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A new exhibition of Louis Vuitton luggage and handbags at the National Museum of China in Tiananmen Square is getting off to a flying start, proving offensive on both artistic and patriotic grounds. more ›

If it is what we can look forward to in 2012, then holy cow! I think Shanghai might have finally gotten its first absolutely must-see museum attraction. Designed by Perkins + Will, the "Shanghai Nature Museum" features a nautilus shell-like design shape and will contain 35,000 square meters of display space, as well as research space underground (which members apparently have access to). more ›

Malcolm Moore, Shanghai correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, meets up with peasant inventor Wu Yulu, who is in Shanghai's Rockbund Art Museum now to display his creations:
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Sure, we already gave it a first visit last year, but this is a museum that virtually commands us to try it again. more ›

A museum designed to help Chinese people learn about all things African has opened up in Shanghai, says Xinhua:

The Museum for An Experience of African Lifestyle, which is now in open to the public, is Located on Xianggang Road near the Bund. more ›

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Holland Cotter, the New York Time’s art critic has been traveling in China as part of a series “Throwing Open the Doors” that explores how China's shifting self-image is reshaping its art and art institutions. His second piece on Dunhuang’s Mogaoku, also known as “peerless caves” is a thoughtful and evocative piece on the nature and history of the Buddhist grottoes. Cotter was lucky enough to be able to spend the night at the site rather than in the city with the permission of the Dunhuang Academy, the Chinese conservation and research body that oversees the cave. more ›

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JazzArt, as you might have heard, is a monthly jazz concert series held at a different gallery each month. They have become our favorite regular jazz event, not just because we happen to be involved with the planning and implementation but also because art galleries are fantastic places for jazz concerts in general. Also people who show up to these kind of concerts tend to really listen to the music, whereas in smoky bars at night many people come to chat, or conspicuously consume pricy bottles of booze, perhaps giving the occasional nod toward the music in the background when it happens to catch their attention. The JazzArt series has been wildly successful, much to the chagrin of the evil gallery owners who pulled out at the last minute of planning early this year. Drawing an estimated 250 people to last month's show, at least 300 people are expected to pack this month's concert on the 3rd floor of MOCA to the brim. So get there early in order to get a seat, as there will only be about 100 chairs. more ›

An exhibition on Antoni Gaudi in Shanghai? It sounded too good to be true. Held in MoCA, from August 19th to October 5th, "Cosmos Gaudi, Architecture, Geometry and Design" is definitely worth the visit though. more ›

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 that the factory is set to be moved to a new location; the buildings are being repurposed to serve as logistics, administration and public service bases, and supermarkets for the 2010 World Expo Park. more ›

Property agents in Shanghai have come up with a novel way of giving house buyers important information about the home they intend to buy. Ask them about neighbourhood construction plans for malls, motorways and high rise appartments and they may take you to the third floor of the Urban Planning Museum in People's Square. There lies the model of the grand plan of the city centre for Expo 2010. more ›

Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we're all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn't start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we're up to... more ›

While looking up a new exhibition from a friend of Shanghaiist, we were directed to a website called Art Mofile, a sort of YouTube for video artists and aspiring film makers. Art Mofile bills itself as a "platform for short films and art videos." Anyone can submit work (provided the works are artistic in nature, not for commercial purposes) and the people behind the site select the best ones to put on the site for the whole world to see. Everything from documentary to music videos are accepted; to submit, you merely upload your work and voila! You're on your way to artistic glory. Shanghaiist likes this idea very very much, and there were already two pages of videos to view... although with Shanghaiist's super slow internet, we didn't have the patience to see many of them. Maybe when they fix the whole earthquake thing ... whenever that may be. For now, we're happy just knowing it exists. more ›

Photo by 2dogs taken from 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. more ›

Noted Chinese economist Stephen Cheung (aka Zhang Wuchang or 张五常), recently caught some people's attention with an essay that appeared in Hong Kong's Apple Daily in which he argued that China should open up the tomb of Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇) near Xi'an. Cheung argues that opening up the tomb would be economically sound, increasing tourist revenue by what he estimates to be billions of RMB. Furthermore, he says that this is the best time to do so, since Beijing is hosting the Olympics and Shanghai the World Expo (i.e. shitload of foreign tourists), and because the technology for preserving whatever is inside is adequate. He also says against the naysayers that this tomb isn't really worth anything until you open it up and see what is inside. more ›

Two men visiting Madame Tussauds wax museum in Shanghai took the picture at right (and probably more of similar nature) recently, and like everything else in the world, ended up seeing their work spread all over the internet, causing a small firestorm from fans of the Hong Kong pop music duo "Twins." Zhang De (not his real name), one of the men in the picture, said at first that the only reason why they would do something like this is because they liked Twins. (We wish we had thought of that excuse when we lost a coin in Brad Pitt's pants.) Zhang later apologized for the incident and said that he woud be willing to volunteer one day at the museum spreading the word about not forgetting one's morals when feeling the urge to fondle a wax boob. It seems people were less angry about this girl cupping Coco Lee's breast, which just goes to show that everyone enjoys a little girl on girl action. more ›

We know we are a bit late on this, but the Shanghai Biennale will be going on until November 4, so you still have time. The following are our observations from one day spent at the Shanghai Art Museum last week. We accompanied a friend who is into design to the opening of this Biennale, themed HyperDesign. It features more than 100 artworks by 93 groups of artists from 23 countries and regions. more ›

Your friendly neighborhood city blog is looking some more contributors. We claim to cover "Shanghai and everything that happens in it," and guess what? Shanghai is a pretty damn big city -- we could use some help. We're looking for Shanghai residents (local or foreign) who have an expertise or interest in a particular aspect of the city: fashion, shopping, sex, sports, recreation, business, theater, real estate, health, restaurants, bars, travel, architecture, food, wine, history, culture, technology, local media, politics, parties, clubs, books, film, music, art, galleries, museums, language, the Chinese internet ... you get the idea ... everything. We are looking for people who are knowledgeable and passionate about a certain aspect of Shanghai, people with the desire to "own" a beat. We are looking for people who can contribute on a regular basis (that means daily or weekly or somewhere in between). Most importantly: We are looking for people who can write. more ›

You might have to use a line like this, or something similar in whatever language you use with your lover or spouse, in order to get a free ticket to Madame Tussauds wax museum. The Oriental Morning Post reported that from August 28 until September 30, you can buy one ticket and get one free if you demonstrate that you and your partner are in a romantic relationship. There are no official rules as to what gestures you can use, though we expect that quickies are out of the question. In this manner you can save 125 yuan, and the article states that for many a young couple, this is an offer they can't (or don't have good reason to) refuse. more ›

Shanghai has managed to snag yet another "first in China" milestone, as the Shanghai Glasses Museum opened for public viewing this week. In an attempt to promote proper eye care, the museum houses an impressive-sounding collection of over 5,000 glasses, dating all the way back to the Song Dynasty, and is spread out over three floors of exhibit space. If this sounds rather boring, don't fall asleep just yet: Four-eyed excitement is just around the corner. more ›

Since it first opened last fall, the Museum of Contemporary Art in People's Park has put on some flashy exhibitions and is known more (in Shanghaiist's opinion) for their trendy parties than thought provoking art. Saturday's launch party for the China addition to Nokia's Connect to Art was no exception. Connect to Art is Nokia's ongoing project that allows contemporary artwork to be downloaded on to your phone, making art more accessible to a larger part of the public. Although the Chinese Connect to Art project includes five of the best contemporary Chinese artists (Yang Fudong, Zhang Peili, Feng Mengbo, Ai Weiwei and Xu Bing) the party ended up being another fashionable, bass thumping mess. The main attraction was not the artists but a group of Italian "sound artists" mixing beats on MoCA's deck while blinding the audience with flashing headlights. The five artists' works were shown on small screens against one wall but the beautiful people were more interested in the free alcohol than the artwork. more ›

For a while, it seemed the days of exhibitions being shut down in Shanghai were long gone. Since Shanghaiist moved to the city four years ago, we had not witnessed any major crackdowns, although there have been a few minor incidents here and there. The cultural scene in the city took a step back, however, on Saturday when a massive exhibition at the new Creative Garden on Longhua Lu was shut down by the authorities. more ›

Canadian born photographer Greg Girard has been shooting in Asia for quite a while and in Shanghai for the last six years. Some of the fruits of his labors were on display at the opening of his Studio Rouge show Downtown on Sunday. Much of Girard's work focuses on homes. Many of the pictures at the show were exteriors of run-down, slated-for-destruction buildings. Often shot at dusk or at night, the very studiously composed shots show an incredible amount of detail, things you see all the time but perhaps never notice. more ›

OK, last month we learned about a Dalian factory that turns corpses into art, or at least what some people might consider art. And now the curious have their chance to see, and touch, the real thing (well, it might be the real thing -- some people think the "corpses" are fake). The upcoming “Corpse Exhibition” is going to open in Shanghai on April 28 after touring many major cities in China including Beijing, Guangzhou, Changsha and Shenyang. more ›

Photo by CaptainVideo 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 ›