Shanghaiist is somewhat of a frequent flyer to Beijing, and because he isn't employed by some big multinational but rather runs his own little business, he can only afford to put himself on cattle class and often has to scour the internet for the cheapest available deals. We especially love this nifty little function on eLong.com which shows you the cheapest available flight within a week of your selected departure date. That has worked to our advantage in the past because we have relatively flexible schedules, and we have flown to Beijing for as low as RMB530 (that's RMB400 for the ticket and RMB130 for miscellaneous taxes) on Hainan Airlines. more ›

The last time we heard from Air China, it was hit by an embarrassing spate of accidents. Not so long afterwards, it announced an order for 15 units of the new Boeing 767 Dreamliner. This time, Air China has proclaimed its ambitions to grow its market share in Beijing from the existing 44% up to 50%. more ›

For too long, many domestic TV entertainment channels have profaned music and the notion of competition by giving top honors to tomboys or sissy boys for being what they are - boyish girls and feminine boys - NOT for what or how they sing. The realm of music (which if not sacred should at least require some talent) suffered most when Li Yuchun, a tomboy whose voice was the weakest of all the finalists in a national singing contest in 2005, walked away with the "Super Girl" championship. Shi Yang, a boy who dances like a young woman, became a hot idol during the "My Show" contest in Shanghai last year.

Photo from ojour. more ›

This video just came in from a reader (Thank you meckleychina!). Apparently the Shanghai-based budget airline Spring Airlines now makes its passengers do in flight exercises. From what we see in the video at least, everyone is taking it very seriously. Now nobody wants to be one of the unlucky few to die of deep-vein thrombosis(DVT) in the air, right? Smaller Chinese boutique airlines have been trying ways and means of injecting more "fun“ into the flying experience lately. Shanghaiist has been flying Hainan Airlines (which is partly owned by George Soros by the way) a lot more recently, and they typically have a little auction game where tickets are given away at below rack rates. Erm still not quite our idea of fun, but you have to give them marks for trying. Does anyone else have interesting experiences with other airlines to share? more ›

We read in this article (in Chinese) that after the (Roman calendar New Year) and before the Chinese New Year that prices on airplane tickets goes down. That means, according to the article, that flights from Shanghai to destinations such as Sanya (Hainan Island) and Beijing go for as cheap as 30% of the regular price. Searching Ctrip we found this to be true: picking a random day in January about two weeks from now we found two flights leaving from Pudong to Sanya that go for 340 RMB, which is 30% of the 1130 RMB full price ticket. more ›