Looks like China's on a new PR push in America, and this time they hired some decent producers! Far and away better than their "China Friendship" ad that aired in New York's Time Square back during Hu Jintao's State Visit to the US (which seemed to think Americans would relate strongly with random photos of Chinese celebrities they've never heard of) this new video takes a far more aesthetically pleasing approach. Shot in and around Shanghai and edited to within an inch of its life, this 7-min clip shows some very beautiful scenes from Shanghai, both past and present. more ›

A few links to start off your day: more ›

If you have lived in Shanghai for more than a week, then you know the city's appetite for being bigger and better than the rest. Well, for those of you who love rankings, Shanghai has now become the 6th largest financial center in world, moving up from 8th place last year, according to the latest International Financial Centers Development Index. more ›

Since around March this year, a sad-looking panda has been spotted roaming the streets of New York City — on the subway, in Times Square, at various parks and around Wall Street's bull statue. Over the next few months, the Sad Panda has intrigued and fascinated New Yorkers — his short disappearance on Wall Street led a few concerned individuals to put up a missing notice, and his great makeover as Spongebob Squarepants did not go unnoticed. Turns out this Sad Panda is a 62 year old man from Guangzhou, Chen Jialing, who has now lived in the United States for many years. more ›

A 26-year-old Shanghai woman died in New York after being run over by an allegedly intoxicated off-duty police officer. Her family is now preparing to fly to the U.S. to handle funeral arrangements. The officer has now been charged with vehicular manslaughter, assault and driving while intoxicated. A woman identifying herself as the officer's mother blamed the victim, telling the New York Daily News that “It was her fault... my son went out and had a couple of drinks. He deserves to have a good time now and then.” Uh... worst mother ever? Source: Shanghai Daily more ›

Could today's Beijing be what New York City was at the turn of the 20th Century? According to this article in Vanity Fair, there are certainly many similarities to draw upon. Kurt Andersen starts off noting the correspondences between population growth and development of city infrastructure. In 1904 New York's first subway line opened. Likewise, Beijing's new subway system is spreading out at a breathtaking pace (a point which subway fanatic and Beijingologist, David Feng, is unlikely to let us forget). more ›

Any fan of electronic music in China has heard of Antidote. Headed by DJ Ozone, aka Michael Ohlsson, Antidote is a crew of electronic musicians and DJs based in Shanghai. This Thursday April 17th at The Shelter, they're introducing a new party-as-concept: City Sound Sessions. Michael explains. more ›

• Gothamist found that an explosive set off outside the Times Square army recruiting center may be similar to five past bombings in New York City.
• Seattlest worried when severed right feet and bottles of rat poison started washing up on local beaches.
• Shanghaiist was surprised by Bjork's rooting for Tibetan independence at her concert (see video), and the political fallout has only just begun.
• SFist debated the merits of new bronze plaques that will be placed in locations where San Francisco's homeless have died.
• DCist was obliged to respond to the worst Washington Post Outlook column ever published, in which conservative writer Charlotte Allen tried to make the case that women are dumb.
• LAist found Satan's ice cream truck trolling the streets, and they recorded the music.
• Some crafty Torontoist readers didn't like the dearth of ski hills in downtown Toronto, so they just built one of their own on their deck and (of course) recorded a video of them all taking turns on it.
• Bostonist knows the city's subway and bus system, the MBTA, has problems. So does this 17-year-old who submitted a report and told the MBTA brass how to fix it.
• Phillyist explored the possibility of an Ivy League prostitute, while their commenters debated the most ethical approach to proving or debunking the story.
• Londonist spent a little too much time looking at airbrushed operatic private parts, and enjoyed an enlightening comment from someone who was there. more ›

In Paris, New York City and the Hague:
more ›

Image credit: Nature abhors a vacuum more ›

more ›

By Michael Ohlsson more ›

Someone told us recently that there was a new Mexican burrito place called Cal Kitchen that opened up not that long ago on Dagu Lu, and being long-time residents of California, we decided to see if it lived up to its billing as place for authentic Californian/Mexican food. Long story short, it doesn't. We ordered a big chicken burrito that in better days, might have been a contender—but as it was, it was a soggy... more ›

There isn't a live music update this week, but it's art shows galore TONIGHT. Three picks that aren't in your conventional Moganshan Lu / Taikang Lu destinations. more ›

Jakob Montrasio points us to a most unbelievable ranking of the world's top 25 cities with skyscrapers published by the German magazine Spiegel: more ›

Dear Readers, more ›

Some days, you just want to eat a big-ass burrito. Perhaps this is primarily an American craving (as many, we're sure some readers would point out, big-ass cravings are) but, trust us, sometimes the best cure for a Sunday morning hangover is an oversized soft flour tortilla filled with just about everything. We never thought this was an option here — Shanghai's selection of Mexican restaurants is ... well ... Shanghai really has no Mexican restaurants worth mentioning — until SH mag food guru Jarrett Wrisley told us where to go for our south-of-the-border[1] cravings: that's right, New York City Deli. And how does NYC Deli serve its "super burritos"? Of course, "California style." more ›

Shanghaiist loves lists. We've embraced the love of lists ever since we picked up Nick Hornby's novel High Fidelity. So when browsing the morning news yesterday, our honed powers of list detection and surveillance led us to discover that Shanghai has been included in yet another list. Not just any pokey little list might we add, but The Economist magazine's 2007 Worldwide Cost of Living Survey (WCOL) for expatriate workers. more ›

We don't know honestly. We ride Shanghai's metro every day and have only used Beijing's a couple times back in 2004. Still, seeing Beijing ranked No. 9 (and Shanghai unranked) in this list of the top 11 underground transit systems in the world surprised us a bit — because all the China subway hype we hear is about Shanghai's fast-growing system (or maybe that's just because we live in Shanghai?). Here's what the list, from Virgin Vacations, said about Beijing's system (which ranked one spot ahead of Hong Kong's): more ›

Before we begin, we'd like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family of James Kim. We are not, by any means, trying to discount that tragedy by juxtaposing posts about the Kims with more light-hearted posts. It's the nature of doing a compilation such as this one: we're trying to give a full slice of the goings-on in the Ist-a-Verse: the good, the bad, and the ugly. more ›

If we had a dime for every new shop that claimed to be home to "the best sandwiches in Shanghai" we'd still have nowhere near enough money to afford lunch at City Deli, the latest eatery claiming to have "the best sandwiches in Shanghai." And you know what? Their Reuben (pictured) is pretty damn good. Real rye bread. Real Thousand Island dressing. Real sauerkraut. And real swiss cheese (although maybe not enough). The bread slices weren't huge, but the (real) pastrami was piled high in between. It was a real Reuben. And really tasty. more ›

is a hit. It's getting rave reviews, grossing millions, and definitely the most quotable thing we've seen in ages. But Borat seems to have missed most of the -ist cities, and we were all wondering how the film would have been different if he'd made his way around the world on the -ist tour. more ›

We wonder if anyone in Shanghai will have a similar, albeit much less visceral, reaction when they learn that Robin Gibb is playing a show in Shanghai ... again. Gibb played Shanghai in May as part of his Magnetic Tour. Now he's playing November 18 at Shanghai Grand Stage ... as part of his Magnetic Tour. Tickets will range from RMB 280 to 2,280. We're sure this will appease all those jilted Robbie Williams and Jay-Z fans out there. We wonder if the Robin Gibb party bus will cruise the streets of Shanghai like it did in May -- anyone else see that? more ›

Colonel Sanders has found his conscience: after being threatened by lawsuits in the US, Kentucky Fried Chicken announced that come April of next year, all of its restaurants in the US will cease using oils containing the harmful trans-fats that have been linked to heart disease. more ›

A few weeks ago, we told you that several US airlines are jockeying for one opening route to and from China early next year: Northwest from Detroit to Shanghai, United from Washington, D.C., to Beijing, American from Dallas to Beijing and Continental from Newark to Shanghai. more ›

While the work may no longer be at Shanghai Sculpture Space (please correct us if we are wrong), you can still see it here. You can also see photos from the party here and here. And you can buy a piece of art that is somehow related to the show here. more ›

A couple scoops on the local dining scene from SH mag's Jarrett Wrisley, one scoop that looks more promising than the other. more ›

Or the better question is: What would you suggest a visitor to Shanghai do if they only had one night to spend in the city? (And, no, your first stop can't be a travel agency so they can extend their stay.) more ›

The week starts out right when a sucker punch on the field lands Chicagoist in the middle of a Sox/Cubs throwdown and the fists continue to fly in the comments. Despite suburban resident Ms. Pinney's best little try no books will be banned anytime soon and the El is really really gross. more ›

According to this post in the Shanghai section of Baidu's "posts" pages, the following are the numbers for Shanghai's GDP and per capita income starting in 2004 and assuming a 14 percent growth rate until 2010-2011, when the World Expo will boost the GDP growth to a whopping 35 percent! The first figure is in "100 millions", so the first number is 702.92 billion. The last sentence indicates the corresponding figures for New York City, based on a 2% annual growth rate, and as you can see, Shanghai's per capita income will be slightly above 60 percent of New York's by that time. We just hope that our "Soho" is only 60 percent of the price of New York's! more ›