Oh the humanity! Oh the travesty! Our dear Luwan will soon be no more thanks to a central government plan that was just passed yesterday. The new land mass, a merger of Huangpu and Luwan districts, will just be called Huangpu. more ›

Well color me surprised: LOgO has found itself a new spot at 107 Sinan Lu near Taikang Lu, just a block away from the sprawling cafe-dom of Tianzifang. According to the guys at Lune, they'll be taking over the old Sound Blue space and turning it into the divey joint we all knew and loved. Still - we're hesitant to get too attached: Luwan district is not exactly known for its love of loud noises and big crowds in the middle of the night. more ›

Part III of an ongoing series taking a closer look at all of Shanghai's 155 "important heritage sites" that are currently unprotected. Here are the locations in Luwan (French Concession!) and Jiading Districts - which housed the creator of the Chinese alphabet (bopomofo!), the poor discarded second wife of Chiang Kai-shek, and China's best art forger. more ›

If you've ever wanted to know the nitty gritty about preserving and/or buying one of those beautiful lane houses - or really, anything built before 1949 - still dotted along the city (especially before they get torn down and replaced by another skyscraper), Shanghai Scrap has an informative interview with Amy L. Sommers, who recently co-published "A Tragedy of the Common: Property Rights Issues in Shanghai Historic Residences" with Kara L. Phillips of the Seattle University Law Library. more ›

More photos on the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site (and here). more ›

These days it seems like violence on TV should be the least of a parent's worries - rather the threat is allegedly much greater online. According to Shanghai Daily, Zun Long Ming She, translated as 'Dragon Society', is one of a growing number of online communities that are encouraging or inciting Chinese youths to commit crimes and dole out violence. Formed in June 2008, Dragon Society has recruited 169 members, consisting of “local natives who lacked a caring family and children of migrant workers.” Like any online social networking site, members of Dragon Society were able to share pictures and information, “showing off their tattoos and knives and organizing robberies and attacks” just as a group of Facebook friends would tag each others pics and drum up interest in club parties. The government began cracking down on them after a boy in Luwan District was beaten and stabbed by five other boys, allegedly ordered to do so by one of the site's leaders. Since then, the victim has helped the police to identify members of Dragon Society as well as provide more information on the functions of similar websites. Photo from aranarth@flickr.com more ›

The Shanghai Daily reports that in Luwan, people who want to raise dogs will only be allowed to do so pending the agreement of their neighbors. Here's what they say:

The pilot program has been launched in the district in a bid to avoid neighborhood disputes caused by dogs, the district's public security bureau director said yesterday. more ›

2012 could be your special year. Construction began yesterday on metro Line 12, which will connect Minhang district with northern Pudong, passing through Xuhui, Luwan, Jing'an, Zhabei, Hongkou and Yangpu along the way. Most eye-popping line: "Nineteen stations on Line 12 will connect with 16 other Metro lines." Line 19 (still in planning stage) being one of them. It doesn't seem too long ago that there were only two metro lines and there would be a mad dash for open seats at Shanghai Railway Station, because that is where Line 1 began. It doesn't seem too long ago, because it wasn't. By 2012, Shanghai is supposed to have 13 metro lines covering 500 kilometers. [Shanghai Daily] more ›

Some 3,000 single men and women gathered last week at the Luwan Stadium for a mass matchmaking session, and by all appearances it looked like a very successful event. The men lined up in rows while the women went past them (do we detect some sexism there?) and if anyone liked each other, they could have a quick chat and exchange numbers. Some speed dating event that will make even the Moonies with all their lavish mass weddings eat their heart out. more ›

FCC (tasty but in overly small portions) and Golden Bull (crap) aside, we were dismayed when Le Garcon Chinois stopped serving Vietnamese on its menu (because we haven't had a chance to go try it after all that we have heard). So it's opportune that we stumbled upon the newly-opened Pho No. 1 at Taikang Lu the other weekend. In spite of the mediocre review we've recently read, we think they did up decent enough pho to satiate our craving nevertheless. more ›