According to Shanghai Daily, the "anti-pickpocketing map" was made to highlight theft hotspots in the days leading up to the Spring Festival (a notable peak time for crime). The creators of the map collected observations and experiences of theft from its users and marked the most high frequency crime scenes with red tags. more ›

It's probably safe to say that police efforts to stamp out prostitution in China have a bad rep- and for good reason; considering the proliferation of pink Karaokes and massages, any "raid" seems arbitrary and possibly corrupt. That's probably why Shanghai police are getting rid of raids altogether, trying out a new route: undercover sex workers. more ›

So, here we go again with a question that we didn't think would have more plot twists than Lost: Is Shanghai nightlife going to suck during the Expo? Current answer: Maybe. Maybe not. more ›

[So after going to my local PSB, they hadn't heard of this regulation either. We are looking for the original Chinese email to get a confirmation of what THEIR local PSB told them, whether it was mistranslated and why. Hold your horses everyone, I'll write a bigger update when it comes.] First I heard about the subway passport checks, with random foreign looking people being stopped by subway security to make sure all their papers were in order. Then this morning, I walked outside and saw that police officers were now in my compound waving down laowai to ask for their documents, and I thought "this is about as ridiculous as it gets." No. No it wasn't. Because now you guys aren't allowed out past 11pm. more ›

With the Expo clock ticking down, it seems Shanghai wasn't only content to renovate and renew neighborhoods and subway systems. Police cars got an upgrade too - going from old and sturdy VWs to these new and shiny BMWs. more ›

• Shanghai is going to be the next stop for A Nice Set, a traveling exhibition of customized slipmats designed by leading artsts from around the world. The exhibition will open at 7:30pm on September 12 at SOURCE. [Neocha Edge]
• The Wall Street Journal has a great piece on Zhaohang village, which contains land that would've been razed to build Shanghai Disneyland. As is the way in China, many villagers didn't get the compensation they were hoping for. [WSJ]
• Bad news for all those trying to make a quick buck on their foreign faces, apparently Shanghai is cracking down on foreign people modeling firms. [Shanghai Daily]

In the biggest raid undertaken this decade, Shanghai police seized 65 people from a suspected home-burglary ring this morning in Minhang. 658 officers, 17 police trucks and several sniffer dogs were used in the raid, which seized oer 20 laptops as well as cars, mobile phones and ATM cards. The burglary ring had used its Yingdu Lu location to commit more than 100 burglaries across the surrounding districts. They would focus on six-story buildings, entering homes by climbing over walls and through windows. Source: Shanghai Daily more ›