An “Entertainment Restriction” (限娱令) has been issued by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) to impose further restrictions on entertainment shows of provincial TV stations, Netease reports. Dating and other 6 kinds of programs will be restricted, and only 2 entertainment shows will be allowed to air during prime time (7:30pm to 10pm) on one provincial satellite channel weekly. more ›

Renowned Canadian bubble artist Fan Yang is set to wow audiences in Shanghai this July with his Gazillion Bubble Show, where he will attempt to fit 150 people inside a single bubble. Here's a glimpse of some of the amazing things he can do, performed recently at a press launch:
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The mailbox shared by employees of the discriminatory, transphobic talent show known as China's Got Talent has been hacked into and completely emptied. Confidential documents, including a US$400,000 production manual purchased from Fremantle Media are now gone, reports Shanghai Daily:

All 900 e-mails about the program's detailed running schedules, plans and contestants' resumes were deleted. But the biggest loss is the production manual of the "Got Talent" series, which was purchased from Fremantle Media. It is valued at about US$400,000. more ›

So, if you're a beautiful cross-dresser, you sadly won't be making it big on China's Got Talent, thanks to a bunch of narrow-minded producers and judges. However, one particularly lovely lad-lassie doesn't need a nationwide TV contest to showcase her beauty -- she's got crowds at her feet at a Chengdu auto show, where attention focuses more on her than the cars. Potential auto buyers think she's beautiful -- judge and appreciate for yourself, below: more ›

So we always get pretty excited about the bands Split Works brings over, but this has got us literally jumping up and down in our rooms in glee. The Handsome Furs, the indie rock duo project of Wolf Parade's Dan Boeckner and his wife Alexei Perry, are going to hit up Yu Yin Tang on September 5th. Tickets will be 80RMB at the door, and 70RMB if you book it early through Taobao or by email. Opening acts are yet to be decided, but heck - we don't care who's up on stage with them... the Handsome Furs are coming. THE HANDSOME FURS ARE COMING! more ›

Anyone who's been in Shanghai for the past few years will know about micro - the semi-regular series of minimal house and techno nights that has graced a number of venues in its time. more ›

Maybe Shanghai's local music scene people were all at last Sunday's Oscars and are thus still sleeping off the hangovers, but things are pretty quiet in terms of live music this weekend. Still, thankfully, there is a little something for all you band lovers to attach yourselves to. more ›

Usually weekdays in Shanghai are fairly dead when it comes to gigs, but this week there is a slew of shows worth checking out. Jens Lekman will be playing two, much anticipated shows at JZ Club on Wednesday and at Glamour Bar on Thursday. This gives you two chances to check out why so many people are excited about the appearance of this Swedish indie-pop crooner. more ›

November has been a good month for live music and this Saturday the Subs are back in town to finish off the month in style with a show at the Zhi Jiang Dream Factory. Deemed the best live band in China by many magazine scribes, their moshes are a good way to escape the cold winter chill that will no doubt engulf the open roofed Hongkou Stadium during the Kylie Minogue concert. Joining the Subs are one of the most talked about new Beijing bands, the Molds, and depending on who you talk with sound similar to the Cramps or Jesus and Mary Chain...either way Shanghaiist is getting excited. If you can't wait till Saturday for some live action, head to Yuyintang on Friday where the Molds will be playing with Rogue Transmission and Loudspeaker. more ›

Maximilian Hecker is pretty big in China, having played a few well attended shows in the past. With German Music Council meeting in Guangzhou there has been a spike in German artists hitting Shanghai. Hecker plays Tuesday night at the Zhi Jiang Dream Factory in what will be a very intimate show. Things get started around 8:30pm and tickets are RMB280. more ›

After an intense weekend at Yuyintang with the Subs and fellow riot makers, this weekend is going to be slow. About the only thing happening is the festival out at the SMP skate park on Saturday. Things get rolling before noon and some of the bands scheduled to perform are Mortal Fools, Pink Berry, 21G and Cold Fairyland, among others. Hopefully the weather will clear up, but if not at least you will get to see plenty of massive wipeouts by the performing skaters, now that is entertainment. more ›

Halloween.....while there are more than a few parties being held tonight, including the infamous Shanghaiist party, there is only one that gives you the chance to dress up in a crazy costume and spend the night in a sweaty, raving mosh listening to a Clash cover band, Boys Climbing Ropes (or is it Popes?) and the intense sounds of the Subs. Lucky for you there is little else happening in the way of live music this weekend, because after tonight we expect a little down time will be needed to nurse all those mosh pit bruises and hangovers. more ›

With a fairly slow weekend in live music, tonight’s CD release party for Rogue Transmission should be a no brainer. With their garage rock influenced sound, Rogue Transmission has been steadily growing a local fan base. Their release party is scheduled for 9pm on Saturday, October 25th at Yuyintang. Joining them are Nanjing pyschobilly band, Angry Jerks and old school punkers, Mortal Fools. more ›

This weekend is fairly dead as far as indie live music goes. The one show we recommend people checking out is the Defys, a rockabilly band from Beijing, who will be playing at Yuyintang tonight. Joining them on stage will be Sonnet, a very promising Shanghai band featured in City Weekend's last issue. We also hear that You Mei You, also from Beijing, might be on the lineup. Fans of reggae should head to Anar where Wang Lei will be performing. more ›

Olympics are over and that means we can expect more live shows to start creeping into our weekends. Tonight, Institutional Crush, an old metal band from Changchun is heading to Live Bar to show the youngsters how to properly head bang. Yuyintang is trying something a bit different; with a night of local DJs that includes B6 and Fish, two members of the infamous Antidote crew. more ›

Rumours have been swirling for weeks, and now it’s official: Grammy-winning producer/rapper Kanye West will be passing through Shanghai for a gig at Hongkou Stadium next month. Although we don’t usually take anything seriously until we read about it on Kanye’s blog, we made an exception here after speaking to Steve Sybesma, CEO of China West (who are organizing the show along with Live Nation Asia). more ›

All hail the fun killers. In their infinite wisdom (idiots) the powers that be have deemed live music to be threat to national security and two casualties are Yuyintang and Windows Underground. The folk scheduled for tonight at YYT has been moved to Dream Factory and everything else is up in the air until after the Olympics. Super VC won't be able to play at Windows tonight and STD are trying to find a location for them to play tomorrow, so look for updates on that. more ›

If any of you have been in Shanghai for over 3 years you might remember a time when Ark Livehouse in Xintiandi was one of the few bastions of live music. Slowly disappearing from the scene and limping along for the past 3 years with the rare live show, Ark is finally calling it quits. Saturday they will hold one last show featuring some of Shanghai's oldest bands, including The Honeys, Blue Garden and Crystal Butterfly. If you haven't been to Ark this is your last chance so get off your ass and see what the Shanghai rock scene was like way back in 2004. more ›

Folk or Punk? Tonight that is the question you should be asking yourself. Demerit, a tight group of old school punkers, are playing out at Yuyintang tonight in celebration of their new cd. While out at Live Bar French folk bands, Kandid and Zedrus, will be showing Shanghai what French folk is all about. Tomorrow the STD party people will be at Windows Underground with Underground Baby, from Beijing, and King of Retards. Live Bar is sticking to the Folk theme and is putting on showcase of Yangtze River bands. more ›

This weekend there is no lack of gigs worth checking out with some in familiar places and some in places that are new to the live music scene. Celebrating their 1st year anniversary, party promoters STD have pulled out all the stops, booking a massive space in the heart of Moganshan Road's art district. On Friday, Beijing heavy weights, New Pants, will be joined by Shanghai masters of chill, Cold Fairyland, and DJ R3. Saturday, in the same venue, post punkers Re-Tros, Banana Monkey and Mr. Tsang will help STD wrap up their 2-day birthday bash in style. more ›

So we have been slacking off this week on getting out the list of gigs. But there is a valid excuse... laziness and heat doesn’t mix well and hit us like that proverbial ton of bricks. The good news is that not much was happening last night, while tonight is full of choices. We aren't sure what is happening out at Yuyintang but we have been getting reports that both No Name and Guai Li are scheduled to play there tonight. Both bands are worth checking out, but offer completely different sounds (neither are mellow). Guai Li is also confirmed to be playing the STD party at Logo later tonight. Another pop punk band from Beijing, Magic Mama, is playing at Live Bar. We haven't heard the band before so can't say much. The old Windows Tembo is celebrating its last weekend at the old location with local acts the Honeys and Blue Garden. more ›

Bands left drifting helplessly after the cancellation of Midi have found a sort of oasis in Shanghai. The past week has seen a multitude of Midi bands play and this week things get even busier. Even as we write Karin Park should be wrapping up her first of two consecutive nights out at Live Bar. Should be a surreal experience watching a pop act prance around the stage of a proper dive bar. Tomorrow, the 21st Century Noise will be entertaining the crowds out at Yuyingtang with their Swedish rock. On Thursday Karin Park heads to Yuyintang where she will join Surferosa for a night of wicked 80s-esque rock pop while R&B outfit, One-J, will be at Live Bar. more ›

The last time we attended anything Broadway related, we went to Live Mic Musical's debut production of their series of musical cabaret productions. If you missed the first production, you can judge the talent and performance level for yourself with the YouTube clip we've conveniently embedded. Or better yet, you can just come to the next show, which takes place this Saturday night. more ›

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By Jake Newby more ›

Well, it's all over the news. Hunan TV is going to do a Chinese version of the hit US TV show Ugly Betty. According to a report from the BBC, the lead character—the Chinese Betty—has already been chosen. A Chinese article that we read, dated March 7, says that Hunan TV wants to hold nation-wide auditions to find the ugliest girl possible. So we're not sure what the case is, but in any case, whoever is chosen will soon have their identity known to the world, because the show is supposed to start shooting in April. The plans are to stretch the show out over ten seasons, with about 40 episodes each, for a total of 400 episodes. However, unlike in the US, there aren't going to be longish breaks between seasons (and presumably, no writers' strikes either). more ›

We know he's meant to be quite a bit more brilliant in concert than we saw the other night, but it seems as though a few things conspired to make Harry Connick's Shanghai show this past Sunday less great than it really should have been. For one, the role that the rest of the band played was way too small — it seems that we heard more from Bjork's brass section the week before! And when they were playing, you could barely hear them as the piano and voice were so much higher in the mix and the horns got drowned out. We fell asleep at the beginning of the show, with all the solo piano and mellow vocals happening. Then it was the same 2 or 3 players taking horn solos all night, and there was only one trumpet solo in the entire show! It makes you wonder what the heck was going on for this to happen, after all the hype about this great big band. more ›

Our friends over at Split Works tipped us off to their Yue Festival website, on which you can vote for the artists you'd most like to see at the second annual event this fall. Lots of big names on the list — how many of them are realistic, and how big of a role voter opinion will play in the signing process, remain to be seen. But we have been told that all but perhaps one band mentioned on the list are possibilities, although some are much more expensive than others (yes, we're looking at you Mr. West). more ›

Looking for something to do tonight? Enjoy explosions in the sonic soundscape (we're not sure what that means, either)? If you get a chance we recommend heading down to 4Live where the Ex-Models, from New York, will be playing along with Snapline (Beijing) and Shanghai's very own Muscle Snog. Both Snapline and Muscle Snog have been getting a lot of attention this year, so here is your chance to see why. more ›