EastSouthWestNorth has uncovered Zhao Bandi (赵半狄), the man behind the Kung Fu Panda protest, as an unabashed panda lover and a fashion designer who has a line inspired by the national treasure. Check out the images from Zhao's fashion show below. Apparently he got China's internet celeb numero uno Furong Jiejie (芙蓉姐姐) to model for him and that one picture of her is priceless:......

A bikini battalion of 1,202 ladies gathered Sunday at the Changlong Water Amusement Park in Guangzhou to form the Olympic rings logo and broke a Guinness world record — not for the largest Olympics logo ever formed with human bodies, but for the largest swimsuit photo shoot ever (previous record was set last year at Bondi Beach by 1,010 ladies). Yet another utterly useless record, you might say, but these girls sure look like they're......

A month after the tragedy in Sichuan you’d be forgiven for feeling a little compassion fatigue. Whilst the focus of the recovery process has changed from the desperate speed of the first few days, there is still a lot of work to be done repairing damage both physical and emotional. On that theme then, tonight sees an event hosted by a group of Shanghai’s creative arts and fashion crowd called Heartbeat in Putuo. The organisers......

We agree with PandaPassport that this has gotta be the worst case of child abuse. Ever. In case any of you were thinking of showing your support for the Olympics with a nice funky hairdo, take your pick of a crazy Olympic hairstyle here.......

From Patrick Carr of Current TV:The Burberry factory in Treorchy, Wales, closed down to much protest last year - but what happened after? In this pod we visit the Chinese factory and find that the same has happened again, with Chinese factory workers near the city losing their jobs as cheaper rural factories means the factory has moved again.........

As we feel frankly uncomfortable in anything else, Shanghaiist frequently rocks the t-shirt and jeans look. Classic. To that end, eno is one of our favourite shops to head to — with a great range of creative and oh-so-cool clothing, including designs by some of our favourite bands and musicians. So, when they say they're throwing a party we're naturally interested. When they say there'll be live music we get pretty excited. And when they......

By Benjamin Cohen "I Love Tibet, but I Hate the Dalai Lama," and "F*** CNN, Say No to Riots!" are two of the nine nationalist t-shirts for sale on Taobao.com (english version). The shirt's creators state, "Tibet was, is and always will be apart of China!" We're pretty sure they mean "a part" (h/t to Megan Shank). But semantics aside, these shirts show growing nationalist sentiment that first gained ground with MSN messenger displays of......

In this latest pod, Patrick Carr from Current TV takes us from Shenzhen to Shanghai and Beijing, and does a commendable job uncovering China's obsession with brands by looking at how affluent Chinese youth today are choosing to express themselves through fashion, nightlife and sports. Features Phil Dorman of Shanghai-based marketing agency Confucius Says.......

Fans of tight-fitting non-branded clothing rejoice! Following the much-heralded invasion of H&M and (the slightly less heralded) C&A, dedicated followers of fashion have the arrival of another Western brand to look forward to, after American Apparel announced that they will be hitting the streets of Shanghai in the next month or so. Location details have not yet been released but the chain is currently negotiating a lease for a downtown store in Shanghai, as well......

Fashion designers in Shanghai are a jiao a dozen. What is rare is a designer with an innovative concept — not copied, borrowed or recycled from a different era. Born in Guyana to Haitian parents and raised in Paris, emerging designer Sheilla Constance Sidney arrived in Shanghai one year ago. Living in China inspired her interest in integrating traditional African and Chinese fashion. Habesha, the name of her collection, means 'mixed' in Amharic, the language......

The International Herald Tribune has a great new article entitled Shanghai: The allure of individualism which explores the rising trend of young Chinese designers setting up shop to sell their own stuff. And they are not cheap.The New York Philharmonic has just left Shanghai for Beijing on its Asian tour that also includes Hong Kong and Taiwan and a landmark concert in Pyongyang. The New York Times talks about the disappointment of principal oboist Wang......

So the movie did finally get made after all. Last Thursday evening at the Paramount was the premiere of Milk & Fashion, touted as the first film to feature "non-Asian actors speaking Chinese in lead roles of a feature film for the first time ever". The crowd gathered as early as 7 pm to feast on the buffet. The room was packed with a diverse population of foreigners, Shanghainese ladies and numerous dubious characters. The......

Adding to the flux of design studios and boutique start-ups in the artsy enclave of Taikang Road, we stumble upon yet another new kid on the block. Projection 216 is a design studio/boutique started by fashion designer Jenny Ni who has also rounded up several of her friends including design duo Perk, T-shirt collective The Thing, artist/graphic designer Tyakasha, sneaker designer DK and even a manicurist, Mary to join her in this endeavor. We......

By Wee Ling Soh With temperatures looking to dip again in a few days, we see no reason why winter should be spent in jeans and thermals when colored opaque tights are all the rage this season. What more can we ask of opaque tights? Comfy to wear, practical in this bone-biting chill and most people should be able to carry it off (try darker colors if you think your legs are not your best......

SHANGHAI By Morgan Paar and Bedi Ye of Fashion Trend Digest BEIJING By Racheld h/t to CDT......

And shave, perhaps? Photo from Don Yap. Share with us how you see Shanghai, or China! Post your photos on Flickr, tag them with "shanghaiist", and we'll select one favorite image per day. Or you can simply email your photos to photos at shanghaiist.com.......

Shanghai wants 50 top minds every year “Local authorities are offering lucrative packages to lure leading academics to the city under a new scheme to help boost its competitiveness.” Shanghai to launch int’l channel targeting foreigners “The ICS programs, covering news, information, fashion, entertainment, foreign TV shows and movies, will be aired in English and Japanese, with Chinese captions, for 19 hours a day.” Shanghai GM to launch Buick LaCrosse hybrid prior to Olympic......

We have a confession to make: We have been known to watch the occasional episode of America's Next Top Model. Odd that while living in America we refused to watch trashy American reality shows (other than The Real World, which we allowed in on a grandfather clause) and now that we live in China and own a Filipino TV satellite (that we won't shut up about) we seemingly can't get enough of them. What can......

Since making a Snake Plissken-style escape from Pudong, the Puxi landmark that has inexorably drawn our eye as we survey the okay-for-the price view from our garret hasn't been the Sauronesque spire of the Marriott, nor the guy who does his Ghost Dog workout on the roof opposite each morning, but rather an advert for pants. Or "briefs" to those of you who've escaped the yoke of Queen Elizabeth II. Calvin Klein briefs, to be......

According to the official countdown, the Beijing Olympics are about 240 days away and the pressure is mounting for China's athletes to bring home the bacon, especially in China's strongest events like ping pong, diving, and gymnastics. In traditional Chinese business fashion, gymnastics coaches are making their gymnasts sign a contract to stay injury-free and drug-free in preparation for the Games, according to this article from China Daily. In an unusual move to secure a......

Since Net Nanny lifted her ban on YouTube, we have been catching up on the some of the vids that we missed during the year-long ban...okay, it wasn't that long. Looking for any excuse to waste time and avoid Christmas shopping, we watched every episode available of the first season of Project Runway Canada (the other PRC in our lives). It's the Canadian version of the very popular (especially among the LGBT crowd) American show,......

You heard that right, ladies and gentlemen... Our city's foresighted urban planners, God bless their hearts, have looked into their glassball and decided that Shanghai needs another Lujiazui — and really, soon — in three years to be exact. Well if they were able to build Lujiazui I in ten years, we have every confidence they can build Lujiazui II in three. Never ever ever doubt the ambitions of Shanghai city planners. Just build first,......

Shanghaiist is looking for a few good men and women to round out its staff of talented contributors. If you think you can help make Shanghaiist just that little bit more fabulous, read on! You may be the one that we're looking for... What We Can Offer You Liberty. Free at last. Contributors on Shanghaiist get to do what they want to do, and do it on their own terms. We edit the content of......

Ex-convict/drunk driver/pornstar Heiress/socialite/singer/designer Paris Hilton — fresh from her modelling gig with Fila Sportswear in Seoul — is now in Shanghai for the first time to attend Friday's 2007 MTV Awards and Style Gala at the Shanghai Grand Stage. Apparently, she didn't think the Hilton hotel would make her feel at home here, so she decided to check into the Grand Hyatt at the Jinmao instead. Shanghai Daily, believe it or not, has the scoop:......

New Burger on the Block: Thanks to the always up-to-date Christine Lu from the China Business Network, we learned that Los Angeles based burger joint Fatburger is planning on expanding big into China, starting with their first restaurant at the Venetian in Macao. From their press release: Additional Fatburger restaurants are scheduled to open in Hong Kong in the coming months: the first on Queens Road East and the second at Jia Hotel in Causeway......

There must be something strange in the air (literally), because this year's Tennis Masters Cup has been quite a doozy. And after last night's action (Day 3), it's officially a doozy. Richard Gasquet of France, the last man to qualify for the tournament, upset number three in the world and crowd favorite, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, in convincing fashion, 6-4, 6-2. It was Djokovic's second loss in the tournament, after falling to Spaniard David Ferrer......

We were right. The Olympic Bible ban controversy would spill over. And it has, in a most unbelievably crazy fashion. More ill-informed Christian and Catholic news media have given legs to the story. Somewhere along the way, the rumour became a fact, and a debate has made its way to the hallowed halls of the US Congress! Senator Lindsey Graham has made a complete idiot of himself by calling up the Chinese Ambassador to the......

Question: “Who are three people who’ve never been in my kitchen?” Or lately: "Name three people hating on the once mighty US dollar." On Tuesday, Cheng Siwei, the vice chairman of China’s National People’s Congress suggested that China’s foreign exchange regulators ought to consider shifting the country’s massive USD $1.4 trillion reserve into “stronger” currencies. The greenback has been on a downward spiral since 2003. Little did Cheng know that his remarks would trigger a......

Hong Kong Triad T-Shirt Gets Fashion Label in Hot Water [Asiaone.com] The arrest of 18 employees of a Hong Kong lifestyle and retail chain over a controversial new line of T-shirts '14K' bearing the name of a well-known triad gang spurred an apology from the store's founder.Pakistan - Besieged Musharraf plays for time [Asia Times] Having opened a can of worms by declaring a state of emergency, Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf is now in......

From reader Adam Skuse:We have always thought the moon was made of cheese, so couldn't help but wonder about the accuracy of the instruments aboard China's Chang'e-1 lunar probe when we saw the above story. However, our dodgy cosmology was saved when we realized the lunar landscape so unwittingly juxtaposed with the headline on Sina's English portal wasn't beamed back from the final frontier after all. Readers who've had their interest in astronomy piqued by......