When it becomes difficult to distinguish Shanghai’s a luxury shopping center (West Nanjing Rd) from a level of hell from Dante’s Inferno (seedy bars full of sexy time), it gets locals thinking whether or not they’re sending the world the right message about Shanghai. In 2010, in preparation for the semi-world famous World Expo in Shanghai, the awkwardly located sketchy bars of Tongren Lu began to shut down. And now, a year later, some of the old establishments are being turned into calm and quaint coffee shops that will better “blend in with the ambiance” of West Nanjing Road. City officials still haven’t released or confirmed any other future plans for the street. more ›

Large-scale advertising enthusiasts and Louis Vuitton dons, you should be sitting down for this: "The landmark Louis Vuitton 'suitcase' on Nanjing Road W. may be demolished within a week in a government crackdown on advertising sites launched yesterday. The distinctive advertising box was built during the World Expo last year around the Plaza 66 shopping mall to conceal renovation work. The regulations say that advertising facilities hanging on a building's outer walls must be no more than 9 meters high and 0.5 meters thick and must not endanger pedestrians. However, the LV suitcase - as well as other advertising boxes currently being built - is more than 20 meters high and 4 meters thick." [Shanghai Daily] more ›

Remember that cabby who died on Nanjing Road after two passengers hit him, then ran away? Apparently those two passengers have been found:

POLICE have found two cab passengers who disappeared after their driver dropped dead on Nanjing West Road during a dispute over the fare yesterday. more ›

A taxi driver died yesterday on Nanjing Road West but not from a traffic accident. more ›

If you've been in Shanghai for long enough you will notice that China Mobile generally has a great deal of outdoor advertising, from billboards to those annoying little screens mounted on the headrest of taxis. As we are draw close to having the conveniences of high speed internet in the palm of our hands, China Mobile has reverted to an older form of advertising on East Nanjing Road. more ›

The West Nanjing Road Metro station is earmarked to be the interchange for lines 12 and 13 by 2012, reports xinmin.cn and Shanghai Daily: more ›

Way back in 1925, during the heyday of foreign imperialism in Shanghai, discontent was fomenting among the local populace over what were generally considered to be unfair privileges granted to foreigners and Chinese exclusion from the governing Shanghai Municipal Council. The deals the foreign powers had struck up with Manchu officials in the 19th century, suspect from the beginning, had little official legitimacy after the fall of the Qing more than ten years earlier. Tensions reached a boiling point when labor protests at a Japanese factory resulted in an assault and the death of a Chinese employee on May 15th. more ›

American urban design and architecture firm Chan Krieger Sieniewicz was chosen by the town to revamp its former international concession port area. The Huangpu River and the heart of the city will be “reconciled.” more ›

Editor's Note: This is an update to that flash mob we told you about earlier. The writer was the organiser of the event. more ›

There has been plenty of criticism leveled at the Shanghai subway system, both on Shanghaiist and elsewhere, for things that could be better about it: it closes too early, the interchanges take too long, it's too crowded and too hot/cold, it doesn't reach XXX place, etc. If you fancy yourself on optimistic person, though, you know that one way to change the negatives into positives is to change your complaints into things you're looking forward to. more ›

From varietyasiaonline.com: more ›

Photo by Jakob.Montrasio.net taken from the Shanghaiist Contribute page. more ›

This week saw some interesting announcements regarding Shanghai's metro system. First off, Metro Line 4's circle closes this year: more ›

Shanghaiist isn't one to get up too early on the weekend to go out and buy groceries or produce; we prefer to watch the back of our eyelids. But we know that some of you do like to do active things each weekend morning. Personally, we dread the thought of hitting Carrefour, Lianhua or Hymall at this time, let alone any form of shopping on a Saturday morning. more ›

Shanghaiist has been hearing a lot of rumours of late of dodgy, well, more dodgy behaviour along the Tongren Lu bar strip south of Nanjing Road. This morning, Shanghaiist was forwarded an email by our golf-enthralled editor via one of his trusted acquaintances. The email contained details regarding the assault of two expat males on Tongren Lu this week. more ›

The Shanghai Construction and Transport Management Commission ordered a safety check in the 2,300 glass-walled high-rises in the city yesterday after a huge glass panel fell from the 36th floor of Citic Square last July, injuring two pedestrians. more ›

Michael Ohlsson is a DJ in Shanghai -- we recently interviewed him -- and he is also a blogger. His site called Weird Meat is about his experiences eating ... well ... weird meats. His latest culinary challenge (other than eating Shanghainese food -- which he hates)? Drunken shrimp: more ›

While some choose to generalize and lump all Chinese into one big pool of "Confucian consumers," others might say that to do so would be akin to corporate suicide (not to mention just plain stupid). For example most young Shanghainese want iPods and the latest mobile phones while their counterparts in Guangzhou would be happy with a nice mobile phone that doubles as an mp3 player. The expert in this interesting International Herald Tribune story calls the kids in Guangzhou "pragmatic cool." We suppose youth in Shanghai are legitimately cool ... or just rich and spoiled. more ›

Explosive news from the Shanghai Daily: more ›

Shanghaiist first encountered housing eviction protesters last week in front of the Portman Ritz-Carlton on Nanjing Road Lu. Most of the protesters were involved in housing disputes that involved the demolition of their homes and their forced relocation to other areas. However, in some cases, years of trying to solve their problems through the normal means (i.e., the police and the courts) prove fruitless, and thus these protesters and tenants' rights activists ocassionally take to the streets. From August 8-12, they gathered in front of the Portman because city officials were meeting across the street in the Exhibition Hall, and they hoped to attract both the attention of these officials and both local and international media. more ›

Yao Ming may not be living in Shanghai this summer, but his movie has just taken up residence in local theaters. The Year of the Yao, a documentary chronicling Yao's first season in the NBA, opens in Shanghai this weekend. The Shanghai Daily says the documentary "will play at a dozen theaters in the city, including Studio City on Nanjing Road W. and the Paradise Warner in Xujiahui." The paper goes on to say that the movie "will only be shown in cinemas with IMAX facilities." Does Shanghai have 12 IMAX theaters? A friend of Shanghaiist said The Year of the Yao will "show at all the major cinemas from July 14" and will be shown in English with Chinese subtitles. We suggest you check your local theater to be sure. more ›