The official death toll from yesterday's tragic fire in Shanghai is now 53. Wikipedia is tracking developments, and some are suggesting a partial media blackout is in effect. Find continuing Shanghaiist coverage of the fire here. more ›

This is why you've been hearing sirens this afternoon. A terrible fire has broken out in an apartment block called the Jiaozhou Building (胶州大厦) at 707 728 Jiaozhou Lu Building 1, near the corner of Yuyao Lu in Jing'an. The huge fire is reportedly 10 stories high and the blaze started with the scaffolding. Ambulances have already been called to the scene but photos show there are trapped workers in the building. We'll be following this story closely as more details unfold. Please send tips to tips@shanghaiist.com. more ›

Shanghaiist Editor Elaine Chow is currently on a much deserved vacation in the British Isles. Taking over the reins this is week, and making his triumphant return to the site, is Shanghaiist all-star Peijin Chen. If you want to see him in action, head over to Munchies or any number of Jing'an drinking establishments. Or you can just check out his older posts here. Welcome back, Peijin! more ›

While living in Beijing may have been a little more exciting this Monday, Shanghai was having a relatively uneventful and probably more gleeful 元宵节 (The Lantern Festival). Former Shanghaiist contributor Peijin Chen took these great photos of the city in celebration. more ›

Peijin Chen reports that the death toll in the Hangzhou subway tunnel collapse we told you about earlier has gone up, and that the problems that led to the tragedy were discovered a month ago. more ›

"I don’t know what La Bella’s space will become afterwards—surely it will still be some kind of French Concession-esque bar/cafe where young urban hipsters and professionals hang out. Whether or not that sense of community will transfer or can be quickly rebuilt is another matter entirely." We wish Isabella all the best. [Source] more ›

AFP: China launches first anti-AIDS drive for gay men: state media more ›

Share with us how you see Shanghai, or China! Post your photos on Flickr, tag them with "shanghaiist", and we'll select one favorite image per day. Or you can simply email your photos to photos at shanghaiist.com. more ›

Spring Festival: The holiday is around the corner, and for the first time in years we'll be stuck in Shanghai, undoubtedly huddled under the covers and looking sorrowfully through our phone's address book for anyone who might also be here to help brush away the loneliness. Since our ayi who cooks our grease-ridden meals will also be leaving us for the holiday, we're going to have to trudge out into the snowy wilderness to eat. If any of you similarly cold and lonely souls are willing to join this Shanghaiist to pig out at places both old and new, here's where you'll find us: more ›

Shanghaiist has been feeling very French of late. After wondering when Paul was going to re-open and hanging out at Bar Rouge's "Excusez-moi" party... well, we had dinner in La Crêperie - Shanghai's new and so far only eatery devoted to crêpes from the Brittany region. more ›

At least, that's what the Swedish fashion retailer would like you to think, given the massive party it threw last night at the Pudong Science and Technology Museum, which included a brief appearance by Aussie pop queen Kylie Minogue. It's clear that expansion into Asia, specifically China, is high on H&M's priority list, so their media machine can be forgiven for grand pronouncements like "Asia is about to change" that show up in our local rags. more ›

Last week, we told you about the the big fire at Shanghai's historic 121-year-old Union Church. On Saturday, we went to the church to check on the damage. We were able to sneak onto the roof of an abandoned building next door to get some bird's eye views — and what we saw wasn't pretty. Workers are busy building scaffolding around the remains of the building, so it looks as though the church's renovation is still going to happen. But they've really got their work cut out for them. more ›

Photo by Peijin Chen 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 ›

Photo by Peijin Chen 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 ›

In a blow to those looking for blow and/or blowjobs, we learned from this report (in Chinese) that new hair salons, beauty parlors, foot massage and cards/mahjong establishments must be approved by the residents living in the area before they can open for business. While we don't know if this means a majority-rules or a single-vote-can-veto system, what it does mean is that the city government is cracking down on vice in the name of all those people who can't stand to hear other people getting blowjobs when they are trying to sleep because they have real jobs they have to go to in the morning. more ›

Photo by Peijin Chen 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 ›

More Antidote here. more ›

Shanghaiist decided to have a look at the Annual Adult Care Expo (or "Sexpo" as many call it). Located at the International Exposition center on Xingyi Lu, with a 30 RMB admission fee, the Expo features just about everything related to sex. Much of this was toys -- fancy dildoes and vibrators. As it was last year, there were several exotic toys that take the brain and physical work out of thrusting a piece of plastic into yourself, leaving you to simply lean back and enjoy the ride. more ›

We are loving the blue skies. They make the happiest city in China even happier. They just have a way of making things seem better. When traveling through China, our perceptions of a place are often influenced heavily by the blueness of the sky -- how else can we explain not hating Lanzhou? more ›

According to this report (in Chinese) about half (50.1 percent) of Shanghai's white collar workers have no "night life," meaning they don't go out at night. Most of those who do go out tend to go out 1-2 days per week, while a small fraction go out every night of the week. Most of those who do go out spend less than 300 RMB per month on their nocturnal activities. They usually take turns footing the bill, while a smaller portion go "AA" (each paying their share). Sixty percent of those who do go out are back at home by midnight. Their mothers would be proud. more ›

Shanghaiist headed out to the city government on Wednesday morning to check out what was happening with the housing protester folks, who go there every Wednesday to meet with officials in hopes of solving their cases. It's been several months since we last reported on these folks, and nothing much seems to have changed. There are still of plenty of pissed off people. Wary of making too much of an impression on the guards over there, we talked briefly with some people and then headed next door, to the Shanghai Urban Planning and Exhibition Center, where they opened the The Blacksmiths' Alchemy exhibition. In case you missed it, here's a blurb: more ›

Compiled by Peijin Chen and Dan Washburn more ›

Shanghai's jazz scene is definitely deserving of some steady coverage, and who better to document it than someone in the thick of it? Here is how the man behind shanghaijazzscene dot com describes himself and his mission: more ›

We enjoyed last month's Family Flea Market at Garden Books on Changle Lu so much that we booked a table for this month's incarnation of the mostly-outdoor event, which takes place tomorrow (Saturday) from 2-5 pm outside in the bookstore's -- you guessed it -- garden. There's a section that is kind of indoors, as well. Look for the table with the Shanghaiist banner and perhaps a really cute dog. We'll be selling our custom-made Shanghaiist T-shirts for the dirt-cheap price of 50 kuai (that's 10 kuai off the already-low suggested retail price of 60). Shanghaiist contributor and photographer Peijin Chen will also be at our table selling some of his excellent photographs. There may be some other surprises, as well -- and we hope to also have a cooler full of beer. more ›

Shanghaiist headed out to Shuffle last night -- and not just to loiter in front of convenience stores drinking beers with random Finnish girls. We caught The Living Thin's last show (ever!) -- the band is breaking up after a short but successful (by Shanghai standards) stint. You can check out some of our pictures of last night's show here. more ›

GigShanghai: Free gigs, Fairyland and ready to 'get retarded'? more ›

More great photos from Peijin Chen here. more ›

Shanghaiist doesn't know much about emocore or nu-metal (can you be both at once?), but we decided to give local band Slit a listen while they were performing last night at Shuffle, a new music venue on Xingfu Lu, a stone's throw from where the old Tang Hui rock bar was. Shuffle just opened (on December 31 we believe), so there weren't too many patrons there, but that kind of suited us just as well since we hate crowds anyway. The place is decorated/designed in a minimalist warehouse way, and the peanuts are free and plentiful, and you can even throw the shells on the ground. Back to Slit -- we like the frontman's dark tortured artists thing, especially the crawling on the floor punctuated by epileptic fits. The music we thought catchy, if that's the word for this kind of thing -- the guitar riffs could be rousing and the singer's falsetto howls were eerily captivating -- but maybe we're getting too old for this stuff because it's hard for us, as audience members, to keep that buzz going when we have no idea what the lyrics are and are running low on whatever unnamed angst fuels this music. That said, we look forward to the day where this band gets a little more polished because we feel that while they aren't going to be the staple of our live music world (and that's just personal preference), they are a welcome injection of a little something different in what otherwise would be a scene of dreary sameness. Shuffle is going to have more acts of different genres, which we think a good idea, financially as well as "artistically". Definitely something to keep your eye on. more ›

Shanghaiist was (un)fortunate enough last December to go to Shangcai prefecture out in Henan, which is where the famed "AIDS village" (艾滋病村）is located. We were shown around the hospitals and schools, always under the supervision of officials. Even though we never paid for the sumptuous meals downed with numerous bottles of beer and rice wine, and were often pestered at night by the hotel staff wanting to know if we needed a "massage", we were inclined to give the benefit of the doubt, at least in terms of moral character, to the officials -- they are skimming, no doubt, crooked, yes, but at least not to a degree that makes them utterly reprehensible, right? Wrong. Maybe -- check out this report (in Chinese) which investigates Shangcai, and tells stories of officials skimming money from overcharging for medicines, not delivering basic promises of patient care, skimming money from the salaries of doctors, and of course, not letting people with a penchant for speaking the truth mouthing off at inopportune moments out of their homes. They said that when one of the most corrupt officials quit his job, the local people set off firecrackers and that it was "more festive than Chinese New Year"! more ›