The Red Laowai (红老外) — yes, that shirtless dude in New York that's been singing communist propaganda songs such as “My China Heart"《我的中国心》, "Without the Communist Party, there is no New China"《没有共产党就没有新中国》and "Oriental Red"《东方红》and putting his videos online — has done it again. This time, he has put his shirt on, created a music video and he's singing Jay Chou and rapping. The song 止战之殇 (The Wound That Ends War) is an anti-war song in... more ›

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 ›

As ice is melting between North Korea and the United States, more and more Chinese businessmen have been rushing to the border with the secretive communist country, looking to cash in on its trade and investment potential. more ›

Shanghaiist usually waits until Friday to update you on this weekend's live shows, but this week we decided to actually get something in a timely manner (actually we are going to Beijing for the Pop Festival so will be partying way too hard to write this later). Yuyintang, those stalwart music promoters, are back with a show tonight (Thursday) at the Zendai Moma out in Pudong. If this morning's weather holds out it should be a great night to make the schlep out to the boonies and catch Norwegian, brit-popish band, Flare and Shanghai based Boys Climbing Ropes. We have also heard from various sources that 2nd Hand Rose will be in town playing at some sort of art function tonight. more ›

The hostage crisis at the Putuo KFC two nights ago was a shining triumph for the Shanghai police, who managed to kill the bad guy and save the migrant worker's little four-year-old girl. Now, you can relive the glory with this account of the proceedings (in Chinese). Although we would have preferred to see Samuel L. Jackson or Kevin Spacey handle something of this danger, there was some local talent on hand. One of the negotiators dressed up and pretended to be the store manager, but to no avail. A female special forces officer also dressed up as a KFC employee and brought food and drink, but evidently, someone didn't do the chicken right, because the hostage-taker got nervous. The special forces officer had a gun stuffed in her pants but decided that this wasn't the best moment to use it. more ›

We ask because for our June 15 Happy Hour at Abbey Road we are piecing together a playlist made up of all Beatles songs sung by other people. Personally, we are partial to just about anything by Elliott Smith, but we know there are many, many options out there — the Beatles are the most covered band in music history (or so we read somewhere). more ›

Will this finally be the end of the Shanghai clique? The death of Huang Ju, a former Shanghai mayor and party secretary and now former member of the Standing Committee of the Politboro, spells trouble for Jiang Zemin's already waning influence on the Hu administration. Having ascended to the role of vice premier of the State Council in 2003, Mr Huang had long served as the figurehead for the "Shanghai Clique", a group of politicians joined by their love of all things Shanghai (and Jiang Zemin). Were Raekwon the Chef asked to sum up the situation, he might say something like this: "The Shanghai Clique forms like Voltron and Huang Ju was the head." more ›

From the Scotsman:

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese quality watchdogs have seized 46 toy guns from a Wal-Mart store in Shanghai because they looked "too realistic", state media reported on Thursday. more ›

WARNING: The above video is not for the squeamish. A crocodile suspected of killing a nine year old Guangxi boy was killed by Guangxi police, using some bait and a number of snipers. The boy and three friends hopped over the fence to the former zoo area where eleven crocodiles live, and, armed with a BB gun and a slingshot, began to shoot at the crocodiles. Two of the boys left, and of the two that remained, one was unsuspectingly dragged off by several crocodiles. The other boy witnessed this entire event. The area is now privately owned by a man who was feeding and taking care of the crocodiles, but it seems that security wasn't one of his top priorities—all you have to do to get in is hop a fence. They found, partially inside the crocodile, what they believe to be the remains of the boy. more ›

We imagine we aren't the only people a little skeptical of the armor-clad and heavily armed guards that accompany the vehicles that transport money to and an from various banks in China. The guards are almost always very young and fresh-faced and look as though they might have, the day before, occupied a seat at a local internet bar playing Counter-Strike and urinating in an empty Coke bottle. We always try to steer clear of these guys, assuming their guns are really loaded and their trigger fingers itchy. And after reading this graphic account (in Chinese) of an incident that happened about a week ago outside a China Construction Bank in Shenyang, Liaoning province, we're sure you will do the same. more ›

With the sun out, the temperatures high, one can only think of one thing-- what's going on in the World of the -ist's? more ›

Officially, at least. Although anyone in Shanghai who wanted to see The Departed already has seen it on a pretty high-quality DVD, news outlets are reporting that the movie will never be shown in China's theaters. Here are the reasons according to one anonymous government source: more ›

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is a hit. It's getting rave reviews, grossing millions, and definitely the most quotable thing we've seen in ages. But Borat seems to have missed most of the -ist cities, and we were all wondering how the film would have been different if he'd made his way around the world on the -ist tour. more ›

There was a lot of buzz among Shanghaiist's circle of friends about the recent addition to Shanghai's burger scene: ROK-based chain Kraze Burger in Xujiahui. We'd heard good things: cheap food, clean environment, great k-pop music videos and, of course, decent burgers. It wasn't that hopes were necessarily high, it's just that we had hopes. Hopes that Xujiahui would become a burger destination once again--not since the area branch of Rendezvous Cafe closed has the southwestern district laid claim to that title. more ›

think. It just made us wonder: if it were up to the -ist-a-verse, what would we be voting for? more ›

Photo by Shanghai Sky taken from the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site. more ›

Londonist answers the questions "How much is a cab from London to Marrakech?", and "Can a monkey blog?", as well as asks "What kind of guy can get shot in the knee then cycle to the hospital?" more ›

And we're not talking about those wild 20 year olds looking for man meat from the state of Washington -- we mean yaks and wolves and the like: more ›

Here are Miss Chen's qualifications for the 2006 Da Er Wen (达尔文) Award: more ›

There's an interesting piece in the Shanghai Daily today about the habits of China's rich, who, instead of learning from the moral paragon that is Warren Buffett, are spending more money on themselves. Says the report: more ›

Photo by spiky247 taken from the Shanghaiist photos page. To see your photos on our photos page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site. more ›

Yesterday when Shanghaiist arrived at work, the boss said, "pick up a copy of yesterday's China Daily. They've got a story about the gun holdup on [colleague's name]'s flight to Beijing." more ›

Shanghaiist was once ashamed of being a slacker, so imagine our relief upon reading this Shanghai Daily article about the seven professions in China that are most likely to lead to an early death. Education, IT, news media, and the police are among the professions discovered in a study to lead to early death from overwork, which a Japanese guy discovered in the 1960s and dubbed karoshi. You can read more about this at the Job Stress Network website. We must confess to being skeptical about the police dying young. What is it that brings their average lifespan down? The gun-toting lawless bad guys, wily political dissidents and cyberhackers, or maybe all those camwhores stripping in front of their computers? Or is it the fumes they breath in when, as rookies, they have direct traffic somewhere along Yan'an Lu? more ›

That's a phrase all men yearn to hear. Wish granted! ... thanks to some brilliant minds in -- you guessed it -- Guangdong province. According to a very vague Xinhua photo caption, a condom-in-a-can (or, if you prefer, it's sexed-up official name: "Nanometer-silver Cryptomorphic Condom") has been approved by Guangdong's "drug administration," and somehow that means it can now be sold throughout China. The man pictured is the proud owner of a spray condom in Hubei province's Yichang. more ›

Shanghai, by and large, is a city of hype. Shanghaiist has and will continue to contribute to it, propping up events, holding out hope for free beer, and generally trying to see the good in the sometimes random governmental edicts. But the weary wait for someone, anyone, to open a real western book store -- with books and maybe even magazines -- has taken its toll. But now, Chaterhouse Booktrader has us hooked. The location, under Times Square down on Huaihai Zhong Lu (in the basement) is OK. The prices, well, they're best described as "airport." But the selection? Oh, the selection. PC Gamer magazine sits next to Xbox Live next to Playstation Monthly. If that's not your thing, they have car, gun and fashion mags -- and books, too ... in previously non-existant (in Shanghai) categories like Science Fiction. Yes, it might all be a dream. Yes, they're from Hong Kong. Yes, go. Right now. Before someone wakes up and realizes what's going on here. Because if someone realizes that what people want is selection, whatever will the market do? more ›

Aging movie star Jackie Chan, an early Shanghaiist favorite, is bad-mouthing Chris Tucker and his diva-like demands for slowing down production of the third installment of the lucrative Rush Hour franchise, which we have had to live with for seven years now. Seven years! more ›

Braunschweig. For many of you, thinking of the quiet town of Braunschweig, Germany brings to mind two things: lederhosen and schnitzel. On the streets of cities all over the world, youth who claim 街头文化 (jietou wenhua or "street culture") repeat the word “Braunschweig” like some ancient mantra. The reason? The German city plays host to the annual Battle of the Year (BOTY), in which the world's finest hip hop dance crews compete for the respect of their peers and new razors from the competition's sponsor, Braun. For any breakdancer, a trip to Braunschweig to compete in the BOTY would be akin to Ralphie finding a Red Rider B.B. Gun on Christmas morning. more ›