Results tagged “sheshan”

A rocky start for Shanghai's newest amusement park means that Happy Valley in Sheshan will be delaying its official opening until August 16th. The park opened yesterday for a limited amount of members and other "privileged" customers, but crowds ultimately left disappointed after numerous mishaps - including long lines and a severe lack of dining, first-aid and other facilities. In addition, the park's landmark wooden roller coaster was forced to stop seven times and several visitors were hurt when a sign fell on their heads. OCT Enterprises Co., the company which operates the park, has cited the approaching typhoon as the reason for delaying the park's opening. Source: Shanghai Daily

Roller coasters have a special place in our hearts usually shared with cotton candy, summer vacation, and Mickey Mouse. And since Mickey Mouse in Shanghai might be nothing more than a dream anymore, we are more than a little excited for next week's opening of Shanghai Happy Valley (上海欢乐谷), soon to be China's largest amusement park.

• Eclipse at Sheshan Hill [The Atlantic] "The forested slopes of Sheshan Hill rise a hundred meters above the plains of once rural, now suburban, Songjiang District in the southwest corner of sprawling Shanghai. At the top, China’s only Catholic basilica - an eighty-year old red brick building with an onion dome - is flanked on one side by the white dome of a modern telescope, and on the other by the century-old buildings that constitute the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory. Most mornings, the hilltop is silent but for a handful of priests and a few locals willing to climb the old stone stairways to go to mass. But this morning was a bit different: Sheshan was in the path of the century’s longest eclipse, and the local media had recommended it as one of three ideal locations for watching the event."
• In China, a Rocky Ascent for Basketball [NYT] "With 1.3 billion potential fans, China is increasingly seen as a financial promised land for N.B.A. stars through endorsement deals, and the league itself has established a robust organization here valued at $2 billion. But China’s own professional league, the Chinese Basketball Association, has hardly enjoyed a smooth ascendance alongside this country’s basketball boom. American players and agents describe broken contracts, unpaid wages, suspicions of game-fixing and rising resentment toward foreign players. Several players have left China after failing to receive paychecks. Last month, the league announced that it lost $17 million last season, which ended in May."
• Sweeping Africa under the rug: where is China in Darfur? [The Carter Center] "Given the importance of China's financial ties to Sudan, many in the international community have expected China to play a much larger role in the Darfur peace process. Development aid from China goes directly into the hands of President Omar al-Bashir's National Congress Party, which has been accused of war crimes relating to the Darfur crisis. Consequently, the Chinese government's practices run contrary to their ideology."

You didn't think we were just going to let a once-in-hundred-something-years event pass by without doing something about it, did you? Ha! It's like you don't even know us.

Already properly leaked, rumored and reported, the International Federation of PGA Tours made it official Tuesday morning at a press conference at the Shangri-La Hotel in Pudong: Shanghai's HSBC Champions golf tournament has been elevated to World Golf Championship status. To many in the golf world, this immediately makes the HSBC event, which has called Shanghai home since its 2005 debut, the most prestigious golf tournament outside of the United States and the United Kingdom. That China — which opened its first golf course in 1984 and currently has no professional golfers in the global top 100 — has been chosen as the locale for such an event speaks volumes about China's role in the current global marketplace. It's also a strong indicator that golf's governing bodies realize globalization, with Asia being the primary focus, is the key to the sport's survival in an increasingly harsh economic environment.

     

The bigger unit, measuring in at 26,400 square meters, cost its new owner 205 million RMB (roughly $30 million US). The smaller one was had for a bargain of 115 million RMB.

Some people must have been wondering if the HSBC Champions golf tournament at Sheshan Golf Club in Shanghai was ever going to finish. Already one day longer than expected due to rain, play was extended even further this afternoon when Spain's Sergio Garcia and England's Oliver Wilson ended up tied at 14-under after 72 regulation holes. Garcia won on the second playoff hole. We're not sure how many people actually made it out to the course today, but it seems like those who did saw some good golf. Last year, Phil Mickelson, of the United States, won the tournament, also in a playoff. Read the entire Day 5 rundown here. The final leaderboard is here.

Rain caused another three-hour delay today, and there is a lot of standing water on the course at Sheshan Golf Club, but second round action finally got started more than 24 hours late at 9:45 this morning. Most of the leaders teed off in the last hour. You can follow the leaderboard here and the official blog here. For those planning on heading out to the event, you may find this page helpful. Ticket info can be found here or you can call (+86) 21 962388.

The Shanghai tournament's website reports from a soggy Sheshan Golf Club: "[P]lay has been officially abandoned for the day without a ball being hit. ... The intention now is to play as much of two rounds on Saturday as possible, beginning at 6.45am." The tournament director for the European Tour stop said the leaders — including Henrik Stenson, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia and Anthony Kim — will tee off at 8:30am. Shanghaiist's weather center reports a 70% chance of rain on Saturday. A more detailed look can be found here. Our advice: Bring an umbrella and a change of socks. If you have Friday tickets or passes, you can use them Saturday, and there is already talk of finishing the tournament on Monday (every golf journalist's dream).

For those of you who can't afford tickets for the pricey European Tour golf tournament going on this weekend at Shanghai's Sheshan Golf Club, the event's official website is live-blogging with hourly updates. You can follow the leaderboard here. Swede Henrik Stenson (65) currently owns a one-stroke lead over four big names: defending champ Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Anthony Kim and Adam Scott. Three Chinese golfers, Liang Wenchong, Zhang Lianwei and Shang Lei, are tied for 29th at 1-under. Tee times for tomorrow will eventually be found here.

    

The new Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 game for Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, and PSP, which was released last week, has put Shanghai golf on the (digital) map. Finally, you can afford to play Sheshan Golf Club (seriously, we think an Xbox might be cheaper than a round there).

If you have the 35-year-old Swede in your HSBC Champions office pool, you're sitting pretty. Fasth is 8-under after 17 holes and currently holds a 4-stroke lead on the opening day at Sheshan International Golf Club, in Shanghai suburbia. But don't gloat too much — it's only 12:30 pm Thursday and there are guys named Mickelson, Singh, Cabrera, Garcia, Goosen, Els, Choi and Harrington in the field. No Woods, though, for the first time since...