Elliot Ng of CNReviews has a really interesting article up on a new breed of people in China and the new term they've been nicknamed: Xiaozi (小资). So what does it mean? Apparently, Xiaozi is translated as the "petty" part of "petty bourgeoisie," but it's meaning is related more to the now maturing richer middle class in China that's attracted to "Western" commercial and artistic culture. more ›

Déjà vu all over again? Here it is once more, Shanghaiist's nearly quarterly review the Douban book Top Ten List: Annie Baby - "Sunian Jinshi" (Beijing-based author, photographer and blogger who writes about love and self-exploration in the big city.) JK Rowling - "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" (Official Chinese version, published by the People's Literature Publishing House.) Markus Zusak - "The Book Thief" (Australian author of Austrian-German heritage writes a WWII book... more ›

Photo of a Mummy 3 set in a Hebei Province desert from China.org.cn more ›

Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we're all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn't start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we're up to... more ›

As the world holds it's breath, teetering precariously on the cusp of the Super Bowl (well, at least in America), the wheels of the -ists keep on turning. more ›

Local digital music collective Antidote is throwing its 17th monthly gong show tonight. more ›

Hotwind (热风) has been around Shanghai, according to this source, since 1996, but we didn't discover it until a few years after we got here. From our point of view there are two problems with shopping for clothes in Shanghai: more ›

It's been a while since we bought a bottle of Chinese wine -- we occasionally trawl through the wine aisles in the supermarkets, but our eyes glaze over when we see some of the prices. Nevertheless, we'd like to know: What kinds of Chinese wines are (don't laugh) good? This article from The Independent tells us that wines are a growth industry in China: more ›

Austinist makes it easy for us, with Candidate on a Civic Building, Blank on a Blank, and Penguins on a Freeway (warning: sad). more ›

LAist is flashing a sad peace out to their editor Carolyn Kellogg with one hand and bumping knuckles with their new head typist L.A. blogger king Tony Pierce with the other. more ›

LAist has so much fun this week! They go to E3, where they overhear the timeless remark "Man, this is where nerdy girls get laid." Is that a promise? They also give us this week's best CDs and make us realize that LA is the best place to use Zillow. more ›

Since Shanghaiist has been accused of ruining things like the old Tang Hui, we thought we'd share with you the fruits of our actions -- the new, improved (?), definitely not at all dingy, gritty, divey, '50s-Motown-music-during-the-intermissions place on Xingfu Lu you that once knew and loved. Here's the rundown: Tang Hui has not only expanded and moved to a four-story villa on the corner of Huating Lu and Huaihai Lu (85 Huating Lu, just by the Changshu Lu subway station) but they've also expanded the concept -- there are now four floors and will thus feature simultaneous music (one act on floors 1-2, another on 3-4), so that if rock doesn't strike your fancy that night, you might be able to catch some electronic or more intimate (solo instrumentalist) performance instead. And while they're sticking with the mainland scene, expect them to book some overseas acts when they're in town. more ›

Shanghaiist first noticed Shanghai Photography (上海摄影) magazine when it first came out sometime in 2004. Since then, we've browsed each new monthly issue whenever we trawl the local bookstores. This month's issue features much of the same combination of local and international photography that makes the magazine unique. Unlike national photography magazines such as China Photography or Popular Photography which have too many pictures of Tibetan children and herons in flight, Shanghai Photography has a bit more of that gritty, urban stuff you hipsters love -- high contrast, moody black and white as well as blurry, neon-bled color shots, arty shots of construction sites, etc. While the color reproduction quality isn't always that great, the strength of the magazine, as mentioned above, is the diversity of photographic styles contained within its pages. Camera wonks looking for technical stuff like camera reviews, and "image quality" dissections would probably do good to consult other magazines. Shanghai Photography also accepts submissions. You can get it at local bookstores (we got ours at the Shaanxi subway station Jifeng [季风] bookstore) for 15 yuan. more ›

We'd like to thank everyone who braved the rain Thursday night and attended the first Shanghaiist Happy Hour at Cotton's. About 75 people showed up, and a crazy good time was had by all (just look at that photo). Here's what one party goer said: "Had no idea there were so many hipsters in Shanghai, it looked like a giant Weezer video shoot ... great stuff." Interestingly, the DJ for the party -- Shanghaiist's iPod -- played not one Weezer song, but his performance was still good enough to move him up 1,177 spots in the world rankings. Impressive. (Actually, the DJ judges said he would have jumped even higher in the rankings had he not played a Zeppelin song --in his defense, it was a request.) Other key stats for the night: more ›

Sideways on Xinle Lu more ›