A random internet search brought us to this kinda cool poster from artist Steve Thomas. It's a retro-futuristic advert for the World's Fair in 2474 (we guess) that celebrates Shanghai's "Five Centuries of Progress." We suppose that means the 2010 thingy we're hosting goes OK. Ironically, the Pudong skyline used to represent the future in the poster is already the old Pudong skyline. The best part: Entry to the World's Fair is only four credits. And children get in for a half credit! We can't wait until 2474. more ›

It's easy to get excited about Dunkin' Donuts and the arrival of another Best Buy will at least offer us a more customer-friendly electronics shopping experience, but can Shanghai really handle the full frontal in-your-face Americana that is Dippin' Dots? For the uninitiated, Dippin Dots are little balls of liquid nitrogen-enhanced ice cream that look like smallpox, feel like Styrofoam, and taste like redneck. Fine, maybe they don't taste like a redneck (they taste like a cross between real ice cream and chalk), but the association is so deeply ingrained that you'll swear after one bite that 'Dueling Banjos' is playing faintly off in the distance. Available only at amusement parks, shopping malls, and NASCAR-esque sporting events, they exist somewhere in the seventh circle of the American nightmare. more ›

The iPhone will be available in Asia sometime in the earlier half of this year (although nobody seems to know exactly when yet), and while Apple's been dragging its feet over bringing the phone here, some enterprising Chinese company has already come up with another clone, the HiPhone (not to be confused with the Meizu Minione), and from what we hear so far, it's not too bad for a clone! In fact, this German geek was so impressed by the phone he decided to do a four-part video review of it to cover everything from the box to the OS, the messaging and the multimedia systems. (We love how the packaging of the phone screams, "Innovation changes the future!") more ›

If you like your basslines rinsin' and your selektas rewindin', you'll be in broken-beat heaven this weekend. On Friday the 15th, Hospitality Shanghai sends Logistics and Cyantific to disinfect Club Bonbon. The duo will storm the emergency care ward to celebrate Bonbon's new status as a resident stop on the Hospitality tours. Cyantific is bringing an extra turntable just for us and will showcase his own brand of three-deck trickery. more ›

Image credit: Nature abhors a vacuum more ›

In our past life as a public relations executive, we were always surprised at how China's media world appears to be in sort of a pre-Cambrian age with as many publications going out of business as there are coming in. Call up all the journalists you've invited after a press conference and there always be bound to be one or two publications that have folded up. Well it appears we haven't quite come out of those pre-Cambrian times yet, and at least the expat magazine circle is beginning to feel the heat. Hot on the heels of the closure of News Views Reviews comes the demise of Hint Magazine. We just received this in our mail from the editors of the publication:

Dear Friends of Hint Magazine, more ›

RIP: 4Live (November 2006-January 2008) more ›

Well, 2007 is pretty much over. This Shanghaiist has never really been a big New Year's person, maybe because we always end up the odd one out at midnight or the one that has to break up the drunken fights that erupt. But, in the spirit of the season we have decided to do that traditional (way over done) recap of the past year. 2007 was a big year for music in Shanghai and below are our picks for 2007...and of course this list is biased, memories are subjective to each person and the most memorable shows for me usually tend to be because of personal involvement at some level. more ›

1. university students who might be studying medicine and could use the cash, 2. people who want to further the cause of medicine (and who might be sick themselves, and thus have a stake in it), and 3. people who are in it just for the money. more ›

UPDATE: As stated in this comment, Shanghaiist was contacted via email by the Director of Sales & Marketing of Shanghai Golden Sands F&B Management Ltd., the company running the two establishments mentioned in this report. He requested that we take the story down and issue a retraction. He also threatened legal action. The author of the post stands by his story, and says his sources included current employees of Trader Vic's. In his comment below, the Shanghai Golden Sands F&B Management Ltd. spokesman said: "It is absolutely not true the [sic] any of our restaurants are going to close in the future." We have asked Shanghai Golden Sands F&B Management Ltd. for more to their side of the story, asking which specific statements in the story they would like to refute on record. We will happily add their comments or any official company statement to this post. Stay tuned. Ed. more ›

We want some of whatever this guy is smoking: more ›

Where to go, where to go: Shanghaiist is still trying to figure out where to carb up for our big dodgeball game tonight (that's right, patches, dodgeball). Pure, the fancy new Japanese restaurant that is part of The Collection at Xintiandi, has been offering their new sushi menu for 50% off since last Thursday. The special ends tomorrow night, however, so if we enjoy ourselves tonight we may find ourselves there tomorrow as well. On... more ›

Yet. For those who like to keep up to date on Shanghai-English-language-website news — yes, all three of you — head on over to Urbanatomy.com. That's the future home of a new website from the folks at That's Shanghai. And if Urbanatomy.com is as half as good as thatssh.com ... someone seriously needs to be fired over there, because thatssh.com is really quite awful. But they know that — hence the new site. But why... more ›

Have you ever wondered what life must be like for someone who is watched everywhere she goes, whether she's eating, drinking, sleeping, shopping? It's the reason why Shanghai photographer Don Yap has tagged her "jailbird" in one of his recent portraits of her. Watch Paris eat xiaolongbao at Nanxiang and sip tea at Yuyuan, and go shopping at Lu Kun's (the greatest PR coup scored yet by any Shanghai-based designer!). The Shanghai municipal government... more ›

DONGPING ROAD: DOOMED OR REDISCOVERED? As some readers may know, the strip of Dongping Road on the south side from Hengshan to Yueyang Roads is leased to the bars, restaurants, tailors etc by the music college behind them. Most of the leases are coming up for renewal over the next 2-12 months.There has been some concern that the music college may decide to reclaim their land for their own expansion purposes, rather than renew the... more ›

So, as some of our commenters in a previous post brought up, Youtube is indeed back! So what was behind the temporary block — was it the 17th Party Congress or was it Youtube's Hong Kong/Taiwan versions? I guess we will never know. But enjoy it while it lasts people. You never know when the block will come back up, but when it does, you know you have VPN to fall back on ;-) more ›

A record number of more than 10,500 Chinese Muslims are expected to fulfill their pilgrimages to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, according to the Islamic Association of China (IAC) Sunday. more ›

more ›

For starters, we have moved the cook-off to the street that runs alongside Bubba's Bar-B-Que (between us and Marriott Hong Qiao). It is a nice, tree-lined street and we're gonna close that sucker down to traffic and allow pedestrians and cooks only. Oh sure, we'll have music, games for kids, and games for adults as well. more ›

Hello again, people! We told you it was going to happen, and as of NOW, commenting on Shanghaiist (and the rest of the Gothamist network) is limited to registered users. Registration is easy — either click the Create an Account link at the top of this or any other page on Shanghaiist or, easier yet, create an account right at the bottom of the entry page that you want to comment on. So easy! All you have to do after that is confirm your e-mail address and you're good to start commenting. more ›

Oops..we have been sitting on this a few days, all the beers and amazing shows made Shanghaiist a little loopy and unable to sit down and type. The entry below comes via Emily Moy who had a chance to sit down with Talib Kweli and Ozomatli at the Yue Festival press conference last Thursday........ more ›

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 anymore. I have not been paying my party membership fees for three years now, and haven't been keeping up with the meetings, so they probably struck my name off the list. more ›

Are there any Living Buddhas among the enlightened readership of this blog? You have been informed: With immediate effect, all your reincarnations must receive government approval, and if not, they will be deemed "illegal or invalid" by the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA). more ›

Pioniers, a minor league team in Amsterdam, Netherlands. In 2007, he was signed by the Beijing Tigers of the China Baseball League (more info here). The CBL season already over, Kim recently answered some of our questions via email. more ›

Back in January, we told you how much we loved the food at Southern Barbarian, the great Yunnan restaurant that some people complained was too far away because it was north of Beijing Lu. Well, we are happy to report Southern Barbarian has moved farther south, and now resides amongst a cluster of art galleries and shops near the intersection of Maoming Lu and Jinxian Lu (just one subway stop from Shanghaiist headquarters). The grand reopening party, with requisite amounts of free food and booze (and live music from The Cardinals), was last night, and some photos can be found above. more ›

If we’re a day late picking up the buzz on Xu Haojia—the 16-year-old girl auctioning her breasts for charity—it's because the story was so baffling, it took us 24 hours to sort it out. more ›

In a very unusual letter (English translation here) addressed to the "bishops, priests, consecrated persons and lay faithful" in mainland China, Pope Benedict XVI (and he's got a cool Chinese name too - 教宗本笃十六世) has openly hoped for a renewal of relations between China and the Vatican. In the letter, the Pope noted that "there are signs, in China too, of the tendency towards materialism and hedonism, which are spreading from the big cities to the entire country" and called on Chinese believers to remember that "the new evangelization demands the proclamation of the Gospel to modern man, with a keen awareness that, just as during the first Christian millennium the Cross was planted in Europe and during the second in the American continent and in Africa, so during the third millennium a great harvest of faith will be reaped in the vast and vibrant Asian continent". more ›

It doesn't just end there. Yahoo is also inaccessible now it seems, although both Yahoo.com.cn and Yahoo.cn are still working as usual. Has it been GFW-ed? Is the inaccessibility of the two websites related? more ›

With another London Graduate Fashion Week at an end as of Wednesday, June 6th, its time to look back at how some of China’s overseas hopefuls faired against their fellow students from around the world. Whether or not they will make an impact on the world of fashion in the future, only time will tell. more ›

Continuing the fine Shanghaiist tradition of plagiarizing and plundering regurgitating Shanghai Daily stories, we bring you this article:

SHANGHAI named 83 folk arts as its first batch of city-level intangible culture heritage today as part of the city's efforts to protect and promote these "traditional treasures." more ›