A last-minute add to the program over at JZ, the Copenhagen-based group called Jazz Kamikaze who have been getting rave reviews will be playing this thursday night at JZ Club. In fact, when Shanghaiist was in Copenhagen last February, we didn't hear the band but got to jam a bit with some of the players in it. They were great, very creative and vibrant musicians. And killer players! So we're expecting a great show from......

William Feng is the host of ICS Shanghai's travel show Getaway. New shows go out on Thursdays and are repeated across the week. Was the Getaway gig a random Shanghai opportunity or did you come here with a plan to break into this industry? I came to China originally as part of a three year plan to travel the world. The next stop was meant to be Brazil, and finally, Africa. When I first arrived,......

We seriously LOVE some of the things we hear about going on in our city. Yes, some of the people we meet here can be harsh and mean, but this story goes to show that humanity still exists in Shanghai. Two weeks ago, Rebekah Pothaar, an executive with Ctrip.com, found that her ayi's husband was in a serious motorbike collision. They went with her to the hospital and found that surgery was going to cost......

Yet more news on China's HIV/AIDS situation, and this time from a most unlikely source. Did you know, dear readers, that Naked News, the "program with nothing to hide" that has its news anchors strip as they read the news, has male strippers newsreaders too? Apparently this program is targetted mainly towards the gay market (which makes us wonder if the program will ever have a market among women)? We were surprised to learn that......

What if Beijing is right? [IHT] What if the doubters have been wrong all along? What if big government and an all-powerful state are good, not bad? What if the business cycle, hitherto thought to be inevitable, if completely unpredictable, could be repealed? These are the questions that Howard French of the IHT asks in his latest Letter from China.China's 1st lunar probe to reach moon orbit Monday morning [Xinhua] China's first lunar probe, Chang'e-1,......

Not so long after its crackdown on foreign-language only signs in Xintiandi, the language police are now on to their next target -- the Shanghai Metro! They have objected to plans by the subway operator to train its staff to learn basic phrases in five major Chinese dialects -- a plan that is not without controversy -- so as to help domestic tourists and visitors when they ask for fares and directions. As can be......

Learn more about this project This is a simple chasing game we developed in Scratch to celebrate this summer's street dramas between cyclists and Shanghainese traffic attendants. You are the bicycle trying to keep away from JingJing the famous Net policewoman, who is trying to serve you with a fine for riding on the wrong side of the road. You can move the bicycle in different directions by pressing the different cursor keys. Scratch......

12 Chinese Dating Sites Under Fire? These sites have been accused of promoting prostitution. Beijing claims Tibetan relics All religious artifacts in places of worship in Tibet belong to the Chinese state, the official Xinhua news agency said yesterday, in Beijing's latest attempt to exert control over religion in the restive Himalayan region. Hill arrives in Beijing to discuss nuclear issue Top U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill arrived Wednesday morning in Beijing, saying it is......

At the risk of appearing as though we are once again fellating the "gay agenda", we thought we'd point out the interesting news announced Thursday that China aired its first program about gay and lesbian issues ... online. The show is called 同性相连 in Chinese and Gay Connections in English (although the Chinese press release calls the program Connecting Homosexual People) and it premiered its first episode of a 12-part weekly series on April 5......

Since Shanghaiist has indie cred to burn, we don't feel that we need to justify our decision to attend the Kenny G concert last night. The show was two hours of jazz-lite — he actually only played one song and then just held the final note (an E-flat, we believe) for another hour and 55 minutes. Ok, unfortunately he played a lot of songs, including: that one pop song where he holds a note for......

Shanghai plaintiff files wrongful death claim against Eastman in Madison County "Clevenger claims from the first moment his boss mentioned an international assignment, he responded that he and his family would go anywhere in the world except China." Interesting story. Ax In China TV Ads, In Nod to Muslims Porcine Prohibition "'China is a multiethnic country,' the network's ad department said in a notice sent to ad agencies late Tuesday. 'To show respect to......

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......

Every couple of years, Shanghai's art and culture scene comes alive as a slew of exhibitions are organized in tandem with the Shanghai Biennale, arguably the biggest art event in the city. And every couple of years, Shanghaiist is disappointed by the various offerings. Shanghai never claimed to be the cultural center of China but one would think out of all the events and exhibitions this fall, something would get Shanghaiist excited. Instead, we can......

CNET reports, via Reuters and the South China Morning Post, that a courts in a city in Shandong province have been using a computer program to help calculate sentences in more than 1,500 criminal cases: The software, tested for two years in a court in Zibo, a city in the eastern coastal province of Shandong, covered about 100 different crimes, including robbery, rape, murder and state security offenses, the South China Morning Post said, citing......

The question posed by one Glenn Beck, a program host for CNN Headline News, during his nationally syndicated radio program. Shanghaiist learned of the story from Mediamatters.org: On the June 14 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, CNN Headline News host Glenn Beck aired a clip of the documentary film An Inconvenient Truth in which former Vice President Al Gore states that global warming could cause many highly populated coastal areas to be submerged......

Of all things we miss from back home, clean air and fast broadband come to mind the most often. Well, that’s about to change. In 2010, while we’d still be coughing our lungs out and spitting phlegm on sidewalks, we can at least take comfort in the fact that sound medical advice from WebMD, the CDC and assorted other sites will arrive on our computer screens -- if computers still have screens in 2010 --......

Shanghaiist remembers with fondness the days in the schoolyard before the advent of computers. Oh how much fun we had, playing handball, flicking marbles across a concrete path, and moving small piles of dirt about the place. Who needs a new-fangled state-of-the-art role-playing video game like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (with full facial animations and lip-synching, a sinister plot involving an unknown assassin of the emperor, and incredibly life-like battle scenes where gamers wield......

Remember when you misbehaved and your parents threatened to beat you senseless, send you to boot camp, or send you to Michael Jackson's ranch? Well, as soon as we read this article (in Chinese), all those memories came flooding back. This article from Southern Weekend is about the "Marching School", which is basically a school run like a military boot camp. Who goes to these schools? China's problem youth: the kids that live in the......

It’s a known fact, kung fu is cool. Any dude that can take on 20 bloodthirsty enemies at once earns the respect due a master warrior in our book. So why not enjoy a free exhibition of local kung fu shi fu's at The Summit, September 17. Don’t be fooled by the flyer's picture of old, peaceful men in pink pajamas doing taiji quan, as Ivy Zhang of the Mandarin House assures us, they can......

Chao Nu, the abbreviation of Chao Ji Nu Sheng (超级女声 or Super Voice Girls), has entered the Chinese vocabulary. It's the name of a televised singing competition similar to American Idol, produced and broadcast by the state-owned Hunan Province Satellite Television Station. The program's full name is Mengniu Yoghurt Super Voice Girls -- Mengniu being one of China's leading dairy product brands. The TV program has sparked a nationwide mania. According to the August 20......

While Shanghaiist has been here long enough that the picture to the right didn't seem wrong at all, it's true that Shanghai traffic can be a little crazy sometimes. And while we have personally been hit by a taxi (and several bicycles) it may be getting worse, despite efforts to the contrary. A few weeks ago Shanghaiist noticed that the intersection of Jianguo Xi Lu and Ruijin Er Lu was becoming rather, well, fortified. The......