If not for our friend who was scheduled to guest DJ there, we really wouldn't have headed to Springtime Roller Revival. For one, the roller rink appears to be located in the middle-of-nowhere (Yichuan Road near Ganquan Road, anyone?). Factor in the 200RMB cover, probably the priciest we've seen in all of our two-plus years in Shanghai, we weren't quite optimistic if anyone would make the trip there on a Friday night. Turns out we......

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The Los Angeles Dodgers take on the San Diego Padres this weekend at Beijing's Olympic baseball stadium. Seating capacity is limited to 13,000 spectators, and sure enough Emma has sold out their allotment of the cheap seats here in Shanghai. We're curious as to the scalper situation in Beijing, but for the risk-averse, other Chinese ticketing websites still have a small number of tickets left. A little internet sleuthing can still get you into the......

We dropped by Hamilton House last Friday for lunch, something we should have done earlier maybe. (Actually, we had headed over on Thursday but the restaurant was closed for a private wine tasting event.) So there was a decent lunch crowd – enough to make you want to enter yet not too many people to make you wonder if you’ll need to wait all day to get served – and the lunch menu seems......

Shanghaiist was back at Yu Yin Tang after the extended New Year's break. Gigs have been slow to restart after Spring Festival due to announced renovations of their space over by Tianshan Park. Alter-Ego played on Friday and we went down to Saturday's 0093 Rock Showcase. Our first discovery was that the renovations have not actually been finished. The performance space is unchanged and it's the entry way that's getting expanded. Basically, there's a roof......

We think we'd be all right if we never, ever watched the CCTV Spring Festival gala again, but we almost regret it this time because we missed out on some real doozies, like Zhang Ziyi's terrible lip-synching episode and as well as the slight faux pas, made by one of the hosts, that China's south was in the midst of an "abundant spring" even though many of the southern provinces are facing the worst winter......

Photo by Peijin Chen Spring Festival: The holiday is around the corner, and for the first time in years we'll be stuck in Shanghai, undoubtedly huddled under the covers and looking sorrowfully through our phone's address book for anyone who might also be here to help brush away the loneliness. Since our ayi who cooks our grease-ridden meals will also be leaving us for the holiday, we're going to have to trudge out into......

By James Creegan Shanghaiist is dreaming of a Spring Festival watching fireworks light up the sky over a Fragrant Harbour or Forbidden City, but watching the red rash of 售完 (sold out) notices spread across the board at Shanghai South Railway Station, and feeling the air of desperation and panic, we gave up and went home. Until buying train tickets online become an option (when China? When?!) we’re hoping a travel agent will be able......

Nasty. Nasty. Nasty. If we didn't have to walk the dogs, we'd just stay inside our (semi) warm living room all day. We know the miserable sleet (or is it freezing rain?) and slippery conditions are forcing some offices to send workers home early today. But winter's icy grip on China is far more serious than some missed work or a slip on the sidewalk. Here's a rundown (and, please, feel free to add to......

Air Asia, Asia's first budget airline, has just announced its latest China destination. From now on, you can fly from Hangzhou (which is just a stone's throw from Shanghai) to Kuala Lumpur at a fraction of the price! We just did a quick check on their system and if you plan ahead of time, you can expect to pay around RMB1,115 (taxes included) for the flight. You can even select your own seats on the......

It's official. It has now rained in Shanghai 3,173 straight days. OK, that's a mild exaggeration. But, seriously, folks: We hope you are headed somewhere warm and dry for Spring Festival. This sucks. Today, we begin what seemingly will become a regular feature on Shanghaiist. We will post a new version of the Eurythmics' 1983 classic "Here Comes The Rain Again" every day until the weather gets better (or until our readers beg us......

Shanghaiist recently stumbled upon a couple of little, somewhat inconspicuous spots that seem perfect for hiding away from the obnoxious cold of Shanghai’s deep winter. We’re planning on being regulars at these places not because the food is mind-blowing, but because they’re cozy and warm and, well, we’re softies like that. Amokka Café on Anfu Lu opened sometime early last year, but it took us getting lost during rush hour to accidentally come across it.......

Following up on yesterday's post about China's new holiday lineup for 2008, we now have the official official list of dates, so now everyone knows what Saturdays and Sundays they might be asked to work (and that nonsense starts soon). Here we go: New Year's Day: Sunday, December 30-Tuesday, January 1 (workers will be asked to work on Saturday, December 29, 2007)Spring Festival: Wednesday, February 6-Tuesday, February 12 (workers will be asked to work Saturday,......

Well, then: Oops. What last month we said was going to happen, this month was made official. China has scrapped May holiday, one of its three Golden Weeks, and turned three traditional festivals into national holidays. Here's how your official 2008 Chinese holiday schedule now looks: New Year's Day: January 1Spring Festival: February 6,7 and 8 (Wednesday-Friday)Tomb Sweeping Day (Qingming Jie, 清明节): April 4 (Friday)Labor Day: May 1 (Thursday)Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu Jie, 端午節): June......

Migrant workers—let's face it, you either love 'em or hate 'em. There's just no in between. It seems that lately, they've been getting some love from the people, what with Chongqing's official Migrant Worker Day and now with the recent announcement by none other than Premiere Wen Jiabao himself that the popular "Migrant Worker Song" (or "Ode to the Migrant Worker" as we prefer to translate it when we're feeling poetic), a song written by......

Normally the water itself here in China is enough to make your skin start to blister and peel and fall off, but in a shallow pool at Dianchi Chuntian, a wonderfully relaxing (and affordable) hot springs spa in Kunming, Yunnan Province, it's swarms of hungry fish that seek out your skin — the dead stuff, we were assured — and ingest it. It's meant to be healthy, for you and the fish. Wikipedia tells us......

OK, we've never heard of East Star Airlines before, but it has just become the first private airline in China to be authorized to operate international flights. A Xinhua report tells us that under Civil Aviation Administration of China regulations, new airlines may apply to operate international flights only after three years of operations. East Star has been in business less than two years, but it beat rivals Okair, Ueair, Juneyao Airlines and Spring Airlines......

This video just came in from a reader (Thank you meckleychina!). Apparently the Shanghai-based budget airline Spring Airlines now makes its passengers do in flight exercises. From what we see in the video at least, everyone is taking it very seriously. Now nobody wants to be one of the unlucky few to die of deep-vein thrombosis(DVT) in the air, right? Smaller Chinese boutique airlines have been trying ways and means of injecting more "fun“ into......

We honestly have no idea (really, honey[1], we don't), but some guy named Professor Goya recently had this to say to a reporter for Japan's Shukan Taishu: Right now, Shanghai is the hottest spot in Asia -- believe it. It's got those famous karaoke clubs with hostesses, massage parlors and erotic baths. It's evolved beyond anything we Japanese can imagine. Beyond anything the Japanese can imagine? Really? We didn't think that was possible. Anyway, the......

With 2005's film version of Memoirs of a Geisha, Chinese people across the world had more reason to hate Zhang Ziyi and foamed at the mouth yet again saying, We’re not Japanese. You would have thought that by now the West would have cottoned onto the message. Alas, Chinese observers rolled their eyes upon seeing Chinese models dressed like geishas, again, at this Madame Butterfly inspired fashion show in Paris back in January. However, like......

Popular Italian sports and casual wear brand Paul & Shark launched their Spring/Summer 07 line across their 30 China stores with a beach themed bash in Hong Kong earlier this week. Now we're not normally fans of the preppy yacht club look, but our hat goes off to the brand for daring to, and succeeding, in making Mayan prints and Hawaiian floral shirts something that even men would want to be seen in. The line......

Spring has well-and-truly sprung. According to word from the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau, we are now entering the earliest summer for 100 years. Get ready for a hot time. This great capture titled "love" was taken from theshanghaieye's Flickr photostream. Shanghaiist has revived our "Photo of the Day", a series of daily pictures of life around the city. We want you to share how you see Shanghai. Simply post your photos on Flickr, tag them......

While April is Alcohol Awareness Month in the States (some of you might be in the dark). If you are living in China, it might as well be Promoting the Gay Agenda Month Online Gay TV Awareness Month with news of the arrival of three online gay TV shows. Earlier this month, we reported about China's first online TV show about issues relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities within China. Aired......

Shanghaiist lost count long ago of the number times we've thrown very unladylike expletive-laced fits in the middle of sidewalks when the umpteenth cab driver we've tried to hail has taken one look at our adorable, amazingly well-behaved-in-cabs pups and sped off. Seeing this China Daily headline ("Taxi wants to serve your pets") got us all excited before we realized it was not a service available in Shanghai. The pet-centered cab service is run by......

Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we're all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn't officially start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we're up to... Over at Sampaist, spring has more than sprung: it's sweltering! But, as everyone knows, museums are an ideal......

For those who left the country during Spring Festival, or like us, those who can't afford living in an expensive high-rise compound, video and photo sharing websites allow us to join in on the action (or, if you were trying to sleep during the fireworks, relive the nightmares). We especially enjoyed the the above video of the Yangjiang Fireworks Festival in Guangdong — it's almost 17 minutes long. Closer to home, Shanghaiist reader meckleychina created......

For profit and patriotism, Chinese flock to antique auctions in Japan, where they buy a lot of old Chinese items.Chinese swimmers are going to take on Cook Strait, and then the Bering Strait, Red Sea, Panama Canal, and Strait of Gibraltar.South Korea braces for another toxic sandstorm from China.You mean Tibet wasn't always part of China? A Chinese scholar says different.US veep Dick Cheney, in Australia, criticizes China's arms build-up.The ghost of Spring Festival past—celebrating......

A charity event in Nantou in central Taiwan featured famous calligraphy artists painting characters and Spring Festival couplets (春联）on the bare backs of female models and then "signing" their works with lipstick and a kiss. Creative? Kinky? Bad taste?......

Hopefully, the shoe thieves and pickpockets have all gone home for the Chinese New Year: "Oh Daddy, another stolen Motorola phone? You shouldn't have!" Two people we know have been the victims of pickpockets in these last few weeks leading up to the Spring Festival, and we've even seen some at work by the train station. In Haikou, Hainan, a group of people have decided to fight back. Led by 53-year-old Lao Yun, they're a......

Marriage offices are going to be busy today.Last year there were 912 cases of bribery involving 171,950,000 RMB in Shanghai.A local exhibition of Shanghai Spring Festival rituals and customs is on at the San Shan center.More boob-fondling and kissing at Madame Tussauds.China Law Blog tells us about a Wall Street Journal article about how foreigners and Chinese get along (or sometimes don't) at the office.China Law Blog has a take on the debate between the......