As previously mentioned, Shanghai's 11th annual International Film Festival kicked off this weekend (albeit not too smoothly) with an eclectic mix of movies showing all day and night at its 23 theaters. In a place like China that receives so small a selection of international features, this is an incredible opportunity to see works you otherwise wouldn't have a chance to catch in a theater. We only made it to two screenings, but both......

Listening to the ever-excellent Football Weekly podcast from Guardian Unlimited the other day, we stumbled across the story of the Tibetan "national" team playing against Padania this week in Milan. If you're thinking "how can Tibet have a national team?" or "what the hell is a Padania?" then you've clearly never heard of the Viva World Cup. Frankly, you probably wouldn't be the only one. The Viva World Cup is a football (or soccer, if......

Is the Chinese government on a warpath of revenge? After enduring an embarrassing year of recalls and bans that left the "Made in China" tag-line in serious need of rehab, it appears that officials are eager to jump on any reason to have the tables turned. After Italy identified higher than acceptable amounts of dioxin in some mozzarella cheese made in the southern Campania region, the folks at the always busy Administration for Quality Supervision......

The idea is simple: get five internationally reknowned directors to make short, impressionistic films about Beijing, showing the people of Beijing in their everyday lives and as they prepare for the Olympics—and in the kindest light possible. The five filmmakers were: Patrice Leconte (France), Andrew Lau (Hong Kong/China), Majid Majidi (Iran), Giuseppe Tornatore (Italy), and Daryl Goodrich (UK). You can find a rundown of each film's style and content as well as a link to......

It is no secret by now. China executes more people than the rest of the world put together (yes, even more than the Islamic world). In fact, Amnesty International says China carries out about 80 percent of the world's total capital punishments, if not more (1,770 people in 2005). The recent UN vote for a moratorium on executions saw a fractious two-day debate between the anti-execution camp led by Italy and the pro-execution camp led......

We read a fair amount of China-related news, and it's hard not to get a bit apathetic about it all, since so much of it seems to revolve around the same few topics. Slate's article, however, touches on something we don't normally hear about: China's tomato products industry.:China, it turns out, now grows more tomatoes for processing—the kind that get turned into ketchup, pasta sauce, salsa—than any place in the world besides California, and maybe......

According to a blog essay we found, a recent poll by Harris Interactive showed that of 6,000 people from France, Germany, Italy, the UK, and the US, the overwhelming majority considered China the second most powerful nation in the world after the USA. We did some searching on the internet, and couldn't find mention of that report. We tried on Harris Interactive's site as well, but no dice. Perhaps we haven't looked hard enough? Or......

Oh boy, we are just beginning to love the things that we can show you here now that Youtube is back. And with these two freshly-uploaded videos, you have two different broadcasters — Australia's Channel 7 and Al-Jazeera English — and their take on the topic of "Made in China". China has just overtaken Japan as Australia's largest trading partner. The spate of headline-grabbing product quality issues, particularly the high profile toy recalls made......

The latest issue of TIME Magazine has an interesting story of a US-based company that has just set up shop in where else but Inner Mongolia, to feed the millions of hungry Chinese who are now looking to eat something other than pork: Earlier this year, Western Cattle started to raise Holsteins on an American-style ranch and feedlot built in the wide open spaces of Inner Mongolia. Their goal: deliver truckloads of well-marbled beef to......

Jakob Montrasio points us to a most unbelievable ranking of the world's top 25 cities with skyscrapers published by the German magazine Spiegel: 1: Hongkong, China. 7422 skyscrapers. 2: New York City, USA. 5445 skyscrapers. 3: Singapore 3503 skyscrapers. 4 million people. 4: São Paulo, Brazil. 3012 skyscrapers. 10 million people. 5: Seoul, Korea. 2831 skyscrapers. 6: Istanbul, Turkey. 2093 skyscrapers. Over 10 million people. 7: Tokyo, Japan. 2074 skyscrapers. 12 million people. 8: Rio......

The Absolute House mailing list must be just about the only one we don't receive email from, because we only learned recently (by seeing an ad in a magazine) that Jennifer Gentle, a band from one of our favorite "indie" labels SubPop, will be performing there on June 24th (when Shanghaiist will conveniently be visiting Singapore). Because we know you are wondering: No one in Jennifer Gentle is named Jennifer — it's a bunch of......

Baidu Sued For Copyright Infringement "Video downloads of Guangdong Meng Tong Culture's licensed historical costume drama series "Zhen Guan Chang Ge" were found on Baidu space channel (hi.baidu.com). ... Meng Tone is asking Baidu to pay 440,000 Yuan in compensation." China vows to revamp leprosy villages "The disease has now been officially eradicated in China, but the villages remain partly because the patients were unable to rebuild their lives after being institutionalised for decades."......

Zakaria: The Sky Isn't Falling in China "It might be time to admit that we really don't understand China. The country simply does not conform to our most basic beliefs about what makes nations grow." Curbs sought on violence in Chinese films "China needs a law to restrict a 'violent culture' in films and Internet to protect the youth from being corrupted, a Chinese lawmaker said Tuesday." China is source of bird flu virus,......

Realtor accused of power theft "Jones Lang LaSalle, a global real estate management firm, is under police investigation for alleged theft of a huge amount of electricity at a luxury residential property in Shanghai." Police probe mass murder in Pudong fish pond "More than 10,000 kilograms of fish, which were being raised for sale to restaurants and wet markets, were found dead in the pond on Tuesday." Love/Perfect/Change Ends in Shanghai; Will Tour China......

Tomorrow marks the arrival of the Shanghai Creative Bazaar, which as dutifully reported in our local English-language rags, is a celebration of those brave souls who flout conventional wisdom and revel in offbeatedness. (Otherwise known as artisans.) Forty designers and 30 shops of handcrafted zaniness, y'all. We’d be amiss, however, if we didn’t mention that in addition to sartorial sizzle, there’s plenty of sizzling food to be had as well. The luncheon, which runs in......

This many come as a shock to some of you, but some of us here at Shanghaiist can be, well, a little cynical. No! Surely not, you say! Ah, but true, my friend, but true. For example, we never took much notice of the restaurant Nuova Vita, near the intersection of Fuxing Lu and Ruijin Er Lu. It had existed pretty much since we moved to the city, and considering its age and curious lack......

The Observer runs a story entitled "Wikipedia defies China's censors," and therefore Wikipedia remains blocked here. Kind of.In a surprise win, Chinese film director Jia Zhangke took this year's Golden Lion, the top award at the Venice Film Festival, for his film Still Life. Even more surprising: Ben Affleck won an acting award.Gay students "too shy" to attend class on homosexuality at Fudan?The Chinese lose more than 600 billion yuan each year from gambling. During......

We first learned of Italian photographer Olivo Barbieri's work earlier this year. His unique aerial tilt-shift photos look great online -- and we can't wait to see them in person. Starting tomorrow (Monday) at Bund 18, you can view his "Site Specific" exhibit. From MOCA Cleveland: In site_specific_, his ongoing series of films and largescale stills, Italian artist Olivo Barbieri creates unusual aerial portrayals of various international cities. Filming from a helicopter with a tilt-shift......

The prize package for best 80s outfit at our Happy Hour this Friday sure is heating up. In addition to a bottle of Solid XS Vodka donated by our host Freelance Bar & Grill, the lucky winner will also get two items kindly donated by the self-described "sexiest menswear store in Shanghai" -- MANifesto. (We will force the winner to take a couple Shanghaiist T-shirts off our hands, as well.) The MANifesto prizes are an......

With the World Cup having finally drawn to a close, what better time to review, not the tournament itself, but the various drinking establishments in the city that Shanghaiist frequented during a month of serious boozing and football-watching. Quite simply, there was no better excuse than the world's biggest sporting event to check out some new watering holes, and swell the coffers of Shanghai's already dirt-rich bar owners. Air Bar, 1066 Yan'an Xi Lu, was......

Shanghaiist wasn't expecting a great deal when we went along last night to the opening of Shanghai's newest luxury product, the Costa Allegra cruise ship, which was setting off from the city's port on its maiden voyage. Of even more concern was the dress code on the invitation: "Trendy Elegant." Those are two words that not even Grima Wormtongue could bring himself to label this particular writer with. As things turned out, the night was......

By now, you have likely heard about the CCTV sportscaster who got a little ... ahem ... overzealous during his call of the final horrifying moments of the Australia-Italy match in the World Cup -- but have you actually heard him? Play the clip above to hear just how far down Italy's jockstrap this guy's head was. What an idiot. (Shanghai Daily also offers up an audio clip.) Anyway, Huang Jianxiang, the idiot in question,......

A couple items of interest from the ever-unlinkable South China Morning Post's online Mainland news rundown. These are quick hits that often leave many facts open to interpretation: Shanghai Evening News: Sand from Hainan provides ‘golden beach’ for Shanghai The metropolis’ first “golden beach” will open at the end of this month, to be filled with refined sand shipped from Hainan province. Construction of the 1.3 square kilometre artificial beach, which began in October last......

Shanghaiist went to Big Bamboo early this morning to watch a ref from Uruguay dominate the World Cup match between the U.S. and Italy. Shortly before the 3 a.m. match time, we plopped ourselves down on stools upstairs with a prime view of the bar's only big screen TV. That's when we were told that they were closing the upstairs part of the bar and asking everyone to watch the match downstairs, because they wanted......

As we toss and turn in our sleep, too excited to nod off due to the World Cup being only four days away, it's only reading obsessively about the tournament's history and team news that keeps us sane. All hail then, to Who Ate All The Bratwurst, a site featuring team news, and interesting tidbits of info. There's also a funny comic serious called Evildinho, and videos such as Nelinho's scorching goal from 1978 against......

We found this interesting (kind of) report on people.com.cn (in Chinese) titled “What Are Foreigners Doing on Internet”. This report, written by three Chinese journalists, Zhong Xiang in America,Tang Huiying in France and Lin Xueyuan in Japan, says chatting online is the favourite online activity of the Chinese, Americans usually use internet to search for maps while French people usually write blogs. That sounds exactly right, because Shanghaiist, who is Chinese, is currently chatting with......

Via Gridskipper, we learn that The Observer has singled out some of the world's top hotels, calling them the "Magnificent seven: icons of modern hotel design." A Shanghai property, of course, makes the list: Hotel Unique, Sao Paulo, BrazilThe Kandalama, Sri LankaHotel Marques De Riscal, Rioja, SpainThe Vigilius Mountain Resort, south Tyrol, ItalyThe Grand Hyatt, Shanghai, ChinaBurj Al Arab, DubaiThe Four Seasons, New York Here's what they said about The Grand Hyatt: Against a skyline......

Jimix Seve on Beijing Xi Lu We’re not exactly political animals here at Shanghaiist but by god we’d march on the streets in an effort to outlaw deep-pan pizza. That stuff is just straight-up wrong. Serve us a slice of two-inch-deep pizza and we’re likely to react something like this. (Note: certain colleagues of this contributor may disagree. In fact, we know one or two of them who are particularly partial to CJ Chicago’s knee-deep......

In our half-hearted quest to be your source for Mike-Tyson-in-Shanghai news (really, there doesn't appear to be much competition), we offer you the latest, which isn't much: Mike Tyson, the former World Heavyweight Champion, arrived at Shanghai Pudong International Airport this morning, for a three-day visit in the city. A large crowd greeted Tyson at the airport when he arrived, however, he was quickly whisked off to Jinjiang Hotel on No.59, Maoming Road S., one......

Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang on doing business in China: "We have to think of a way in which the internet phenomenon can continue to grow and reach more users and at the same time comply with local laws. In places like China and other places that have different political regimes I think you'll see them trying to react and potentially regulate these kinds of activities. But our observation is that it is inevitable that things......