Shanghai PRIDE, the three-week whirlwind of parties, performances, art exhibitions, film screenings, dinners, and panel discussions celebrating everything LGBT in Shanghai and China, is alas finally coming to a end! Their LiberASIAN closing bash on Saturday night promises to do what queens everywhere were born to do: throw a damn good party. more ›

You’ve seen the One with the Shark Porn and the bit when Rachel and Ross finally kiss - but how about the one where the chengguan hassle Gunther about his windows? No? Maybe you should check out Central Perk in Beijing’s Central Business District then, where local resident Du Xin (aka “Gunther”) has realized a long-held dream by lovingly recreating the famous Central Perk sitcom café virtually brick-for-brick. more ›

By Benjamin Cohen more ›

Over this weekend, Blue Frog celebrated its grand opening in Macau's Venetian in a glitzy event that featured performances by Shaolin monks, Australian DJ Alex Taylor and Shanghai's very own Sugar Mama and the Cotton Club Band. Apparently, quite a number of people flew over from Shanghai for the event (too bad for us, we were never invited). In this video, Blue Frog looks a lot more like a club than anything else, and certainly... more ›

For all of those of you who stayed at home, hunched over the computer, waiting for an update on the happenings in live music this weekend....well, we apologize. Dust yourself off, pick up the shaver and take a shower, today is a big day for music. Getting things started early, 4:30pm at 4Live, are Taiwan indie pop duo, Natural Q. Seems to be the season for indie pop, after performances last month by Carrchy and... more ›

Underground Resistance's first foray into mainland China last Saturday at The Shelter was truly a significant milestone for Shanghai's underground scene. DJ Dex aka Nomadico unleashed a set that's been described as a "real history lesson in dance music" — one that took the 800 or so revellers from the pre-electronic routes of modern dance music in the shape of parliament and James Brown, right up to the proper "electro" from the Advent ("program da... more ›

If you think only Chinese people use Baidu, you're dead wrong. Recently, a friend of ours in the US complained that he was unable to find any more music through Baidu's MP3 search service. Not a surprise really, since that treasure trove of pirated music that is now getting sued for big bucks in a Beijing court by some of the biggest names in music including Universal, EMI, Warner, Sony BMG and their local subsidiaries,... more ›

Okay, okay, we promise we will STOP talking about Facebook right after this post for the next week, but seriously, people, it is such a great way to not just entertain ourselves, but also to find out about what's going on in our city [1] . Through Facebook, we've not only seen how people in our town are organising themselves for good, we find that it also can be a great source of GOSSIP. And... more ›

Okay, so we've all seen people writing with their feet, but have you seen anyone doing calligraphy with their HEAD? Hell, eversince we received our first computer, we've barely been able to hold a pen! We can't be too sure where this amputee-calligrapher-busker is exactly because the guy who uploaded this video did not give more information, but from a few comments we gather he is somewhere out there on the streets of Guangzhou. Okay,... more ›

We seriously LOVE some of the things we hear about going on in our city. Yes, some of the people we meet here can be harsh and mean, but this story goes to show that humanity still exists in Shanghai. Two weeks ago, Rebekah Pothaar, an executive with Ctrip.com, found that her ayi's husband was in a serious motorbike collision. They went with her to the hospital and found that surgery was going to cost... more ›

JinJiang Park, that wonderful wonderland that we saw a few days ago, is, as Swiss James of ISpyShanghai.com discovers, a "rich vein of badly translated English". Reading through this sign just made us go "OMFGOMFGOMFGOMFGOMFG..." The 3,541 members of the Facebook group Save Chinglish - China's disappearing culture (by the way, don't forget to join our group!) will be disappointed that Chinglish is not only not disappearing, it is alive and well! Pictures from ISpyShanghai.com... more ›

Friends of ours have joked before that they didn't believe Thomas L. Friedman when he proclaimed that "The World is Flat" till they saw the chests of the girls waitressing at Hooters here. Adrian Baschuk from Current TV checks out the Shanghai outlet (which has the distinction of being China's very first Hooters). He seemed to really like it and was even thinking of going back there for Thanksgiving!
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Have you ever wondered what life must be like for someone who is watched everywhere she goes, whether she's eating, drinking, sleeping, shopping? It's the reason why Shanghai photographer Don Yap has tagged her "jailbird" in one of his recent portraits of her. Watch Paris eat xiaolongbao at Nanxiang and sip tea at Yuyuan, and go shopping at Lu Kun's (the greatest PR coup scored yet by any Shanghai-based designer!). The Shanghai municipal government... more ›

Wondering what the Chinese media are saying about Lust, Caution? We found the following story from the Information Times (信息时报) entitled Survey: Fans rushing to imitate positions in Lust Caution 调查:影迷争相模仿《色,戒》经典床戏 dated 7 Nov on Xinhua — yes, the website everyone goes to for high-quality Chinese journalism. Shanghaiist was so inspired by the spirit of investigative journalism exhibited by this reporter that we decided we had to translate the whole story to share with you. As an aside, it's been said that Chinese journalists just can't seem to get over the full frontal nudity and the brutal sex scenes, and director Ang Lee was supposed to have ticked off a Chinese journalist who insisted on asking questions related to the sex scenes, "Can't you ask a better question?" more ›

The guys behind CLB, Dan Harris and Steve Dickinson run their own law firm and according to them, they've been working with many of their clients to get into compliance quickly as hungry Chinese lawyers out there already have plaintiffs all lined up and ready to sue. So much for your harmonious society, eh? more ›

And finally, the video that we promised! This will definitely be one party to remember. Catch yourself on the video and pass it on to all your friends who came! Till our next party, rock on Shanghai! more ›

Many thanks to Ken Yip and Jack of Shanghai Studio for the pictures. More pictures from the wonderful guys at EnjoyClassifieds here. For those of you with more pictures of people making a fool of themselves that you'd like to share with us, put them up on Flickr and tag them shanghaiist or add them on on our Facebook group (remember to tag yourself in the pictures!). There is still a wonderful video coming up so stay tuned! more ›

So both Myspace and Friendster have their own China versions. Now Kaiser Kuo of Ogilvy Digital China Watch points us to a report on China Business News (第一财经日报) which cites an “industry insider” who says that Facebook plans to release additional language interfaces and intends to enter the China market as early as December this year. The paper also claims that "Facebook has given up its initial plan to set up its own China-based site like MySpace has done with MySpace.cn, but will instead acquire an existing SNS in China." more ›

Shanghaiist has just touched down in Beijing. And just as we were wondering if it was just us, or if the air in the Jing was really that much worse *cough*cough*, this is what we read:
• Birth defects in Chinese infants have soared nearly 40 percent since 2001
• There is one Chinese baby born with birth defects every 30 seconds
• In Beijing, the incidence of breast cancer has increased 23 percent in 10 years, with about 45 women out of every 100,000 diagnosed with the disease, says the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In Shanghai, the figures are even worse, at 55 out of 100,000, up 31 percent in the past decade.

Although Triangle premiered at Cannes film festival this year, it wasn't until recently that we got a mainland China acceptable version into theaters around town. For all you non-Hong Kong action film fanbois and grlz out there, this film was a collaborative effort between Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam, and Johnny To, each one making one-third of the film, with the stipulation that there be mutual non-interference—each director does what they want with the story, according... more ›

So in the meanwhile, Youtube remains blocked. Shanghai blogger John Pasden of Sinosplice informs us that Youtube wasn't the only unlucky fella. Revver.com and Dailymotion.com also appear to be hit. And of course Google Video was never accessible in China to begin with, so that's a no-count. more ›

Have you (like us) waited until the last minute to get your Halloween costume even though back in September you promised yourself you'd start putting it together early this year? Not to worry. Shanghaiist has you covered. Here's a list of places to get pre-made Halloween costumes and accessories that we put together last year. We've given them a call and apparently they're all still up and running. If any of you finds any other great places for costumes, please email us at info AT shanghaiist DOT com and we will add them on to the list.

Holiday House: 1188 Panyu Lu, near Hongqiao lu (番禺路1188号，近虹桥路). Tel: 64477189, Open 9:30-6:00 pm (Sucky hours!). A kind of one-stop-shop for costumes for kids and adults and decorations. Staff speak English and can be pretty surly.

Shanghai Zhongbao Dress Ornament Co. Ltd.: No.99, Lane 2035 Wuzhong Lu (吴中路2035弄99号). Open until 9pm on weekdays and slightly different hours on the weekend (we suggest you call first). Tel: 64780825/54859199, Fax: 6419 3855, E-mail: zbxj@public8.sta.net.cn. Longer hours, wider adult selection and cheaper prices, but really far from downtown (expect a 40-50 kuai cab fare) and a little hard to find as Lane 2035 is hard to see, the street numbers are out of order and the "99" is spray painted on the wall, and it's a warehouse behind a gate. But it's worth the effort!

Nantai Costume Company: 181 Henan Zhong Lu, near Fuzhou Lu (河南中路181号，进福州路) Tel: 63238344. This place, five minutes west of the Bund outfits many of the local opera troupes and has the ambience of a factory store. Shelves are stacked with everything from tasseled platform slippers to stringy beards. Say hello to Chun Ge, the store's pet mynah bird -- he'll say ni hao back.

It is back — Shanghai's biggest, baddest, scariest, spookiest Halloween party! If you came to our kickass party last year, you'll know what we're talking about. If you didn't, ask your friends who did, or see what you missed out on here and here. We created such a ruckus the police came to join in the fun! more ›

The reason? Probably not directly the ongoing 17th National Congress in Beijing, then they would have blocked the site last week already (unless someone right now uploaded some video's that would upset the government). I suspect the real reason might be that YouTube just launched a Chinese version, which would make the site much more accessible for Chinese users. Not a very smart idea to do that in the middle of the National Congress, and I am surprised nobody at mother company Google's China offices rang an alarm bell about this before the launch. A typical example of the mistakes foreign companies make while trying to do business in China. more ›

Comments below don’t necessarily represent the Shanghaiist’s point of view or opinion regarding the Canadian government (we don't want them to hold a grudge and kick us out of Canada too!)… we just received it recently from the Busdriver promoter and thought it was kind of funny… shows are still on in Beijing and Shanghai…..and we are as giddy as a school boy in the girls locker room to see Busdriver play live! more ›

During our times in the suburbs of New Jersey (don't hate), the American restaurant chain Applebee's was always a friendly place for meals with family and late night gatherings with friends. All of those nostalgic feelings came rushing back as Shanghaiist read some rumors on the internets about the opening of the chain's first outlet in China. With our curiosity peaked, we decided to go check it out. As Shanghaiist and accompanying guest entered the... more ›

About 100 Chinese teachers are expected to arrive at state schools in the United Kingdom (yes, that haven of foreign language education) by next year, but schools which have already employed some of those teachers in their classrooms (which they described as "lovely") have already found problems, such as the following:

"Their lack of familiarity with the English system of discipline, target setting etc is a problem."

"They also tend to have different, perhaps unrealistic, expectations of pupils."

"Concerns are expressed about Chinese teachers' abilities to manage pupils, particularly whole classes or where there is a tendency for students to be disruptive."

We've just been made aware of a new daily (well, almost) vod-cast called The Shanghai Show. Hosted by Aric Queen who used to contribute to this blog, it features interesting snippets of daily life in Shanghai from the People's Square, inside some Shanghainese guy's new home, the Jingan area to the Jiashan wet market. Today's show, however, takes the cake (yes, literally). As advised by the producers, only those with really STRONG stomachs should proceed. Our friends from Danwei will be elated to know what we're doing with our Toilet Bowl Award. We still want the award next year, you know. more ›

Cathay Pacific and Air China's parent company abandoned an attempt to block Singapore Airlines from buying a stake in China Eastern, as the battle for the lucrative Chinese market heats up. more ›

According to recent rumors we've heard, tickets are on sale this week for the biggest show of the year (in our humble opinion), The Beyoncé Experience! Beyoncé (aka Beyoncé Knowles), the 27-year old singer, model, and actress, is currently one of the biggest superstars in America. She began her career with the ginormously successful all-girl group Destiny's Child and has been just as prosperous as a solo artist. She brings her world tour called The... more ›