Now into its fifth year, M on the Bund’s Shanghai International Literary Festival kicks off this weekend and once again has an impressive line up featuring a string of famous names and expert figures from across the book world. Running for the next three weekends, the festival offers Shanghai’s literati the chance to see some of the best Chinese and international writers. With so many great events to choose from (you can buy tickets and......

This Shanghaiist isn’t a massive fan of travel writing. As interested as we are in other places and in travelling, we’d rather experience these places ourselves – we don’t like someone else spoiling all the surprises for us. We’ve also become a bit tired of reading work by Westerners “experiencing” China, given that these pieces often tend to say the same shallow things: China is currently in the midst of rapid economic growth (gasp!); the......

Hot on the heels of the FIFA Women's World Cup, yet another international sporting event, right here in Shanghai. The Special Olympics will open on 2 Oct at the Shanghai Stadium and run all the way till 11 Oct. We hear from the organisers:Award-winning producer and director Don Mischer has created a spectacular Opening Ceremonies event to mark the official opening of the World Games. The event will include star-studded entertainment, the Parade of......

Planning an October holiday escape? Need some fresh air? How does Norway sound? The European Arctic. That should be far enough from the pull of Shanghai's pollution, right? Wrong. These days, there's no escaping China's chief export: Crappy air. Researchers at the Norwegian Polar Institute have said that they've detected chemical traces from China all the way up north on Spitsbergen Island. How do they do it, you ask? Well apparently with some smart detective......

Many moons ago, we had a conversation with a Chinese colleague that went something along the lines of the following:同事：你是基督徒吗？ 我：不是很好的基督徒，不是很虔诚的基督徒，不过应该还算基督徒吧。 同事：哈哈，明白了。我不是很好的共产党员，也不是很坏，但是也许已经不能算共产党员了。我有三年没有交党费了，而且一直不去参加会议，应该已经被除名了。 Colleague: Are you a Christian? Me: Uhhhhmmmm.... Not a very good one, not a very devout one, but yes I guess you could still say I'm one? Colleague: Haha, I understand. I'm not a very good CCP member, and not a very bad one either, but you probably can't say I'm a member......

The new silk road of weaponry: China to Iran to Hezbollah?China and the CIS countries are applying for heritage status for the actual Silk Road.the first Chinese-owned television station in the Middle East, Alibaba Business News, began broadcasting in the United Arab Emirates.Tomson Riviera finally sold its first apartment. The Pudong flat went for about $16 million US dollars.Manchester City 1, Shanghai Shenhua 0.Say it ain't so: China will eradicate Chinglish signs but luckily, this......