Results tagged “fuyoulu”

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.

The good and the not-so-good from the previous several days

Want to be the devil this Halloween? Or maybe you’re more the Snow White type. We all know where you are going to be this Halloween (actually, Oct. 28) -- but what are you going to wear? Whatever you’re looking for, Shanghai’s specialty costume shops have a plethora of fun and affordable options. For do-it-yourself types, there are tons of great accessories including wigs, tattoos, face paint, colored hair spray, fake asses, fake breasts, pitch forks, swords, cowboy hats, chicken hats and elephant hats, too.

Remember when you saw that sketchy fellow in the corner of the internet bar wanking off? OK, maybe you never have, but for the sake of argument let's say you did -- that person might very well not be your average porn connoisseur watching pre-made videos, but rather is watching live webcam "shows", usually of a single woman. At first we thought this was merely the province of pocket pool players and exhibitionists, but thanks to this article (in Chinese), we have been disabused of that notion. You can, in fact make money off this, say, 4,000 RMB a month. We're not quite sure we understand the description in this article about how it works -- of course, there are paying members, and as a "performer", you can accumulate points for how many people "tune in". They can also send you virtual gifts, anything from roses to cars to houses -- and you can eventually trade these in for money as well, because the members buy these virtual gifts using real money. What brought this particular case to the attention of the authorities (and then the media) was the fact that this woman eventually had to go to the police because she was being threatened. This despite the fact that one of the unspoken rules of the game is that you don't show your face, reveal your identity, mobile phone number, etc. But this woman was lonely, got into this whole mess after a series of failed love affairs, and began developing relationships with some of her more loyal patrons. One of these patrons started getting possessive (men!) and wanted a private showing for 500 RMB. Evidently, he wanted a one hour, no holds barred, birthday suit performance, didn't get it, and started threatening her. Another woman who was simply engaging in naked chats with a net friend (on a personal, not "professional" basis) eventually found herself getting blackmailed by this very same fellow, who was hard up and wanted to sell pictures he'd taken of her naked from his webcam for about 10,000 RMB a piece (there were 10 total).