Having earlier attended Tess Johnston's session, I return to Glamour Bar to hear from acclaimed Chinese author Su Tong (苏童). It's 5 p.m. and the floor is packed. People are reading from his works that have been translated into English, such as "My Life as Emperor," "Raise the Red Lantern" (also known as "the one that Zhang Yimou made into a movie"), and his 2009 Man Asia Literary Prize winner, "The Boat to Redemption." more ›

• We personally love our pajama-clad compatriots but, if like the Expo people, you really wanted to stop Shanghainese from wearing pajamas, do you know you what you should do? Have the Poors wear them, says Evan Osnos. [New Yorker]
• So did you know there was a competitive eating scene here in Shanghai? Super Diner offers a one-kilo burger challenge - if you finish it in ten minutes, it’s free. And Christopher St. Cavendish, bless him, decided to give it a go. [SmartShanghai]
• Xing Zhao talks to three generations of gay men who’ve lived and loved in Shanghai. [Cityweekend]

We've always marveled at the immense chasm between the Chinese book market and the rest of the world. Of course, issues of translation and appeal abroad have kept the market pretty domestic, but that seems to be changing slowly. Chinageeks makes a great point in response to the coverage of Frankfurt Book Fair: it seems that the only interest the west can muster towards Chinese literature is when the book or author carries some sort of scandal with it, leaving the vast majority of authors and books unnoticed. There's a lack of foreign awareness of books that split the difference between banned-in-China and sterilized-by-censorship that leaves a big old lacuna where books by talented Chinese authors should be. more ›