stories will do in a country where they have a say in what gets said about them. more ›

Didn't make it to Obama Club's soft launch on Monday? Worry not! Their "hard launch" is coming up real soon, we hear! But in the meanwhile, we've got videos from Monday night for you! Be sure to watch all three... it just gets better and better!
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One of my former co-workers is now working with the club, and threw a relatively small gathering for their birthday there a few weeks ago, which I had the good fortune of attending. I'll admit, the styling is a bit typically Chinese gaudy, but I have to disagree on it being "yet another cheesy karaoke place." more ›

From April 1 to 10, Irish violinist Gregory Harrington will be coming to China to perform his blend of classical and contemporary music. Besides dates in Guangzhou, Beijing, Tianjin and Dalian, Harrington will be passing through Shanghai for a recital with pianist William Lewis at the Oriental Art Center on April 3. Intrigued by a musician who has been described as combining “velvet smoothness with intricate passion”, Shanghaiist got the scoop up once he landed in the Middle Kingdom. more ›

FREE the WAX is back in town for a gig. This time they are bringing DJ Vadim and MC Yarah Bravo (Ninja Tune/BBE) to China for the second time running. If you had missed their explosive show last year, you know what to do this time. more ›

Ah, Singles Day, how ambivalent we are to you. It's nice to have an Anti-Valentine's Day, but it doesn't feel any more joyous to actively celebrate solidarity in solitude. And while we never did get that singing Celine Dion card, or anything at all, we did find a pretty interesting list from Chinese netizens: China's 11 most eligible bachelors! more ›

With everything that's going on tonight, FREE the WAX has got one more gig vying for your attention featuring American electro-cinematic producer maestro Eliot Lipp who is best known for his seamless weaving of 80s electro, 70s jazz-fusion and Bay Area hip hop. 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 ›

OOOOH NOOO. Can we say worst idea ever?! Some Shanghai karaoke bars are considering putting commercials between songs as a way to get some extra moolah to pay for music royalties. The idea, as with most bad ideas relating to music, came from the very company entrusted by music copyright owners to collect royalties. At least the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau has been skeptical, saying consumers can complain if they feel their interests are being violated by annoying ads during time they already paid for. Please, Partyworld and Haoledi: DON'T DO IT. Source: Shanghai Daily 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 ›

Maybe you've never heard of Onra or Arnaud Bertrand but you may actually recognize one of his songs, "The Anthem", which was featured in a Coca Cola ad for the Beijing Olympics starring 3D animated versions of Yao Ming and LeBron James. more ›

Earlier this month, we were walking through the Channel One mall when we came across auditions for a new reality tV series called 加油！东方天使 - roughly translatable into "Let's Go! Oriental Angel." more ›

Last Friday at Yuyintang, Nosaj Thing shone in his beat-heavy live set laced with synth sounds and slaps amid an obvious underlying hip hop influence. He worked the Akai Mpd-32 controller, laptop and audio interface and yes the crowd lapped it up. more ›

Nosaj Thing, a.k.a. Jason Cheung, is a L.A.-based music producer whose geeky charm at first sight deceptively conceals his sinister and innovative musical agendas. At the age of 13, he molded his father's rudimentary PC that struggled with even Word documents into a Frankestein Intel Celeron home studio. more ›

The fine folks at TEDxShanghai have offered Shanghaiist readers a chance to crash the event's invitation-only Geeks and Glamour party at M1NT at 7:30 on Monday night. All you have to do is email sage@tedxshanghai.com with this as your subject line: "Me + Shanghaiist + Geeks & Glamour." Send your emails soon — only the first 50 emailers will get an invite to the exclusive party (UPDATE: Entry to the party is RMB 100, paid at the door. The entry fee includes a yet-to-be-announced drink special. Sorry for the confusion!). What is TEDxShanghai? "TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience." Okay, but what is TED? "TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. ... The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes)." Geeks & Glamour is the after-party for TEDxShanghai, Shanghai's independently-organized TED event, which is already booked solid (but you can watch a live feed — with simultaneous English/Chinese translation — on Tudou starting at 10 a.m. Monday). You can learn more on their Facebook page. Start sending your emails! See you on Monday. more ›

Live digital design competition Cut&Paste Shanghai will close with a big bang this Saturday May 23 in a live show co-hosted with Shanghai's very own FREE the WAX featuring LA music producer Chris Alfaro. more ›

We hope everyone's readying their tv sets to watch Shanghai Rush, China's first English-language reality show, which premiers tonight at 8pm on ICS. While others have taken a sneak peek at the first episode - in which we're introduced to the ten teams of two that will be gracing our televisions for the next twelve Sundays - we decided to have a chat with the man behind the scenes: Eric Ransdell, director. more ›

As the world reflects on how to stay afloat during this worldwide economic recession, three billionaire brothers in Hong Kong have come up with a solution: build a giant Ark. more ›

Here's a great party trick by a dude dressed like one of the Blues Brothers. A man calling himself the "King of Dice" broke his own dice-stacking record, creating a tower of 26 dice by shaking a cup. more ›

Hong Kong actor turned scandalous sexy picture taker Edison Chan has braved death threats to promote his new movie, The Sniper, in public - despite being a “little bit afraid.” Edison, who appeared in public in Singapore on Sunday gave AFP a bunch of quotable quotes: more ›

The second career of Chinese diver-turned-actor Tian Liang has so far been received tepidly, but his latest role has sparked a big debate in China. Tian, a gold medalist in platform diving at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and a bronze medalist in Athens, has been chosen to play Lei Feng, a soldier held up by Mao as an example of selflessness for all of China to follow. The choice of Tian for the role has angered a host of Chinese netizens, who basically argue that Tian is too self-centered, materialistic and publicity-loving to play Lei Feng. Tian was kicked off the Chinese diving team ahead of the 2008 Olympics for too enthusiastically pursuing commercial activities. more ›

By Matt Doyle more ›

For all you movie going folks who want an alternative to buying fake DVDs (we know you're out there!), Shanghai might be getting a “free market zone” where controls on imported movies will be relaxed and local film-makers can export their stuff to the rest of the world. Hurrah! more ›

• 'Slumdog' opens as Boyle says he'll helm Shanghai film fest [Shanghai Daily] "Danny Boyle will be the jury president for this year's Shanghai International Film Festival, the Oscar-winning director confirmed at the Chinese mainland premiere of 'Slumdog Millionaire' in Beijing yesterday. 'It's fantastic to be in a film festival,' Boyle said, adding that the Shanghai event will be his first jury assignment."
• Report Says Executions Doubled in 2008 [NYTimes.com] With at least 1,718, China was responsible for 72 percent of all executions in 2008, the report stated. After China were Iran (346), Saudi Arabia (102), the United States (37) and Pakistan (36), according to the group. 'Together they carried out 93 percent of all executions worldwide,' the report said. The Chinese authorities also handed down at least 7,003 new death sentences last year, although the report said the true total of both executions and death sentences 'remains shrouded in secrecy.' Some countries, China and North Korea among them, do not disclose the number of executions they carry out."
• China Unicom should quash iPhone launch date rumors to secure best deal - expert [Interfax TMT China] "Xiang Ligang, CEO of domestic telecom news portal Cctime.com and guest columnist for Interfax, told Chinese magazine PC Home that he is concerned over the widespread rumor that China Unicom is, for reasons of prestige, determined to strike a deal with Apple in time to allow it to release the iPhone in China by May 17. He said that if true, the rumors reveal China Unicom's bottom line in the negotiations, vastly strengthening Apple's hand."