Nine months later, the sentences are now beginning to rain down on those the Shanghai government has decided were responsible for the residential blaze in Jing'an district that killed 58 people. Surprisingly, nobody yet is slated to executed. Instead, the highest-profile official has "only" gotten 16 years, which has some of the victims' families upset. more ›

Today is the 49th day of mourning for victims of the Jiaozhou Road fire. The above picture was taken on the seventh day of mourning. more ›

As we expected, a fuller version of the compensation details for those affected by the apartment building fire on Jiaozhou Lu were released this morning. While they are more detailed than the short announcement from last night, there are still some questions to be answered. more ›

Thanks to the 300 or so people who stopped by Kaiba on Kanding Lu Saturday night to help raise funds for the victims of the apartment building fire in Jing'an District. Almost as soon as news of the fire spread, the volunteers at BEAN Shanghai were scrambling to work with the Shanghai Red Cross, Kaiba and the Jing'an government office to find a way to help in the tragedy. In the end, everyone managed to raise 20,543 RMB for the Shanghai Red Cross' "November 15 tragedy" fund, which will help with medical and other costs for the victims. more ›

In the days after the Jing'an fire, there's been a great deal of confusion over the incident: the cause, why it spread so fast, the number of people missing or hurt, but we've had the most conflicting reports over how many lives were lost. In our last post about the fire, we reported that the death toll had risen to 79, relying on a Guardian article and an AP press report for that figure, but it is incorrect. It seems that when news came out that 26 bodies had their identities confirmed via DNA testing, several media mistook that to be an additional 26 deaths confirmed. Those 26 confirmed identities are part of the 53 already accounted for. more ›

We've been watching closely as the horrible events of Monday's fire unfolded but now you can do something to help. BEAN is hosting a special fundraiser at Kaiba to help the victims of the devastating Jiaozhou Lu fire which led to a tragic 53 deaths, inflicted numerous injuries and displaced hundreds more. All proceeds from the drinks event will go directly to the Shanghai Red Cross Jiaozhou Lu fund. more ›

Youku has created a site covering Monday's fire and the aftermath. Unfortunately, the site appears to have become more like an official media mouthpiece: the only videos being uploaded to the page are either news broadcasts or home videos from a distance, most of them simply reshuffling the same footage. We found that almost any Youku video uploaded by eye witnesses has been removed (when searching for 'Shanghai Fire' - 上海大火 - all top results failed to load properly.) Anyway, here are a few clips covering different angles of the day:
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As the search continues for missing people, more and more tales of survival are making their way to the surface. There was at least one happy ending yesterday reported by Xinmin which tells of the amazing rescue of an extremely elderly couple. more ›

We're sure that many of you are deeply concerned about the well-being of loved ones here. So far no news has surfaced that there were any expatriates living in the building. The quarters served as housing for mainly retired teachers and pensioners who taught in schools in the Jing'an area. No official list of dead and missing have been released yet. The one shot we have of a missing persons list shows only Chinese names and the ages listed are almost all 65 years and above. more ›

A summary of the facts so far: The 28-storey apartment building was located at the intersection of Jiaozhou Road and Yuyao Road in the Jing'an district. Containing around 500 apartments, it served mainly as housing for retired teachers and was undergoing some renovations when welding sparks caused the scaffolding catch fire at approximately 2:15pm. The fire spread from the scaffolding to the building itself, completely engulfing the high rise in flames. more ›

This is why you've been hearing sirens this afternoon. A terrible fire has broken out in an apartment block called the Jiaozhou Building (胶州大厦) at 707 728 Jiaozhou Lu Building 1, near the corner of Yuyao Lu in Jing'an. The huge fire is reportedly 10 stories high and the blaze started with the scaffolding. Ambulances have already been called to the scene but photos show there are trapped workers in the building. We'll be following this story closely as more details unfold. Please send tips to tips@shanghaiist.com. more ›

Cooler-than-thou hotel URBN on Jiaozhou Lu (Jing-An) is having licensing issues with its hotel bar, but the "room twentyeight" restaurant is in full swing serving moderately pricey (around 150RMB for a main) food and a good range of drinks. more ›

Way back in '04, when we were young(ish) and brazen, we declared that Da Marco on Yandang Lu had the best pizza in Shanghai. "I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life," is what we said. It was easier to be so sure-minded about pizza back then, because there were very few reasonable options Shanghai. Are there more now? We think so. But perhaps, after nearly six years, our definition of "reasonable pizza" has changed a bit. more ›

Shanghaiist is happy to learn that we finally have a chance to break free from the shackles of political impotence and actually make somewhat of a difference in the increasingly heated U.S. presidential campaign. Democrats Abroad, the overseas branch of the U.S. Democratic Party, is holding its first global presidential primary from February 5th through the 12th. For the first time, expatriates who are American citizens have a chance to vote in the Democratic primary without having to mail in an absentee ballot (or for states that have caucuses, travel back home). According to the organization's press release: more ›

In yet another dose of Shanghai street sign news, we spotted this gem near the junction of Wuding Road. Okay okay we all know Xizang Lu is supposed to be Tibet Road, but does anyone know why Jiaozhou Lu would translate as Jurong Road? Random English translation (we actually know of an actual road by the same name elsewhere in Asia) aside, we are also not sure why the letter "g" is switched to another font instead of Helvetica. more ›

Yes, it's hard hitting reporting like this that has people wondering how we avoid the censors. But we recently found ourself in need of an ACE bandage, known in some parts of the world as an elastic bandage. Back home, we would have just headed to the local drugstore to buy one, but we had heard some people having trouble finding them in Shanghai — so we figured we'd tell you how we found ours yesterday. more ›

All you reggae fans who missed the legendary Byron Lee on his Shanghai tour last year must be kicking yourselves. (Actually, everyone missed the legendary Byron Lee on his Shanghai tour last year, because his band showed up on stage at the Shanghai Centre but he didn’t). more ›

We think that's exactly what we said when we read this email from the fine fellows at China West Entertainment: more ›

Shanghai finishes the summer in style this weekend with a 40-strong DJ performance at Dino Beach under the guise of the Splash! music festival, kicking off at 3 pm this Saturday. more ›

Roller Revival tickets! more ›

CJ Chicago on Beijing Lu more ›

Shanghaiist is tired of living in a black hole of music. After our brother threatened to blackmail us if we asked him to send music AGAIN, we started thinking about alternatives. more ›