Visitors to the Life Art Center, also known as that place on Maoming Lu with lots of bad art and Southern Barbarian, may have noticed something a little out of the ordinary lately: Shanghai's first head shop (that we know of at least). They aren't even trying to hide it, either. It's literally the first thing you see at the end of the hall when you step in through the Jinxian Lu entrance. Bongs, pipes,......

Whilst smoking bans in restaurants and bars seem to be spreading throughout the rest of the world, Shanghai is having second thoughts. City Diner introduced a no-smoking rule on their second floor earlier this year, but now have an unwritten rule that customers can light up with their late night burgers (after 2am or when the Blues Room bar downstairs is closed). At the recently-opened Japanese restaurant Matsuri Express (in the basement of Jiu Guang......

As part of the preparations for the Shanghai World Expo, the municipal government has marked the 600 day countdown by publishing a report on "uncivilized behavior" among locals. The report is based on an online survey in which over 5,000 Shanghai citizens were polled on what kind of behavior they consider annoying or rude. Smoking in public places made it to number one on the list of "most disgusting behavior", although most people still seem......

In a move to help realize Beijing's ideal of a non-smoking Olympics, Shanghai has made an effort to curb its inhabitants' unhealthy habits — smoking in cafés and restaurants associated with the Games will now be prohibited. Hotels will be required to offer non-smoking floors and rooms, as well as cafeterias. Smoking in taxis will not be permitted for either customers or drivers. According to the China News Agency's Shanghai bureau another, smoking in......

Caijing Magazine shares some startling statistics on cancer in China, where smoking, poor diet, water pollution and environmental problems have caused the nation's cancer death rate to rise 80 percent in the past 30 years. The statistics come from an exhaustive survey conducted by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Science and Technology. According to the survey, cancer is now accountable for 25 percent of all urban deaths and 21 percent of all......

In the news recently, Shanghai's taxis:"Where's the difficulty in the taxi smoking ban?" The passengers, that's where. Dazhong taxi's "Welcome the World Expo with no smoking in Dazhong taxis!" campaign has stopped taxi drivers from smoking on the job through strict supervision and heavy fines, but drivers are finding the passengers aren't as cooperative: some taxi drivers have even been fined and lost stars due to passengers' complaints of bad service after they were......

This video clip from MSNBC has one shocking statistic — China has one third of the world's smokers. That's 350 million, more than the population of the United States. This also comes as news to us: that Beijing is going to ban indoor smoking from May, ahead of the Olympics. Whether this will work remains to be seen. One restaurant chain that has enforced the smoking ban ahead of schedule is already complaining that it......

We want some of whatever this guy is smoking: "Haibao is a jolly, confident and cute kid," said Shao Longtu, 62, CEO of the Jiumuchuansheng advertising company and head of the mascot design team. "Using a human being as a mascot reflects the spirit of human-orientation, while the color blue stands for water, sea, the Earth, life, dreams, the future and technology," Shao said. ... "The mascot is a perfect match for the emblem. It......

News tidbits from the public transportation world: Maglev hours are being extended to match the operating hours of the Metro Line 2, opening at 6:45am and closing at 9:30pm. In 2005 the high-speed train extended its hours in a bid to snag more passengers; this time the move comes as it rides a new wave of popularity. Shanghai's Dazhong Taxi is following the city of Beijing's footsteps and declaring all of its taxis to be......

Netizen "fyliumin" has sent in the following vid to Youku.com with the following comment: 今天去看一个病人，六张床的病房，居然来看望的男男女女有二十多人，只见孩子哭的，抽烟的，大叫的，床下堆满了各式纸箱，大都是亲友送来的外表花哨，内里低劣的营养品。中国特色的看病人模式体现了中华民族深厚的家庭观念，仿佛只有这样才能表示亲友的重视，人堆人围着一个病人拉家长，拉得时间越长，表示越亲密。但这种模式确实不利于病人休养，不利于医院管理，更不文明，反正见怪不怪了。 Today while visiting someone at the hospital, I saw 20-over visitors crammed into a small 6-bed ward. There were men and women, children crying, some were smoking, some were screaming. Under the beds were various boxes -- all presents sent by relatives and friends, full of stuff that look good on the outside but full of cheap nutrients on the......

Today is World No Tobacco Day, and according to a joint study done by Shanghai city and Fudan University public health researchers found that 82.8% of Shanghai people in a survey said they supported the idea of smoking/non-smoking sections in restaurants, while around 70% of restaurant managers said they were hoping to either completely ban smoking or else try sections. However, in reality only 6.1% of restaurants have banned smoking, and only 24.2% of restaurants......

Zhang Yue (张跃) of Luoyang is the kind of guy that we want around, all the time. Why? Because Zhang is known for plucking cigarettes out of people's mouths right as they are about to light up. The anti-smoking crusader has taken his show on the road to the tune of over 200 cities in China, and was recently spotted on Nanjing Lu, snubbing out eleven cigarettes in the space of half an hour. Normally,......

Face-lift after 'health check' on Xupu Bridge "Xupu Bridge's 240 suspension cables are to have a large-scale renovation to make the bridge safer and more beautiful prior to the opening of World Expo 2010, the Shanghai Engineering Administrative Bureau has said." If no Expo, safety not an issue. Frozen fish from China recalled as two in Chicago fall illfpr "The list of potentially deadly products reaching the United States from China continued to grow......

"Peasant is not a derogative word" "Yuan, who had been a peasant in the late 1960s, noted it is 'uncivilized' to affix derogative connotations to peasant, which for him usually means guilelessness, diligence, and the down-to-earth spirit." They also link to a song called "Peasant." Outwardly open, China keeps censoring "Only authorized dramas are allowed on Chinese prime-time television, customs inspectors are seizing books on Mao Zedong at China's borders and newspapers are prohibited......

Tech Flocks To Shanghai "According to a report from Russell Reynolds Associates based on Shanghai government statistics, 144 foreign companies now have their Asia-Pacific headquarters in Shanghai, 48 of which established operations there only in the last year." City traffic police tougher on jaywalking "Besides receiving a verbal reminder of the violation, jaywalkers and cyclists will be fined between five yuan to 50 yuan, depending on their behavior and attitude." Shanghai Surprise "If you......

Imagine Superman, Monkey King, time travel, martial arts and state-of-the-art technology all rolled into one. Sorry for that mental image, but this is what Mohuan Shouji (魔幻手机 or "Magic Cellphone") promises when it hits the small screen in November. This "modern" fantasy television drama series brings up a concept that human beings can actually be transported through SMS (we have heard rumors that Shanghai officials and mobile phone service providers are actually planning on launching......

Zakaria: The Sky Isn't Falling in China "It might be time to admit that we really don't understand China. The country simply does not conform to our most basic beliefs about what makes nations grow." Curbs sought on violence in Chinese films "China needs a law to restrict a 'violent culture' in films and Internet to protect the youth from being corrupted, a Chinese lawmaker said Tuesday." China is source of bird flu virus,......

Shanghaiist hopes that Valentine's Day 2007 went better for you than it did for us. We had planned, after dinner and drinks, to get drunk and screw, especially after watching the above sex ed video for inspiration. However, we had a bit of a problem when, after dinner, we headed to 1001 Nights on Hengshan Lu to smoke the sheesha (water pipe) and have a small but potent cuppa Arabic joe. Just FYI, this......

Quit Smoking with Lasers "This window was on a nondescript building near my new office. The characters mean 'laser' and 'quit smoking,' begging the question: how exactly do you use lasers to quit smoking?" Metro work to throttle more roads "Among the affected areas, sections of Xizang Road S., Minli Road W. and Dalin Road in Luwan District were shut down yesterday because of Metro Line 8 construction, according to the city's Engineering Administrative......

Texas is thawing, the Northeast is freezing, and a sort of natural order seems almost restored to the Ist-A-Verse. Almost. Londonist HQ—that is to say, the city of London—was battered by heavy winds, making it a bad time to be a twelve-meter (nearly forty-foot) tall snowman. Still, not everyone decided to keep warmly covered. Meanwhile, back indoors, the Big Brother racism is now causing all kinds of headaches for international diplomats, and Londonist got into......

We are writing this while choking on second-hand smoke at a Huaihai Lu cafe/eatery. Our choice, we know, but we had a meeting here and then decided to have lunch — and now we are having our neighbor's Marlboro Lights for dessert. Anyway, a nice little midday reminder of why we prefer to work at home. But is relief on the way? According to the latest Access Asia Weekly Update, maybe so. (Keep in mind......

Mozilla coming to China, seeking talent "The Chinese government has been enthusiastic about open source software systems such as Linux, and it seems likely that the Chinese market will be receptive to a greater adoption of Firefox, where currently IE is the default browser." Google partner in China is accused of abetting piracy "We have been watching [Shenzhen Xunlei Networking Technologies] for some time and we have observed that like many file-sharing networks/enablers in......

AsiaPundit » Blog Archive » iPhone Now Available in China "Even though the official Asian launch date for the Apple iPhone is not until 2008, users of the China’s Taobao auction site can already buy the ‘revolutionary’ phone. No wonder Taobao could beat eBay in the China market ..." (tags: china iphone gadgets tech taobao) Syphilis epidemic raging in China, says study - Yahoo! News "Syphilis, virtually eradicated in China under Mao Zedong, has......

We don't know about you, but it's friggin cold out there. Well, not for some of you. It seems as though places that are supposed to be cold are warm and places that are supposed to be warm are cold. Or maybe that's just us. Either way, we're freezing. Austinist said goodbye to their co-editor (sell-out) and played rumor monger ">on the SXSW lineup. And when dozens of dead birds littered downtown Austin, it's......

Because Shanghaiist is too poor to afford satellite TV, he's often had to entertain himself with China's favourite (and only) English-language channel, especially when he's suffering from insomnia. Today's news coverage includes a story of what is touted as "Asia's first Dark Restaurant" which has just opened in Beijing (we briefly told you about this on Jan. 5). The video to the right is from a Chinese-language CCTV report. The restaurant experience begins in a......

While we are on the topic of smoking in public places, CSR Asia summarizes this report about the new smoking ban in Hong Kong: In Hong Kong, taking effect from 1 January, the smoking ban is extended to most indoor areas and all indoor areas of workplaces, public places, restaurants, bars for all ages, and karaoke lounges. Tobacco control inspectors are empowered to take action against those breaching the new laws. Owners who breach the......

If part of your New Year's resolution is to pick up smoking, well here is yet another reason why you have just made an awesome decision (as if prospect of tarred teeth, permanent bad breath and lung cancer aren’t enough to look forward to): Your new habit will help fund education for many underprivileged children in China. Last night at dinner, while enjoying some fine second hand smoke, we noticed this message prominently displayed on......

Beijing retailers told to mind their manners with customers or be found violation of the law.Beijing has opened what we believe to be China's first pitch-black restaurant—where diners eat in complete darkness and the staff use night vision goggles.300 new bao mu's are being trained for deployment during the Chinese New Year, when many of the city's bao mu's are heading home.Was it climage change that brought down the Tang dynasty?A Shanghai production of the......

Shanghaiist likes to smoke. We used to enjoy Davidoff, but it seems since summer we can no longer get our favourite brand (at a cheap price) in our regular cigarette store. We normally pay RMB 11 a pack — at government run stores you have to pay RMB 18 for a pack. We have no idea what happened. Some said there is something wrong with smuggling imported cigarettes out of airports now, but why this......

We'd heard a lot of hype about Hong Kong director Johnnie To's (杜棋峰) new film Exiled (放逐), not least of all because it was one of three Chinese language films that competed at the Venice Film Festival (against new works by Jia Zhangke and Tsai Ming-liang). We just watched the DVD, and if ultraviolent action and stylish gunplay is your thing, then this is the movie to watch. The plot is simple: 1998 Macau, right......