"I would like to sincerely apologize for using a sentence in Shanghainese during your language class to answer your question, and for disturbing order during class. There are provisions in the code of conduct for primary and secondary school, where Putonghua must be used. I not only failed to strictly comply, making such a serious mistake in such a serious language class, but also wasted almost 30 minutes of you and your students' valuable time in having this problem addressed. " more ›

"THE number of young girls allegedly sexually abused by a security guard at a city kindergarten now stands at 11, police said yesterday. Another four girls, aged between six and seven, were added to the seven alleged victims previously reported at Tongxing Kindergarten in Minhang District. And officers warned the number is likely to increase further as more parents, who used to be reluctant to report abuse as they feared the exposure would be bad for their child's future, will come forward. Police said some victims' parents were even unaware of what happened. Others are still waiting for medical reports from hospitals." [Shanghai Daily] more ›

"A man turned himself in this morning after stabbing his girlfriend in emotional outbreak. The woman, not identified, was rushed to the hospital and has been in stable condition after emergency treatment. The suspect surnamed Zhang surrendered himself to the Gumei Police Station in Minhang District, the local STV news channel reported. The young pair in their early 20s came from Chongqing and shared a rented apartment at 980 Wanyuan Road in Minhang. The cause of their conflict is not immediately known." [Shanghai Daily] more ›

Update: Souper Fresh Gubei has closed temporarily due to a few operational problems. They're unsure of when they will reopen however, you can still visit their Minhang location. more ›

"ALMOST 50 people were taken away last night by police investigating alleged prostitution at hair salons and foor massage parlors on a street of Minhang District. Police raided more than 10 hair salons and foot massage parlors on Jiangyan Road. Seeing officers approaching, some women inside the venues fled, leaving their belongings such as cell phones and wallets behind. It took an hour for police to round up the suspects at the venues." [Shanghai Daily] more ›

It may be so, at least between 2pm to 8pm on weekdays and 4pm to 8pm on weekends. Located on Hongmei Lu's Laowai Street, Shanghai Brewery has an almost mindbogglingly well-priced happy hour price - their homemade beers are just 28rmb for a big glass (and 20rmb for a smaller one). more ›

It's heeeeereeee - Shanghai Disneyland is breaking ground and beginning construction this Friday. more ›

Sorry about the delay in getting out the latest part of this series. In case you'd forgotten (and rightfully so), we've been searching through a list of 155 unprotected heritage sites in Shanghai. Here is Part I (Baoshan and Hongkou) Part II (Huangpu, Zhabei and Putuo) and Part III (Luwan and Jiading). Part IV is about Minhang and Yangpu. more ›

This past weekend, a group of photographers from the Shanghai Flickr Meetup came together to participate in Help Portrait. Help Portrait (http://help-portrait.com) was first started in the with the idea for photographers to give back to their local community through their equipment and skills. It has since bloomed into a global movement that spans across all the continents, from across the USA to Milan, Tokyo, UAE, Malaysia and Australia. more ›

Six people related to the collapse of the Lotus Riverside building in Minhang have plead guilty to a charge of "causing serious accidents," according to Shanghai Daily. They admitted that several of the builders and construction managers didn't have the right qualifications, which led to the mistakes that caused the 13-floor building to topple. Two major suspects in the case, Que Jingde (former assisting director of Meilong Town) and Zhang Zhiqin (Meidu Real Estate Development's legal representative) didn't appear at the hearing. more ›

Remember that building that collapsed in Minhang last year? According to Shanghai Daily, it might get a nominal facelift (security inspections aside, hopefully): apartment owners want the management to change the name of the complex. Of course, those who already own property in "Lotus Riverside" are fearful the complex's bad rep will affect the already outrageous real estate prices, but the owners of the buildings will only accede if 90% of residents agree. Perhaps both sides should bear in mind our Shakespearian coinage: a property by any other same would topple as easily. more ›

Han Han, our favorite novelist cum race-car driver, posted to his blog yesterday about an incident over the weekend in Minhang involving a woman throwing molotov cocktails at a demolition crew. It was one of the many instances where an individual violently protests against the forced destruction of their home by corrupt government officials (molotov cocktails aren't nearly as intense as setting yourself on fire, though). As much outrage as we could express over forcing people to their personal and physical limits to have themselves heard, we always know that Han Han can do it better. more ›

• The WSJ has a summary of the pajama controversy in the wake of Expo city "improvements". Our take: Who cares? Let Shanghai people wear their damn pajamas. It'll finally lend some authenticity to this whole show already. [WSJ]
• Oh joy of joys! The Haunted House of Suzhou Creek: Shanghai Nightmare is staying open for 8 days past Halloween. In case you wanted to extend the fun. [ChinaTravel]
• Adam Minter's had quite a week. First he ran into one of the most honestly named Shanghai restaurants we've ever seen pictures of: Hong Kong Gimmick. [Shanghai Scrap]

Months after a building in Minhang literally fell over during construction, the infamous complex has finally been given safety certification by government officials. Of course, living in a newly constructed complex that's already seen a building fall down doesn't inspire much confidence, but it hasn't seemed to deter would-be residents: many of the people who bought flats in the collapsed building decided to take unoccupied flats in the building next door, even though there's a chance of structural damage from the accident. Then again, after a building falls down, you would imagine government inspectors would really inspect the complex. We're just sad we missed the tour. more ›

As shameful PR fiascoes tend to do here, the collapse of a Minhang apartment building has now spawned a new set of regulations, to be implemented on October 1. These new construction rules will focus on safety and compel developers to check on the structural integrity, appearance, function and overall quality of apartments they build, according to Xinhua. Homeowners can refuse to pay for units that don't produce a certificate guaranteeing the quality of their apartments and authorities are allowed to hand out fines and create fault records for uncooperative developers. But people are already finding fault with the new rules - namely with the fact that developers are the ones in charge of policing themselves. As one real estate lawyer said, "How can people be their own judges? It is obviously problematic for developers to conduct quality checks on buildings that they constructed... Supervisors cannot be credible either because they are paid by the developers. The government should find an independent third-party." more ›

• Should You Look For Work In China? [Forbes] "The New York Times recently ran an article about young Americans flocking to China for job opportunities because job prospects are so bleak in the U.S. The article made it sound as if it's easy to find a good job there even if you don't speak Mandarin or know much about Chinese culture. Is it really that easy? The answer quite simply is no."
• Lead poisoning sickens 600 kids in China [Salon] "The number of children sickened from lead poisoning has risen to more than 600 in a northern Chinese province where authorities shut a smelter earlier this week thought to have caused the contamination, state media reported. More than 80 percent of the 731 children living in the two villages near the Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Co. in Shaanxi province have tested positive for lead poisoning, nearly double the number reported earlier this week."
• InMusic Festival review - checkit! [China Music Radar] "In China, most events of this scale are announced and then never happen. We expected this would be the same, particularly given that InMusic can barely publish a monthly magazine, no matter organize a multi-day, multi-stage festival with international caliber acts. Yet, being a supporter of the need for more successful festival events in China we were hopeful. As the days approached it became clear that the festival was actually going forward and so with curious anticipation we secured our tickets, packed our tent and headed out of Beijing…"

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 ›

Despite getting docked 10 points by Xinhua (the state-run news agency is reporting a score of 79-68), the U.S. Olympic basketball team cruised past Russia in the team's first defensive struggle leading up to the Beijing Games. Kobe Bryant led the U.S. with 19 points, much to the delight of the crowd at Qizhong Tennis Center in Pudong. The AP reports: "The sellout crowd of 14,523 at this arena built for tennis clearly favored the U.S. team, and Bryant clearly was the fans' favorite. Besides the familiar 'MVP!' chants, fans booed when he was called for an offensive foul in the second quarter, and generally oohed and aahed whenever he squared up to take a shot." Team USA plays Australia at 8 pm on Tuesday, also at Qizhong. Tickets appear to be available, starting at RMB 500 a pop. more ›