Results tagged “magazines”

Shanghai Talk magazine's website now has stuff

Shanghai TALK is finally really on the web. Though they'd previously launched talkmagazines.cn, the effort was... well, we guess we could call it bare bones. Very pretty, but also more or less useless. The Kristin Kreuk of Shanghai expat magazine websites you could say.

CCP to publish party ideology internationally

Thought China's international media expansions are over? Think again - it seems that they're at it again. The South China Morning Post reported today that the CCP will be launching an English-language version of its venerable magazine Seeking Truth ("Qiushi", 求是).

Wallpaper launches Made in China Issue

Über chic design, trends and lifestyle magazine Wallpaper put a unique twist to the definition of "Made in China" for its special June issue which shines the spotlight on everything, yes, Chinese.

Shanghai's lone mention in 25 years of the Harper's Index

Harper's Magazine recently announced via Twitter that all 25 years of its awesome stats section, Harper's Index, was now available and searchable online here. We searched "shanghai" and got two results. One was about Chairman Mao jackets at Shanghai Tang, and the other was actually related to the city. Here it is, from June 2005: "Percentage change since 1994 in treatment for male infertility and erectile dysfunction in Shanghai: +100." There are considerably more results for "china."

The <em>SH Magazine</em> issue you weren't supposed to see

Late last year we documented SH magazine's trials and tribulations. The English-language weekly stopped publishing in December, but it continues to be a source of drama in 2009. A final "funeral issue" — death themed from front to back — was finished and set for publication on December 19. But the swan song never saw the light of day. Until now. The issue in its entirety can be found after the jump on this post. Here's some back story from someone familiar with the situation:

From a source close to the proceedings: "Asia City Finance Director just made the official announcement: SH will cease publication with the December 19th issue. They're tired of subsidizing the Shanghai office's monthly loss, which is substantial, and in light of the global economy, they're stopping publication. ... They've got a few interested parties who they're in talks with, but nothing has been signed and mid-December is the deadline for that. Their plan for the future: A website. The same one they have now, perhaps not even run by anyone in Shanghai, but instead done by their Hong Kong office." The ellipsis you see in the text above replaced these thoughts from our source: "Cough, cough, bullshit, cough. It's not nearly the whole story, but it certainly provides them a convenient cover for exiting the market. Sales figures were way down well before any of the current economic crises. Cough, cough." Previously: You could be the next owner of SH Mag!

The tiny Shanghai English-language media scene is abuzz with gossips and rumours over just what is going to happen to SH Mag next. Asia City, the publisher of SH which owns similar magazines in regional cities like Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, has apparently put up a "FOR SALE" sign over the magazine.

In our past life as a public relations executive, we were always surprised at how China's media world appears to be in sort of a pre-Cambrian age with as many publications going out of business as there are coming in. Call up all the journalists you've invited after a press conference and there always be bound to be one or two publications that have folded up. Well it appears we haven't quite come out of those pre-Cambrian times yet, and at least the expat magazine circle is beginning to feel the heat. Hot on the heels of the closure of News Views Reviews comes the demise of Hint Magazine. We just received this in our mail from the editors of the publication:

Dear Friends of Hint Magazine,

UPDATE: Dan Bignold, Managing Editor of SH Magazine has posted his response below.

Compiled by Shanghaiist Staff

Above, dear reader, you will see an example par excellence of lazy journalism. The header to this post is about as hackneyed as they come, but then so is the approach of a new periodical we stumbled across this week, the rubbishly titled SLmagazine.

Déjà vu all over again? Here it is once more, Shanghaiist's nearly quarterly review the Douban book Top Ten List: Annie Baby - "Sunian Jinshi" (Beijing-based author, photographer and blogger who writes about love and self-exploration in the big city.) JK Rowling - "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" (Official Chinese version, published by the People's Literature Publishing House.) Markus Zusak - "The Book Thief" (Australian author of Austrian-German heritage writes a WWII book...

Yet. For those who like to keep up to date on Shanghai-English-language-website news — yes, all three of you — head on over to Urbanatomy.com. That's the future home of a new website from the folks at That's Shanghai. And if Urbanatomy.com is as half as good as thatssh.com ... someone seriously needs to be fired over there, because thatssh.com is really quite awful. But they know that — hence the new site. But why...

The weekend is finally here, and despite the buzz surrounding Linkin Park on Sunday, there are plenty of other shows that are also worth checking out. Friday, Yuyintang warms things up for Linkin Park fans with four local nu-metal bands strutting their stuff and letting out their best screams. While over at 4Live, Pixel Toy, from Hong Kong, provide an eccentric mix of Cantonese pop electronica. Opening for them is Banana Monkey. Phreaktion in celebration...

Good English-language books are hard to come by in Shanghai, with Garden Bookstore and Charterhouse Booktrader standing out as the only establishments with decent selections. Seekers of specialty and international art and design-related titles take note--Timezone8 Bookstore in the M50 art complex on MoGanShan Rd is having an overstock clearance sale on all titles except magazines, Chinese-language, and consignment titles. The sale ends Friday, August 24th, so get there fast to splurge on all those...

audiobook.jpgWe have just got into audiobooks. It's a great way of getting hold of new reading material without having to wait weeks for it to clear customs. They are great for summer holidays, because audiobooks can be downloaded from the Internet to your MP3 player without taking up any extra baggage space.

Whatever the case may be, naysayers at the time of Hong Kong's return (including Time and Fortune which predicted the demise of Hong Kong) have all been proven wrong. Led by the buoyant mainland economy, Hong Kong continues to boom and thrive today.

Last Sunday, Beijing took another step in diversifying its mammoth US$1.2 trillion (that's 1,200,000,000,000) foreign reserve by purchasing a US$3 billion stake in US private equity giant the Blackstone Group.

This is a little old, but we have a feeling many of you haven't seen it yet. From what we have read and seen (front row last month at Yunfeng Theater) of ?uestlove, drummer for The Roots, we always thought the man also known as Ahmir-Khalib Thompson would be a pretty cool guy to hang out with. And then someone told us to check out his blog on MySpace and now our new goal in life is get invited to one of ?uestlove's cookouts should we ever leave Shanghai and move back to rockin' Conshohocken. His blog is an entertaining and honest glimpse into the life of a celebrity, although it seems as though he's not really sure if he feels like a celebrity yet.



  • "Drafting a new licensing rule for online magazines is on the agenda of China’s administration of press and publication, which will require online magazines to obtain license from the government before publishing, China Business News reported."




  • "To counter the trend, here's our list of Shanghai cafes that still keep the free wifi faith."




  • "Shanghai's efforts to build a city-wide taxi call center has suffered a body blow with the decision of Haibo, its biggest member company, to quit the 96965 hotline service, the Youth Daily reported today."




  • "Allowing street business on the two streets will not only affect tourists' impressions of the city but will also hamper traffic flow, the bureau said in a proposal about rules for street stalls, the Oriental Morning Post reported today. "




  • "The suspects range in age from 15 to 18 years old and all hail from Anhui Province, according to prosecutors. They allegedly couldn't find jobs in the city and decided to steal some money to return home."




  • "The ruling came amid U.S. pressure for Beijing to stop rampant copying of music and other goods."




  • "U.S. complaints to the WTO over commercial piracy in China will 'badly damage' cooperation, Vice Premier Wu Yi warned on Tuesday, insisting that China has made great strides in protecting patents and copyrights."




  • "China's chief censor has been been removed from his post, state media reported Tuesday, following an outcry this year over a reported decision to ban eight books."




  • "A Chinese college has introduced fingerprint scanners to stop students playing truant ... Meiya College of International Studies at Hunan University spent 250,000 yuan (16,000 pounds) last year to install the scanners in each of its 30-plus classrooms."




  • "Chinese authorities acknowledge the safety problem and have promised repeatedly to fix it, but the disasters keep coming."


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

    Photo by spiky247 found via the Shanghaiist Contribute page.

    Shanghaiist likes reading sciencey stuff. We are often seen browsing through the archives of Science Magazine, The Scientific American and New Scientist magazines akin to how your Mum might flick through weekly gossip rags like Who Weekly or OK! magazines.



  • "China Digital Times has noted a Wall Street Journal article that reports on heightened sensitivities around the subject - sensitivities that may have resulted in the current issue of the business magazine Caijing being pulled and revised."




  • "A member of China's parliament has demanded the immediate closure of a Starbucks coffee shop set up inside Beijing's Forbidden City, the Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday."




  • "Ads for soft drinks and fashion magazines have crept onto Chinese campuses - not only spoiling the ambiance but undermining the very essence of education in the arts and sciences."




  • "The majority of the foreign visitors expected during the 2008 Games have religious beliefs, and we should cater to their needs," said Liu Bainian, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).




  • "What is the truth about the 'green paint on the mountain in Fumin county, Yunnan' incident that shook up the nation? Does the local government bear any responsibility? Was this the act of an individual businessman?"




  • "In a joint statement released late Sunday, the Supreme People's Court, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Justice and the country's top prosecutor also said condemned prisoners should not be paraded through the streets and suspects should not be tortured."




  • "The government took its assault on the internet gaming world a step further this week with an announcement that it perceives the explosion in virtual currencies used in a variety of online gaming forums – everything from Second Life to World of Warfare to virtual poker rooms – as a serious threat to its national security."




  • "The overall airport reconstruction project in the western China region will cost 52 billion yuan (6.5 billion US dollars), including an input of 9.6 billion yuan (1.2 billion dollars) and the sum is higher than the input for the same use in east China, according to media reports from the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC)."




  • "Apple has sent a letter to Shanghai Municipal Consumer Interest Protection Commission and said that it will make improvements on its after-sales service, which has seen many complaints from Chinese users."




  • "Until now, one kind of establishment has eluded the city: the boutique hotel. But a new wave of these hotels are opening this year, providing yet another lure to entice the young international travelers who are already flocking to this city, whose transformation is occurring at breathtaking speed."




  • "Yet nearly three months later, the deal's appeal among consumers and financial community is waning after an initial burst of interest, according to Tom Group Inc., one of Tom Online's largest shareholders."




  • "China expects to start making large commercial aircraft developed domestically by 2020, an aviation industry official said Monday, raising the possibility of competition for Boeing and Airbus in the country's booming market for new planes."




  • "More than 200 top athletes of extreme sports from America, Brazil, Japan and other Asia-Pacific countries and regions will compete for over US$100,000 on X Games Asia 2007 this May in Shanghai." America? Brazil?




  • "Thousands of residents in the districts of Xuhui, Minhang and Pudong have already been told that move they must. Many feel taken by surprise. Expressions of opposition have proliferated on the internet."




  • "Bookshop owners in Shanghai are snapping at an influx of camera-wielding pirates taking photos of pages to avoid paying for pricey books, local media reported on Monday."




  • "A fierce strike from midfielder Yu Tao seven minutes into the second half, however, gave Shenhua victory over Shandong on Sunday and earned the team a share of a two million yuan ($258,300) bonus from multimillionaire owner Zhu Jun."




  • "Silvercross, the iconic British pram company that supplied generations of Windsor babies, has struck a deal to sell its products in China, becoming the latest UK company to cash in on the booming Chinese middle class desire for heritage brands." Pram?




  • "Traffic authorities in Shanghai will link cycling lanes around the city this year to create a network of lanes with no obstructions, as one of several measures to improve conditions for drivers and cyclists in the city."




  • "The Shanghai Call Centre, which was launched almost a year ago, provides both English and Chinese information about tourist destinations, culture, sports, trade, medical care and other issues concerning daily life in Shanghai."




  • "Please note: supermarket is fine tuned for convinience, not neccessary for price, or quality. If you want more fresh vegetables, and fruits, many some local market is better, such as the Beicai Market nearby."




  • "China will intensify controls of the growing numbers of bloggers using the Internet to lay bare their thoughts, politics and even bodies, the country's chief censor has announced."




  • "All company-operated and licensed Starbucks stores in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Greater China will be giving away free Tall (12-ounce) cups of coffee to anyone who drops by."




  • "I want to use the blog to not only discuss the development of Chinese Movie Database, but also the movie news that interests me, and my experiences of movie going, and perhaps other things."




  • "A Chinese lawmaker has proposed a tax on urban dog-owners to curb growing numbers of the animals and to fight rabies, state media has reported."




  • "A new property law is a breakthrough, even though it raises hopes that one-party rule may dash"


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

    Photo by Mike Chen found via the Shanghaiist Contribute page.

    Shanghai's little slice of designer heaven just got a little fatter. Bridge 8, the creative compound that houses 4 Live and what some respected critics say is the best steak in town, has reached its artsy tentacles across the street in an expansion that will see some real estate open up for new and existing tenants. One of those is the new Point to Life bookstore, with a collection dedicated entirely to the rich category of design.

    Last Saturday, Shanghaiist was invited to attend the unveiling of Shanghai's newest gallery space, m97. Once we negotiated the tricky shared building entrance, we made our way to the second floor and was immediately impressed by the physical space and airy nature of the gallery. The grand opening featured an exhibition of by emerging Beijing photographer and artist Jiang Zhi titled "Things Would Turn Simpler Once They Happened". Immediately we had diametrically opposing thoughts. "How were these photos taken?", and "I don't quite get it...". We wished that our interpretation of the photographic exhibition was as simple as the exhibition's title, but we assume this is the art part of the exhibition. Here's a little about Jiang Zhe (pictured below) and his exhibit from information posted by m97.

    star Adrian Grenier, who misses NYC public transportation when he's working in LA. They also reported on NYU students protesting a band whose name is also known as a slur, the new graffiti king in town, Bill Cosby's adorable dog, and the disturbing tale of a yoga instructor who was found guilty of killing his girlfriend, a dancer from Ohio who stripped to make ends meet.

    As Shanghaiist recently reported, AIDS in China continues to be a serious, rapidly growing problem. Much of the current epidemic stems from illegal blood selling in Henan Province during the mid 1990s. Dr. Gao Yao Jie , an activist for AIDS patients in Henan Province, estimates that up to1 million people are infected in Henan province alone. In spite of this, HIV/AIDS still has a reputation in China as a disease of “marginal groups” like drug users, prostitutes, and men who have sex with men. This stigma keeps many infected persons from getting tested or informing their families/friends/lovers of their condition.

    It is said that the first step toward recovery is admitting that you have a problem. Of course, this begs the question: recovery from which problem? Whatever the impetus for these changes, China has finally admitted to taking the organs of executed prisoners. Does this mean an end of the free-flow, all-you-can-afford, buffet-bonanza on the virile organs of hapless young peasants executed under one of China's 70 capital crimes?

    1 2