A total of 21 floats and 30 performer teams enthralled crowds in a massive parade last Saturday on Huaihai Middle Road to kick off this year's Shanghai Tourism Festival. Featuring the usual flotilla of garish floats, happy minorities and a number of imported acts from Japan, Brazil, Finland, Indonesia and elsewhere, the parade's manufactured carnivalesque atmosphere drew a crowd of tens of thousands. more ›

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Maybe you've noticed a cutesy lil' deer mascot named 乐乐 (Lele) posing around town, or maybe you've actually opened up the papers today to see Shanghai media enthusiastically promoting the occasion - but yes, the Shanghai Tourism Festival is starting up this Saturday. more ›

A group of kimono-clad geishas entertain passersby on the Nanjing Lu pedestrian street as part of a pile of fringe events in the ongoing Shanghai Tourism Festival. more ›