A month after the tragedy in Sichuan you’d be forgiven for feeling a little compassion fatigue. Whilst the focus of the recovery process has changed from the desperate speed of the first few days, there is still a lot of work to be done repairing damage both physical and emotional. On that theme then, tonight sees an event hosted by a group of Shanghai’s creative arts and fashion crowd called Heartbeat in Putuo. The organisers......

... and going with strange girls who want to practise their English to coffee shops is STILL a bad idea, folks. Yet another chump — this time a Swedish guy on a business trip — has fallen for the time-honoured scam by following a pair of temptresses who were "dressed like university students" (so wearing mortar boards, presumably) to the Manabe coffee shop on the 3rd floor of the Brilliance Shimao Plaza, Shanghai Daily reported......

... and spotted doing menial tasks like sweeping the roads, picking up the trash, cooking and putting up pictures of Chairman Mao. No, really, it's just the Red Laowai in his latest incarnation. Tired of singing Chinese commie propaganda songs, he became Jay Chou for a while before donning on his uniform again to become Comrade Lei Feng, the soldier in whose footsteps the youth of China have been indoctrinated to follow. In this latest......

We weren't really keen on seeing any version of Lust, Caution, but after finally giving in and ponying up the cash at the local theater (stupid, we know), we watched the sanitized version. Our impression of the movie, sans steamy sex, was that this movie wasn't really all that it was hyped up to be. However, given that about half an hour was taken out, we suspected that we didn't just get a child-friendly film—we......

Ladies (and guys with long hair), resist from buying those cheap hair bands you find at the mom and pop stores in your 'hood because the news is out that some of them are made from USED condoms. China Daily cites an unnamed dermatologist with the Guangzhou Hospital of Armed Police who says viruses and bacteria abound on these hair bands recycled from condoms and users could be infected with AIDS, genital warts and other......

Back in the office and just can't concentrate on work? Here's a bunch of useless links we gathered that you can entertain yourself with (while pretending to look oh-so-busy)! The Opposite End of China pulls out more old China news from the New York Times archive. Eye-catching headlines include: "Moslems capture West China cities", "Sinkiang capital falls", "Mohammedans capture Urumchi, Nanking may send mediator", "New state is formed by Eastern Sinkiang", and "The Living Buddha......

Shanghaiist's mailbox has been inundated by emails from all you naughty girls out there asking when the launch party to that Shanghai Hairy Crabs nude rugby calendar will be held. Well, gurls, mark your calendars and save the date! The action happens this Thursday at MAO from 8pm onwards! RMB200 gets you a Solid Vodka open bar, snacks, a goody bag, and yes a copy of that calendar (we know you've been waiting for it).......

Have you (like us) waited until the last minute to get your Halloween costume even though back in September you promised yourself you'd start putting it together early this year? Not to worry. Shanghaiist has you covered. Here's a list of places to get pre-made Halloween costumes and accessories that we put together last year. We've given them a call and apparently they're all still up and running. If any of you finds any other......

The massive NBA marketing machine rumbled through Shanghai last night in the first of three “China Games,” the latter two to be held in Macau beginning tonight. The pre-season game between the Orlando Magic and the Cleveland Cavaliers was held at the Qizhong Sports Stadium in the Min-hang district. Some observations: The stadium is FAR. We’re literally talking “120 RMB cab ride to a place literally off the Shanghai city map” far. The sad thing......

Everyone's having their own little calendar these days it seems. Second Chance Animal Aid recently came up with one, and this time, it's the boys from The Shanghai Rugby Football Club and Shanghai Hairy Crabs, and they've shed their clothes for a good cause! Shanghaiist caught a sneak preview of some of the pics, and connoisseur of men that we are — we're telling you these boys will give Dieux du Stade a good run......

Building off of the success of last year’s 1st ever Chili Cook-off, Bubba’s is once again hosting the event this weekend (October 20, 12pm-5pm), which they alliteratively proclaim will be “bigger, better, and with more room to roam.” For starters, we have moved the cook-off to the street that runs alongside Bubba's Bar-B-Que (between us and Marriott Hong Qiao). It is a nice, tree-lined street and we're gonna close that sucker down to traffic......

This cute little video is from an English teacher in Taiwan who came up with a way to teach his kids English... the MC Hammer way. We wish school was this fun for us, and hopefully the clip will inspire all TEFL teachers out there. From Daryl Caesar:The final performance is here! The kids were totally petrified, and performed way worse than the rehersals, but what can I expect from 5 year olds dancing and......

Remember the little 8 year old girl Zhang Huimin whose father made her run from Sanya, Hainan all the way to Beijing, wearing out 20 pairs of shoes and covering a staggering 3,560 km in 55 days? This time, another girl, Huang Li (黄澧), 10 years old, had her hands and feet bound by her father before being thrown to swim in the chilly waters of the Xiangjiang River (湘江) for 3 hours. Apparently, her......

This is the trailer for a new British documentary which the Chinese embassy in London is apparently trying to stop Channel 4 from broadcasting, according to the Sunday Times. From the filmmakers:With extraordinary access to devastated parents desperately searching for their stolen son; a man who brokers the deals and has sold his own offspring; and prospective parents grappling with giving up their soon-to-be-born daughter through lack of options, we are brought face to face......

About 100 Chinese teachers are expected to arrive at state schools in the United Kingdom (yes, that haven of foreign language education) by next year, but schools which have already employed some of those teachers in their classrooms (which they described as "lovely") have already found problems, such as the following:"Their lack of familiarity with the English system of discipline, target setting etc is a problem.""They also tend to have different, perhaps unrealistic, expectations of......

The Pet Paradise Asia 2007 expo opened in pavilion W5 of the New International Expo Center to commercial representatives early on Thursday, and to the public on Saturday for a second two-day run. When Shanghaiist dropped by yesterday afternoon, the place was hopping — booths retailing pet supplies and giving away samples, a dog show, and plenty of pet fans eager to pet anything furry and barking/meowing. Most of the exhibitors were targeting dog......

This week's Adoptable Pet from Second Chance Animal Aid, Shanghaiist's adopted animal charity. From the SCAA: Bitsy is an eight-year-old Australian silk terrier cross. She was brought to China when her family moved here from Australia and unfortunately, the family had to return to Australia unexpectedly soon after arriving in Shanghai. Australia has a strict pet import regulation (six months quarantine!) so the family made the tough decision to leave their dear old lady behind.......

Woohoo! It looks like a Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway is coming our way soon that will cut travelling time from 13 hours to under five hours! Shanghaiist can't wait! This will undoubtedly give those darned Beijing-Shanghai "air express services" a run for their money! In other travel news, ANA will commence a code-sharing agreement with Shanghai Airlines and Air China on flights operated by ANA and Shanghai Airlines between Tokyo's Haneda Airport and Shanghai's Hongqiao......

Two days ago, we received this email from a local event promoter: Believe it or not, after alot of back and forth, Public Enemy is coming to Shanghai on September 11. You heard me. If you don't know who they are, you need to re-evaluate your knowledge of Hip Hop. 900 tickets are left as of this email. You excited? I am. We were excited — we (despite being white and rural) grew up listening......

This group of women in Guangxi Province's Nanning (南宁) have just completed their state-sponsored training and received their certification as trained maternity matrons (月嫂), who according to our favourite English-Chinese dictionary, are maids -- usually married women who already have their own kids -- that are hired to take care of mothers and their newborns ("Chinese women traditionally are confined indoors for a month after delivering a baby on the grounds that they are particularly......

Zhejiang Satellite TV's Citizens Take Action 《绿原公民行动》has uncovered the most extraordinary story of a woman, Wang Xiaocui (王晓翠) who has been rescued from an underground hole in Lin County, Lu Liang District, Shanxi Province. Barely 2 square meters in area, the hole was home for Wang, and this was where she would eat, drink, sleep and take care of ALL her bodily functions everyday for six long years. As it turned out, Xiaocui was bought......

The principal of the 150-student Henan Child Prodigy School (河南神童学校), Zhang Xuexin (张学新) says he has devised a revolutionary method of training the right brain of children to make them child prodigies. His students can not only memorise their textbooks and ancient poetry, they can actually recite them backwards. Throughout the school and around classrooms, one sees banners such as “China's first school that teaches education of the total brain" (中国第一所全脑教育学校), “Today's child prodigy, tomorrow's......

Back in April we did a post on the top ten books favored by the users of Douban.com, a book review and recommendation site. Since that time, tastes have changed and new books have been released so it's about time to take a new look at the site's top ten: JK Rowlings - "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" (Does this need an explanation?) Han Han - "The Glorious Day I" (Magical realism from Shanghai......

An innovative Chinese couple seeking a unique and distinctive name for their baby have arrived at the "@" sign, which in Chinese sounds like "love him" (爱他). Naturally, language officials (yes, those guys have struck again) were not amused. The unidentified couple were cited by Li Yuming, Vice-Chairman of the National Language Commission (国家语委) as an example of bizarre names that Chinese people were trying to give their children. In the Report on the Use......

Shanghaiist has been having a little bit of a love affair with Shanghai's kitchens of late, being literally courted by the dessert course. First there was Whisk, the leader of the chocolate pack. Then followed La Creperie, server of "comfort food for a crappy day." And now the latest edition to the saccharine team: Sugar. It might have only been open for a mere week, but with a name like that, we couldn't wait to......

Disgruntled Shanghaiist critics will have a fit when they realize that the prison in question is in the Philippines. To which I reply, "Black or white, Chinese or Phils: Jack-o knows no borders." The talented inmates in question reside at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center. In this video, hundreds of inmates perform the King of Pop's most famous choreography (right after moonwalking, the surgical destruction of one's face, and dodging molestation charges-- the......

Gil Kim is a professional baseball player from Pottsville, Pennsylvania, which we are sure you all know is the home of Yuengling Lager (and is not too far from Bloomsburg, which we are sure you know is home to the Bloomsburg Fair). After graduating from Vanderbilt University, where he was "primarily a role player," Kim spent 2006 playing with the Omron Pioniers, a minor league team in Amsterdam, Netherlands. In 2007, he was signed by......

For one reason or another, when it comes to nightlife, Shanghaiist has its reservations about the Bund. Sure, we do the promenade/requisite bar crawl when out-of-towners come to play but, at the end of the day, we’re just not sold on it. (Our aversion was further amplified upon recently discovering a Facebook group called “THE SHANGHAI ELITE” – yes, they’re so elite they need to shout their name wherever they go. The activities of this......

Harshing the mellows of college kids all over China, the Ministry of Education has announced a ban on off-campus student housing:In a notice issued on Friday, the ministry instructed all universities to make the dormitories "another front for political and ideological education" to create "a good climate for the students' growth." The ministry told the universities to strengthen the administration of dormitories, in what it says will ensure the safety of students and heighten communication......

A 29 year old Japanese man, Saitou Takuya (斋藤卓也) who is madly in love (so he thinks) with a girl he saw on the Beijing subway has put up a video of her (that he secretly took with his cell phone, he admits) and asked the public to help him in his search for her. He looks and sounds very desperate to find her in his video uploaded on Youku (we are beginning to LOVE......