We had the lovely opportunity to pick the brains of Shanghai artist Nini Sum. Picking was quite interesting: Nini is the creator of IdleBeats, an accessible (and affordable...) screen-printing business and community in Shanghai. They just launched their website this month, so you can visit and subscribe to the IdleBeats Blog and mailing list to hear about their latest events and projects here. more ›

With three major art events opening in Shanghai this week, (ShContemporary 08, Shanghai Biennale and Shanghai Art Fair), September is an important month for artists, galleries, art collectors and unemployed Art History students.  And alongside these big events, most galleries in Shanghai are also hosting special exhibitions with the hopes of attracting the attention of the international art collectors who are swarming the city. 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 ›

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 ›

Time to take advantage of the start of the new academic year to learn something new at several upcoming events taking place here in Shanghai. more ›

These days, Shanghaiist is rarely surprised about anything that happens in China. However, we did think that this news story did come from a little out of left-field. A Henan-based investor group is constructing a 21-kilometre (13 mile) long metal Chinese dragon as a tourist attraction. The dragon's body forms a nine-metre (27-foot) high wall running along a ridge-line, with the dragon's head rising 10-metres (30-feet) above the surrounding land. This project plans to cover the metal structure in 5.6 million pieces of white marble and gilded bronze to form the dragon's scales which Xinhua reports should be "symbolic of the country's 56 ethnic groups". The dragon construction is planned to finished by 2009 to mark the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. The investor group states that advertising space on the giant serpent also will be sold and tourists can pay to have their names and other messages inscribed on the walls of galleries located inside. more ›

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Going to Beijing is a little like embarking on a Chinese safari - we see rare species (honest dedicated government officials), fascinating landmarks (Olympic Buildings, formerly known as Hutongs), and even blood-curdling adventure (Ring Road traffic at 5 pm). more ›

Rodin: November 11, 2006-February 18, 2007. Shanghai Sculpture Space, 570 Huaihai Xi Lu, Open 10 am-4 pm daily except Monday. Tickets: 20 RMB. Ticket hotline: 6280 7844. more ›

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. 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 ›

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 ›

Photo by Shanghai Sky taken from the Shanghaiist photos page. To see your photos on our photos 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 ›

Pablo Picasso said that and we have no idea what it means. Shanghaiist is a bit out of our element writing about art, especially sculpture, so take this review with a grain of salt. We decided to check out the newly opened Shanghai Sculpture Space's exhibit entitled "Sculpture a Century" (our 12th grade Scottish English literature teacher would surely have sighed and tsked tsked upon seeing this). There are three main areas, representing different styles and time periods, though we forgot what each one was. We couldn't see any unifying threads anyway and decided just to walk through and take a look at each piece. The kinds of sculptures that Shanghaiist is more inclined to are the ones that have some humor and a dash of irony -- and while those constituted just a minority of the pieces, they were fairly interesting. The exhibit is free, so whether sculptures are your thing or not, it's at least worth a look. The old warehouse that it's housed in is actually not too big, so you could reasonably go through the whole exhibit in an hour. more ›

Shanghaiist headed over to Xujiahui Park last weekend to meet French artist Patricia Peides, who is visiting Shanghai to participate in the first Shanghai International Biennial Urban Sculpture Exhibition, part of the 2005 Shanghai Art Fair. more ›