A very public spat between "science cop" Fang Zhouzi and former Google China chief Kaifu Lee on Sina Weibo has kept Chinese internet users hooked over the last few days. Fang has attacked Lee's credibility, accusing him of lying about himself in interviews that he has given and in his Chinese biography published in 2009. The Chinese media has lapped up the war of words between the two but the spat has received scant attention outside of China. more ›

Well, according to Indonesian media he is, but in reality, though, Jay Chou is doing just fine. News sources claimed that the Taiwanese pop singer had died of a drug overdose, but his record label quickly dispelled the rumors: he's just in America filming "The Green Hornet." It's not the first time that Jay Chou has supposedly died: in 2004, a Chinese website claimed that he had been run over by a truck, but that obviously wasn't true either. This attempt wasn't any more convincing: though we love him, we know deep down that Jay Chou is definitely not of death-from-overdose musician status. Shanghaiist's prediction for the next Jay Chou death hoax: death by green hornet sting. more ›

The Chinese media is rife with reports of a 25 year old Shanghai woman, Chan Juan (pseudonym), who supposedly gave up her RMB10,000 job, spent RMB100,000 in search of the ideal husband and cycled over 2,000 kilometres from Guangzhou to Shanghai to attend a matchmaking party that was organised just for her. She was promised by the organiser that 1,000 young men would be waiting for her but eventually only two men showed up, one from Shandong and the other from Zhejiang. More than 30 candidates from Shanghai were said to have indicated interest but all chickened out at the last minute.
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WARNING: GORY IMAGES This video clip is circulating big time on the Chinese internet right now, and has received over 470,000 hits and 5,000 comments on Youku within less than a day. And it is just plain disgusting. A security guard at Wenzhou University beats a helpless dog to death as students videotape from above. From the sounds of the students yelling out to the security guard, we imagine they are at a student dormitory.... more ›

Coming up on a year since Berdymukhamedov took power, the Internet is not really any more accessible than it was under Niyazov. There are only a handful of government-run Internet cafes in the capital, Ashgabat, which opened in March. more ›

This photo was taken at the Changshu Lu subway station yesterday. See that new yellow sign? It says:

When the alarm starts sounding and the platform screen door lights start to blink, please do not board or alight the train.

So about a week ago, the news surfaced that German-born Swiss-based couturier Phillipp Plein released a limited edition T-shirt that screamed "F-U-C-K YOU CHINA". OK, it was more like a whisper - the words were only readable up close and as we all know, couturiers are all about subtle elegance. more ›

Every now and then we get an email from a reader that is just too bizarre to keep to ourselves. Just today, we had a reader who found himself so inspired by the controversy surrounding Chinabounder that he decided to write about his own experiences and send it in to us. We couldn't resist sharing it with you! more ›

For more del.icio.us. links, visit the Shanghaiist Contribute page, which is updated throughout the day. more ›

Oh, the fun of Friday nights. After putting back a few drinks at the Shanghaiist party or SCAA charity dinner, a night of great music (Beijing bands) lies ahead. more ›

Image of Yang Huiyan, now China's richest person, from China Daily. more ›

Shanghaiist has a lot of guys on the staff (for a reason we just can't fathom — we really want more female contributors). So, naturally, a tip posted in our Shanghaiist Forums about Shanghai playing host to an International "Miss Bikini" Competition caught our attention. more ›

Property agents in Shanghai have come up with a novel way of giving house buyers important information about the home they intend to buy. Ask them about neighbourhood construction plans for malls, motorways and high rise appartments and they may take you to the third floor of the Urban Planning Museum in People's Square. There lies the model of the grand plan of the city centre for Expo 2010. more ›

We've heard a lot of buzz about Arch opening up a new place on Changshu Lu near Changle Lu. And we had friends who were looking forward to smoke-free Mondays and Wednesdays within walking distance from home. Too good to be true? Seems to be the case based on this email sent out to the aFuturePerfect mailing list by Arch owner Frank Steffen: more ›

It may come as a surprise to some people to learn that the national sport of Ireland is not, as is generally supposed, drinking. Nor is, it would be appear, soccer, given the country's 5-2 drumming at the hands of lowly Cyprus last week. more ›

Shanghaiist decided to have a look at the Annual Adult Care Expo (or "Sexpo" as many call it). Located at the International Exposition center on Xingyi Lu, with a 30 RMB admission fee, the Expo features just about everything related to sex. Much of this was toys -- fancy dildoes and vibrators. As it was last year, there were several exotic toys that take the brain and physical work out of thrusting a piece of plastic into yourself, leaving you to simply lean back and enjoy the ride. more ›

Shanghaiist doesn't drink much (okay, the occasional snifter of brandy at Christmas), and we don't keep a lot of progressive trance on our iPod (none, in fact), but we've enjoyed enough nights on the tiles in Shanghai to speak with some confidence about the different clusters of clubs and bars in this city. more ›

One Ms. Liu, a woman from Shenyang that holds a master's degree, has earned the dubious distinction of being the first jaywalker in Shanghai history to ever be arrested. According to this report, Liu was jaywalking with a friend around Huaihai Lu and Huangpi Lu, when they were stopped by a police officer. Liu refused to pay the fine and the situation became heated, in the ensuing moments Liu began pushing and shoving officer Lin and even scratched him with her nails. Finally, three female cops came over and stuffed her in a police van. When Ms. Liu had to face the press, she said this by way of apology: more ›

We're wondering how long our boycott of the former Cotton's location (more details here and here) was meant to last. One year? Two? Forever? It was pretty easy to boycott when it was Shane Bar -- that place sucked -- but what happens if something good takes over the space? It's just a great spot for a restaurant and bar, which is why we loved it when it was Cotton's. Some guy named Lance feels the same way, according Jarrett Wrisley's latest "new¬ed" column in SH: more ›

Shooping down pristine white slopes has been a recreational option for Shanghai residents since the Yinqixing Indoor Skiing Resort opened back in 2002, but it has taken all that time for Shanghaiist to actually get its all-weather, gore-tex gloves on (Xiangyang Market – 50 kuai) and hit the 45m-high slopes that are apparently "covered in snow of a depth up to 50cm". Well Shanghaiist got a very close look at those slopes, and they are indeed covered in a whole mound of sugary, quicksand-esque snow the likes of which we have never seen in our lives before. It quickly became apparent that one’s board or skis served as the proverbial ladder across a thinly-iced pond, but no need to panic, so long as you’re over one and a half feet tall. more ›

Olympic gold medalist/Shanghainese stud/great Chinese hope Liu Xiang (刘翔) shocked the world by announcing that he intended to obtain a doctoral degree, aka a PhD, in sports management (体育管理). A Chinese athlete going to school towards the end of their career, or even after formal retirement, is not uncommon. For these people, a second career is a necessary reality they have to face, but no one thought Liu would make such an announcement at this phase in his career. more ›

It started with the UK’s semi-successful Pop Stars, which mutated into the very successful Pop Idol, which duly crossed the Atlantic and transfixed the United States as American Idol, and now it would appear that Asia, or more importantly, China, is getting in on the act of making a television sensation out of finding a pop star. Taiwanese entertainment network ETTV is running its second series of Top Idol this summer, in which contestants battle it out for their share of a $50,000 prize fund and the opportunity to sign a contract with ETTV. Last year’s inaugural competition saw wannabes from across Asia, and indeed the US, strutting their stuff, but despite the hype, the audience at the finals in New York numbered little over 100. more ›

Bikes get stolen in Shanghai. Sure, they go missing in New York, or Seattle, but Shanghai seems to have less respect for the lock than most metropoli. When our cute orange folding bike turned up missing last week, Shanghaiist went a bit crazy. While many bike theft victims purchase progressively cheaper bikes, following the theory that "this one's so garbage no one could possibly want it," we went the opposite direction. Walking past Speed Cat Bicycle (site in Chinese) every day might have been the reason. In a tiny little shop that would be comfortable in any US college town, Speed Cat is instantly recognizable by the pile of half-assembled frames outside. more ›