Shanghai will become the world center of yuan trading, clearing and pricing by 2015, according to a new plan published by the National Development and Reform Commission. The plan will see the total value of financial market transactions nearly tripling to 1,000 trillion yuan (US$158 trillion). more ›

Chinese automaker Chery has entered a 50-50 joint venture with investment firm Israel Corp to launch Qoros, a new made-in-China car brand which aims to “combine German design quality and craftsmanship with Japanese convenience and functionality”. Former Volkswagen AG executive Volker Steinwascher will serve as vice chairman of the new brand which aims to generate annual sales of about 150,000 vehicles a year by 2016, half of which will be exported to Europe. more ›

The weather couldn't have been better today for the first farmer's market at the Jiashan courtyard. The day was beautiful, sunny, and warm, which gave people every reason to come out and shop all the goods up for sale at the market. Fresh fruits, veggies, cheese, homemade jams, hummus, cookies, crepes, wine, cold cuts of meat, it was all there. We're already looking forward to next month's one. more ›

Thought that story of the human milk-producing cows was creepy? Now wait till you hear this one! more ›

Scenes from the Sanlin Market, an area in southern Pudong that, up until the Expo was built right above it, was largely ignored. The video was shot by trevmar on Vimeo. more ›

With only nine short days before Christmas, it's time to start shopping for gifts, if you haven't already. If you've got a long list of things to buy, and a little bit of extra time on your hands, it might be a good idea to skip the already crowded fake markets and head for the city of Yiwu. CnnGo has a great pictorial on the small market town just two hours outside of Shanghai which sells just about everything under the sun, albeit in bulk. The pictures make Yiwu look like the happy version of Santa's workshop: toys neatly piled and waiting to be opened by happy children around the world, bearing no resemblance to the harsh and soulless factories they escaped from just in time for Christmas. 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 ›

Even as news of the sudden closure of the Hong Kong-listed Dongguan-based toy manufacturer Smart Union, a key supplier to Mattel and Disney, continue to hog international headlines, framed against the backdrop of the ongoing financial crisis that has spread from the United States to the rest of the world, Xinhua says it has the "whole truth" on those closures, and makes the case that many other toy factories had been closing since the start of the year and the most recent closures have little to do with economic troubles in the U.S.:

While there are reports that in the first seven months of the year, more than 3,600 toy makers already went out of business in China thanks to factors such as rising wages and material costs. 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 ›

By Wee Ling Soh more ›