There's something for almost everyone this weekend! As always, what's a weekend without the usual parties galore? The TICT rooftop party is bound to be one of the hottest parties in town. Music fans, delight yourself with the sounds of Afrosonic Orchestra, oh and that English guy, James Blunt, is also in town! If you're a sports enthusiast, you can still catch the Nike Festival of Sport, as well as cricket with the Hong Kong Cricket Club. For foodies, there's an "all you can eat" barbecue, and for the families, there's a fun day at the beach in store. And if that's still not enough, head over to our calendar for more. more ›

Make sure to buy your air conditioner a beer for saving your life: "Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention said today that local hospitals have received 47 heatstroke patients this summer and two of them died. Shanghai introduced a heatstroke reporting system this year, requiring hospitals to give an immediate report after receiving patients with heatstroke. There was no heatstroke data before. A 31-year-old schoolmaster who came to Shanghai for training died on June 23 when the temperature reached 35 degrees Celsius. A 41-year-old migrant worker at a local construction site died last Thursday when the mercury hit 37 degrees." [Shanghai Daily] more ›

As stipulated by the Shanghai government, employers must now pay their sweaty, toiling laborers a monthly subsidy of 200RMB when requiring them to work outside in temperatures over 35 degrees Celsius, or inside in temperatures over 33 degrees. It's all part of a big push to protect workers from the heat and reduce incidences of heatstroke. Sounds like a good policy. Only problem is, the workers will probably never know about it. more ›

For most American kids, summer camp is a place where they can get together with other kids, do cool things like rock climbing and hiking, build tents and make out with the hottie in the short shorts. Now China's parents have discovered this neat little American tradition and have decided that their kids should get a taste of it too. more ›

As if the 38C all-around Shanghai temperature mark wasn't high enough, apparently it's actually much, much hotter than that. Thanks to the heat island effect of all that concrete, temperatures at areas like the Bund (or heck, probably right outside your apartment) are really registering at around 45C (113F!!)! So for those of you unfortunate enough to walk around in areas with little shade this week, remember to always bring water with you and watch out for heatstroke. more ›

If you've found yourself commenting to your friends, family, or coworkers on the prolonged warm weather, you probably wouldn't be surprised to know that Shanghai's summers are actually getting longer by the year. A lot longer, in fact. Shanghai Daily reports that since 1970, the length of summer has increased by 50%, from a measly 100 days back then to a whopping average of 150+ days a year. So if you crunch the numbers, that means summer takes up more than 40% of the year. more ›

"Ethnic Blossom," a Habesha fashion show featuring designs by Sheilla Constance Sidney, took place at the Xiang Yang Elite Villa on Jianguo West Road Friday night. Sidney was born in Guyana, grew up in Paris, and named her fashion collection "Habesha" after an Ethiopian word meaning "to mix." Sidney's clothing line fuses traditional African and Chinese styles and patterns. Habesha will also be online (nothing there now, the website is still under construction). more ›

More photos on the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site (and here). more ›

It's been a scorcher of a week and those little AC units are working on overtime. So much so, that it threatens to plunge us all into darkness. Okay, maybe the situation hasn't gotten that melodramatic, but according to Xinhua News we used a whopping 22.43 million kilowatts yesterday afternoon, or roughly one kilowatt per person (shame on you if you used two). more ›

More photos on the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site (and here). more ›

Refreshing and boozy- sparkling wine in a can is like a cool wave of refreshment breaking on your sweaty summer brow. more ›

Parts of Shanghai are experiencing blackouts today because sizzling temperatures have led to an exploding electricity demand and the city's power grid is, quite simply, unable to cope with everyone reaching for the a/c. A local power official tells Shanghai Daily that the city's power grid is fully loaded, all backup power generation systems are in use and blackouts may have to be introduced to help the city cope. This summer, the State Grid Corporation of China is already predicting a shortfall of up to 10 million kilowatts with an extended season of hot weather and rising coal costs. Blackout party, anyone? more ›

- Russell Taylor, Unilever - more ›

Photo from shanghaistreets more ›

It's that time of the year again — temperatures are creeping up, and we spotted our first shirtless market stall holder at the weekend; summer is just around the corner. more ›

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 quite a bargain, RMB 90 for 2 courses or RMB 120 for 3. more ›

Of how many movies of late, or any time, can you say that "it took courage to make this film"? Summer Palace (颐和园), can be safely said to be one of those films. more ›

Steven Spielberg's decision to withdraw from arranging the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics caused press around the world (except for China) to rub their hands with glee this week at the prospect of China's dirty laundry being flown from the flagpoles of Beijing. more ›

So the story goes: When Chairman Mao visited Shanghai he asked, 'I know there is a Shanghai (上海：on the sea), but is there a Xiahai (下海：under the sea)?' We assume that this was followed by uncomfortable forced laughter as none present (save possibly Zhou Enlai) had the heart (read: cojones) to tell him that the joke stunk. more ›

Photo from Slow Boat to China: Winter time at the Summer Palace in Chengde. more ›

No, this is actually the Summer Palace in Beijing! But that hasn't stopped two laowai's from stripping down to their birthday suits five days ago and enjoying the last of the summer sun in Yihe Yuan (颐和园 or the Garden of Health and Harmony) -- oblivious to the curious stares of the tourists around them. Unfortunately, all good things, as they say, must come to an end. It was not long before some friendly neighbourhood Public Security Bureau guys came and escorted them away. more ›

Photo of Liu Xiang in a Coca Cola ad from spicedfish. more ›

... and that is a conservative estimate, writes Bernie Leo of Shanghai Daily. more ›

Gold, silver, bronze? Nah. According to Bloomberg.com athletes the world over have smog on their minds when it comes to the quadrennial Olympics competition next year in Beijing. Gunn-Rita Dhale, Norway’s reigning world champion for women’s mountain biking had this to say about her future host city, more ›

World's hairiest man / pop-star bids to join Beijing Olympic torch relay

Would you believe it? The world's hairiest man is a Chinese, and he is a rock-and-roll singer! Yu Zhenhuan, who has an average 41 hairs on every .4 square inch of his skin, and is now just recovering in Shanghai from an ear operation, says he wants to be part of the torch relay for next year's Beijing Summer Olympic Games.

• China to be world's third largest economy
  China's sizzling economy grew even faster in 2006 than previously reported, the government said Wednesday, moving it closer to overtaking Germany as the world's third-largest and possibly adding to fears of overheating.


• China falling short on energy-saving goals
  China is falling short of its goals in a campaign to boost energy efficiency in its fuel-guzzling economy - the world's No. 2 oil consumer - but is starting to make progress, the government said Thursday.


• China "Liantong" condom makes the right connection
  A condom trademark named after telecommunications giant China Unicom has been approved by the Chinese government's trademark office.

For one reason or another, when it comes to nightlife, Shanghaiist has its reservations about the Bund. Sure, we do the promenade/requisite bar crawl when out-of-towners come to play but, at the end of the day, we’re just not sold on it. (Our aversion was further amplified upon recently discovering a Facebook group called “THE SHANGHAI ELITE” – yes, they’re so elite they need to shout their name wherever they go. The activities of this group – Shanghai American School repruhzent! – revolve around “wild, breathtaking, heart aching, crazy and absolutely WiCkEd and crazy SHIT”. Among the ELITE’s favourite clubs, according to a recent thread, are Bar Rouge and Attica. We rest our case.) more ›

Picture of Chinese soldiers from tigeranger1971. more ›

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Summer is here and everything is heating up. Leading up to this weekend, this is what Shanghaiist thinks is going to be hot today and tomorrow. more ›