Translation of captions:OPPOSING THE SHANGHAI MAGLEV ONSTRUCTION PLAN: 10,000 RESIDENTS TAKE PART IN THE 'HARMONIOUS WALK' NEAR PEOPLE'S SQUARE On 12 Jan, Saturday, as agreed through signs that had been placed through the various affcted neighbourhoods, people gathered at 2pm at People's Square for the "harmonious walk". At 2pm, over 100 people had gathered by the Urban Planning Museum. There were about 30 policemen and 10 police cars. These were all normal policemen, there were......

In a report just released an hour ago, Reuters tells us that Shanghai housing rights activist, Chen Xiaoming, who was one of seven Chinese activists awarded the 2006 Housing Rights Defender Award by the Geneva-based Centre for Housing Rights and Evictions, "has died hours after he was released on medical parole". From the Reuters report: Shanghai authorities had repeatedly rejected applications by Chen Xiaoming's family to release him on parole for treatment for a chronic......

Shanghai Daily tells us that all businesses in Xintiandi and along Huaihai Road, "especially foreign-brand stores", must add Chinese names to their signs and must do so before this Sunday. According to Yang Jishi, of the Economic Commission in Luwan District:This is part of a long-term project to crack down on foreign-language-only signs, which not only are a barrier to understanding for most Chinese, but also violate the law on language Hmm. What law, we......

The back cover of yesterday's Xinmin Evening News featured the photograph to the right accompanied by an article centered on Mr Ding, a worker who has been employed at Shanghai historic Jiangnan Shipyard for 42 years. The reason that the photographer wrote the article is because he finally got the chance, through a photography contest, to tour the limited-access factory that was founded in 1856. And the reason that the newspaper published the article is......

Quit Smoking with Lasers "This window was on a nondescript building near my new office. The characters mean 'laser' and 'quit smoking,' begging the question: how exactly do you use lasers to quit smoking?" Metro work to throttle more roads "Among the affected areas, sections of Xizang Road S., Minli Road W. and Dalin Road in Luwan District were shut down yesterday because of Metro Line 8 construction, according to the city's Engineering Administrative......

We'll admit it: When we first saw the map at ShanghaiClimb.com, we thought it might be an addendum to the "14 ways to die in Shanghai" map. But it's not (not yet, at least -- as far as we know no one died during the first month that normal folk were allowed to walk to the top of the world's longest arch bridge). On April 28, the Shanghai Yangzi International Travel Agency opened the Lupu......

Shanghai Star -- which looks seriously f*cked on both of our browsers -- has a story about the uncertain future faced by two of Shanghai's old Russian Orthodox churches. The Mission Church, at 55 Xinle Lu, used to house a bar/club called The Dome, but has sat empty since that place closed nearly two years ago. And then there is St. Nicholas Military Church, 18 Gaolan Lu. Its latest tenants, restaurant/bars Ashanti Dome and Boca,......