It's been over a month since the infamous Minhang building collapse and construction crews are finally coming in to clean up the site. Yesterday around noon, six bulldozers drove into the Lotus Riverside apartment complex to begin the removal work, according to Shanghai Daily. more ›

What is it with buildings in Minhang? First that notorious Minhang building collapse happened, and now it seems like another building in the district has serious construction problems too. more ›

Shanghai Daily has been covering the crap out of the Minhang building collapse story (and good for them - it gives us something to blog about). Not only did Shanghai Meidu's construction company ignore "obvious warnings" of impending danger by piling up tons of soil next to the riverbank (a mistake experts are calling the antithesis of using common sense), it also ignored actual vocal warnings from supervisors at the site. Meanwhile, the possibility of graft being involved somewhere is still high. Minhang district authorities will be investigating whether several government officials had owning stakes in Shanghai Meidu. That would explain how the real estate company managed to get the land for one-third the price of plots bought in the same area. more ›

Perhaps of no surprise, an official website has revealed that the land of the now infamous toppled Minhang building was sold at a severe discount. The official Shanghai Real Estate Appraisers Association website found that Shanghai Meidu Real Estate Co. had paid only 46 million RMB for 42,342 square meters of land - roughly 604RMB per square meter. The average price for apartments in the collapsed building was 14,297RMB per square meter. Most interestingly, it seems that bidding for the land was only open to select companies and Shanghai Meidu had gotten a temporary license specifically to participate. It makes us wonder what other weird happenings and hidden going ons were buried under those collapsed foundations. Source: Shanghai Daily more ›

Following the collapse of the 13-floor unfinished building in Minhang, over 250 home owners have demanded refunds or compensation from the developers of the "Lotus Riverside" compound. While the government sorts out what type of compensation the angry homeowners should get, it has stopped the developer, Shanghai Meidu Real Estate, from selling anymore of its 629 homes and taken "appropriate control measures" against nine people. The tower toppled over on Saturday morning, killing one worker who had gone in to fetch his tools. 132 households were evacuated shortly after the collapse. They returned to "Lotus Riverside" on Sunday night after their homes were confirmed safe. Source: Xinhua more ›

• A building in the Minhang district tottered over and collapsed after the riverbed it was built right next to rose. Surprisingy, it stayed almost completely intact. Sadly, one worker died. [ESWN]
• Things you probably won't see in the print version: CityWeekend visits a gay bathhouse to help hand out free condoms. [CityWeekend]
• Shanghai mourned the death of Michael Jackson with tributes at Shelter and a memorial event at People's Square. [EastDay]

Around 6:40 this morning, the scaffolding of the elevated on Huaxiang Lu near Beiqing Lu in the Minhang District collapsed in the construction area. More than 10 construction workers had been standing on the scaffolding before it suddenly crashed down. Immediately after the collapse, 120 emergency technicians rushed to the scene and brought the injured people to Qu Jing Hospital. According to Xinmin, one construction worker had died and another six have suffered injuries. more ›

Minhang commuters and residents have been enjoying free bike rides for the last two weeks. No its not a rash of bike stealers - in fact, it's actually a new government sponsored program partially intended to curb theft. more ›

... why not get a terracotta one instead? That statue on the right, ladies and gentlemen, is Roger Federer. more ›

The NBA is coming to Shanghai again on October 17. This time the Cleveland Cavaliers, fresh off the worst NBA Finals performance we have ever seen, take on the Orlando Magic. If meaningless preseason hoops is your thing, start booking tickets to Minhang District now. The game is being played way the hell out there at the Shanghai Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center. And for those of you who remember the 2004 Shanghai clash between the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings (tickets for which started at US$12) you might be interested to know that tickets for the 2007 version start at US$105. Now, we know the dollar has gotten weaker ... but this seems like a greedy move for a sport and league that should be trying to appeal to the common man. (UPDATE: According to the seating chart, it looks like very few nose-bleed seats were priced at RMB 200, but maybe they are sold out.) more ›

to embroil a listed company this year. more ›

Lucky for Shanghaiist, we won't be. But we certainly feel for people who will be stuck in the city for the holidays. So we've compiled an incomplete list of a few things to keep you occupied while your friends are back home drinking eggnog and getting wasted with family around the Christmas tree. more ›

Time is running out for Shanghaiist. His wife … (okay, we tried using “Our wife” just then, but there was something not right about it -- so we’re going to break The Rule of the First-Person Plural for part of this post). His wife gets back from her long teacher’s holiday tomorrow, and he needs to buy two replacement cactuses for the apartment, quick smart. more ›

... this is ridiculous. A 25-year-old Shanghai woman, Tang Xiaowan, has been arrested and charged with manslaughter after killing her husband with a sword ... because he wouldn't cook for her. "It is really rare that a family tragedy is caused by a high-maintenance wife," said a Minhang District prosecutor. Um, high maintenance? Is that how bad it is in Shanghai now? Women wielding swords are just "high maintenance"? From the Shanghai Daily: more ›

Photo by 2 dogs taken from the Shanghaiist photos page. To see your photos on our photos 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. more ›

Not long ago, Shanghaiist reported on a possible (and false) terrorist threat in China. Now with the largest civilian shelter built in Minhang district, maybe some of us can stop panicking and move on with our lives. Well, maybe 8,000-10,000 of us. more ›

Last summer, Shanghaiist snapped this picture of the grassy roofs of the Jin Jiang Hotel on Mao Ming Lu. Hotel workers said the grass had been there "for some time" and that it was "mandated by the district government." more ›

Take a look at the photo to the right and tell us what you think you see. We thought it was a new stadium at first glance -- and, oh boy, Shanghai really needs one of those. (That was sarcasm.) more ›

Driving in Shanghai more ›

Shooping down pristine white slopes has been a recreational option for Shanghai residents since the Yinqixing Indoor Skiing Resort opened back in 2002, but it has taken all that time for Shanghaiist to actually get its all-weather, gore-tex gloves on (Xiangyang Market – 50 kuai) and hit the 45m-high slopes that are apparently "covered in snow of a depth up to 50cm". Well Shanghaiist got a very close look at those slopes, and they are indeed covered in a whole mound of sugary, quicksand-esque snow the likes of which we have never seen in our lives before. It quickly became apparent that one’s board or skis served as the proverbial ladder across a thinly-iced pond, but no need to panic, so long as you’re over one and a half feet tall. more ›

Shanghaiist is an animal lover who advocates any kind of animal aid activity in China. Which is why we were overjoyed to hear the news of a new stray animal shelter -- one of the city's biggest -- in Minhang District. The shelter offers a host of services: people can contact the centre to adopt stray dogs and cats or abandoned pets, there will be weekend adoption days, medical treatment will be administered to the stray animals, and so on. more ›

With forecasts calling for temps reaching 38 degrees -- that's 101 for you Fahrenheit folks ... and damn hot for everyone else -- Shanghai dwellers will be looking for ways to keep cool this coming week. If you don't want to beat the heat in a large air-conditioned shopping mall, it's time to find a good place to swim. But what if your apartment doesn't have a swimming pool? more ›

Police in Shanghai have tracked down 11 escapees and two more surrendered following Thursday's violent prison break in suburban Minhang District, China Daily is reporting. That leaves nine prisoners unaccounted for and police are staking out "transportation hubs" in the area in an effort to capture the rest. Two of the prisoners already in custody had made it as far as Nanjing. more ›