Results tagged “nanjingxilu”

Will we soon be hearing a "Broadway melody" on Nanjing Xi Lu? According to Shanghai Daily, Jing'an District authorities are totally hoping to turn that strip of road into something like the Manhattan theater district. We can't seem to find any other info on it, but we're always up for a couple more musical distractions... and people line kicking their way down "ol' Nanjing Xi" has a hilarious ring to it.

While we suppose that people who use private transportation are wiping their brows at the news, Shanghai's Car Free Day - which happens tomorrow, September 22 - seems to be a bit of a wash. While there is a rule that no cars are allowed in a section of the city during the day, take a look at where and for how long. Unlike previous reports that cars would be banned over five square kilometers for twelve entire hours, it seems that drivers will actually only need to worry about roads from between 8am to 10:30am... and only if they are traveling the stretch of Nanjing Xi Lu between Shimen Er Lu and Huashan Lu. If you happen to be around Shanghai Center and Plaza 66 at that time, we suppose you could leap through the usually crowded street (watch out for buses if you do), but otherwise, everywhere else will remain exactly the same as usual. Source: Xinmin

Less than three months after the much-touted launch of its four-level store in Shanghai, Marks and Spencer has sacked Richard Sweet, its top man in China. According to Malcolm Moore of the Daily Telegraph, even twenty years of experience opening stores in India, Russia and the Middle East did not prepare him for China -- much of his stock were impounded at Shanghai customs and as a result, rows and rows of shelves were left bare during the opening. Apparently, the 40,000 sq ft store was also deserted during the Christmas season. A quick check by Shanghaiist last Friday evening found the store similarly devoid of shoppers, in spite of an ongoing Spring Festival sale which sees items going for as much as 50% off.

Yes, people are crazy and times are strange. Two days ago, a fashionably dressed young woman ate a RMB280 lunch at a Japanese restaurant somewhere near Nanjing Xi Lu and Chengdu Bei Lu. When it was time to get the bill, she told the wait staff that she had no money on her and needed to withdraw some cash. A restaurant employee followed her to a nearby China Construction Bank (CCB) ATM, whereupon the woman locked herself inside and forbade anyone to come near her, saying she had a knife and would kill herself if anyone tried to force their way in. CCB staff tried persuading her to come out but met with no success. Eventually the police were called in and the woman was finally brought out after three hours of self-imposed captivity. The woman is now being subjected to psychological tests to see if she is mentally sound.

For those planning on hibernating this winter, it just got easier to add those crucial extra layers of fat. Dunkin' Donuts just opened in Shanghai, much to the delight of Marc van der Chijs and probably many other people. SH mag says, "This is supposed to be store number one of one hundred." SH also suggests our city might be in the midst of a "donut war." Aussie brand Donut King opened this month, as well. Our money is on the Americans.

I got to the lobby with my camera but the staff made me delete the photos I got. I have some from the outside on my Flickr page tagged with Shanghaiist.

Quality and beauty are the two features Andrew James looks out for when he sources for contemporary art. This was what he liked about Dorothy M. Yoon's works when he first came upon them at a London art fair. Last Saturday's opening reception for Dorothy's first solo exhibition in China attracted a good number of people, presumably intrigued by the bizarre portraits of Asian females in all kinds of blonde wigs imaginable. While surreal images of pallid-faced beauties may not appeal to every art buyer's taste, seasoned portrait collectors should figure if they like this series fast since the large group portraits come only in editions of 3.

A group of Shanghai residents who had applied to the government for the right to hold an anti-maglev protest were rejected by the government. Despite this, small numbers of them intended to go on another "walk" in order to publicly air their grievances. This time, they were stopped by some other residents. According to this AP article, this is what happened:

Residents in armbands used a megaphone to warn people not to "linger here too long," to avoid problems with the police, who had rejected their petition to hold a protest march against the magnetic levitation, or maglev, train.

It wasn't that long ago that Shanghaiist headed straight to Crystal Jade in Xintiandi for our regular weekend dim sum brunch. Since then, however, our new loyalties lie with two restaurants closer to headquarters. Our first impressions of Lynn back when it opened early last year was that customers were paying the bulk of the price premium for its sleek, modern decor and presentation rather than the quality of its traditional Shanghainese fare. However, dim sum lovers have been flocking to Lynn for their weekend all-you-can-eat dim sum menu, and for good reason. For 68 RMB, one can indulge on a free-flow of traditional Cantonese and Shanghainese favorites. Not a bad price, considering ordering a la carte for a single serving of hot and sour soup will run about half of that (and yes, the soup is also on the all-you-can eat menu).

Though never a fan of Starbucks, more because of their bland-ardization of the world's greatest drug rather than due to any kind of deeply held anti-corporate leanings, Shanghaiist nevertheless enjoys supping the occasional hot chocolate from a Medusa-emblazoned mug. With this Monday being particularly harrowing, we were looking forward to a dose of sickly sweet cream-topped womb regression, only to have our fragile psyche strained to within an inch of another long, expensive course of...

Live Bar has always been open to different genres of music, and of late, seems to be the venue of choice for Chinese folk, metal and student bands. Friday night they will host one of China's most popular nu-metal bands, Twisted Machine. Any fan of metal should not miss this show, a great chance to see what Chinese metal has to offer. On the other side of town, up'n'coming indie rockers, Yuguo will play an...

At the closing ceremony at Jiangwan Stadium last night, Kenny G played a rendition of “Butterfly Lovers” (梁祝) as women in butterfly costumes descended from cables strung to the stadium lights. When they reached the stage, they claimed a Special Olympian and escorted her back to the lights as the announcer declared in a monotone voice, “Now she has made it.” And that was just the beginning.

Calling all Shanghai entrepreneurs! Come meet new faces and get to know other like-minded individuals at this week's NextStep event which features Tony Mustafa of Essential Finance. All are welcome, no membership required, and no cover charge.

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.

Spago is a new fusion restaurant located opposite the Fenshine Plaza fake market on Nanjing Xi Lu. Spago's proximity to a knock-off market is ironic in light of an apparent and blatant trademark violation by this Shanghai 'branch'.

And it is "a match for anything on the Bund"! No surprise there. But wait, there's more. Spago "has already become a popular lunch spot with pasta, Western, pizza and Asian sets for ¥19, 29 and 39" and is perfect for "fashionistas on a shoe-string." What? Huh?

Which reminds us — we need to go to the gym.

In two weeks time (April 5), we Shanghainese are going to celebrate the Qingming Festival. Tomb sweeping, or honouring the deceased, is one of the important Qingming Festival rituals for most Chinese.

The monthly MobileMonday meeting will be held in Shanghai today. Interested in the future of mobile shopping in China? Here's the official invitation:

The Shanghai Daily reports that The Longhua Fashion and Gift Market is struggling to attract patrons. The Longhua market attracted the bulk of the vendors from the closure of Xiangyang market last June, however it appears that patrons have decided to give this location the big swerve.

Sunday morning, while most people will be sleeping/ clubbing/ trying to get sober, about 15,000 runners will gather for the Shanghai marathon and half marathon, starting at 7:30 am, on Nanjing Dong Lu and Sichuan Lu.

Moon River looks like a diner. It feels like a diner. And, most importantly, it tastes like a diner. The people behind this place got the details right -- the black and white tile floors, the red swivel-top stools and even the colorful curly straws. And we love the huge retro neon sign out front -- it's perfect. They've even got a jukebox (the same one they had out in Gubei) but it no longer works, and -- we just learned this -- did you know jukeboxes are technically illegal in China? An old Cultural Revolution law that never came off the books, we were told.

Mr. Ma, toy bicycle maker

They have pics organized by street: Nanjing Dong Lu, Nanjing Xi Lu, Huaihai Zhong Lu and Xujiahui.

Good

Anyway, we thought some of you might want to know that we recently found relatively cheap legitimate breakfast cereal at the supermarket underneath the Westgate Mall (Mei Long Zhen, Nanjing Xi Lu and Jiangning Lu) -- and it's not the same Chinese Trix and Cheerios that have been available for 12.9 kuai per 150 gram box for a while now.

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.

We Googled "iGallop" and discovered that while this device was new to us (and maybe Shanghai?) it definitely isn't new. Someone YouTubed the TV commercial for the iGallop back in January. Looks like it launched in Singapore and Hong Kong in January, and bloggers, sex bloggers and newspapers noticed -- one girl even tried to use her boyfriend as a free iGallop. Looks like an English version of the iGallop ad was shown during the World Cup in some parts of the UK. And many people have flexed their Photoshop skillz and placed dildos and vibrators on photos of the iGallop. Panasonic, apparently, also has a similar product called JOBA. Here's a video of someone trying the JOBA in Hong Kong.

How many times have you found yourself sitting around your living room just itching to attend a local expo? Didn't think so. Well, for those out there who are interested, get those reading glasses ready. If the previously mentioned Sex Expo ("Sexpo"?) isn't quite your cup of naughty tea, then perhaps this might better suit your uptight needs. As reported last week in Shanghai Daily, the 2006 Shanghai Book Fair will be held at the Shanghai Exhibition Center (the former site of Jewish millionaire Silas Hardoon's Old Shanghai garden estate) from August 5 to 11.