What can we say? We're only too glad they didn't decide to do this to home users instead: "For the first time this summer, Shanghai's power company cut supply to 1,435 industrial users in suburban Qingpu and Songjiang districts yesterday due to a serious shortfall in the areas, the Oriental Morning Post reported today... As the city tries to juggle a tight power supply with spikes in demand, industrial users will be required to close when a potential power shortage occurs, as households will get priority, according to the local power company. The recent scorching weather has imposed high pressure on the local power grid, as sweltering residents crank up their air conditioning." [Shanghai Daily] more ›

Uh oh, it looks like us pedestrians aren't the only ones getting stolen from recently, thanks to the current dastardly economic situation. City police have now issued a warning reminding companies that keeping large amounts of cash on their premises may not be a good idea. Shanghai has seen a 35% rise in thefts of local areas since February, compared to the same period last year. The most robbed districts: Qingpu, Pudong, Fengxian, Songjiang and Jiading. Source: Shanghai Daily more ›

Recently we've had the pleasure of dining in two local restaurants in Qingpu Town, technically part of Shanghai but very close to Jiangsu Province, and both times our plates, bowls, cups and spoon came vacuum packed in plastic, supposedly "sanitized" for our pleasure. We had never seen this before, despite having dined at our fair share of greasy spoons throughout the country. But the folks we ate with last night said plastic wrapped tableware is actually quite common, not only in Qingpu, but in Chongqing and other cities throughout China. Is this true? Have we totally missed the trend toward the restaurant equivalent of the plastic covered couch? It just looks so classy. If it is a trend, can it survive the upcoming plastics ban? more ›