"China has surpassed the United States to become the world's largest Internet market by number of users, a research firm said on Thursday." more ›

"China's giant centre Yao Ming will undergo surgery Monday to fix a stress fracture in his left foot, the Houston Rockets announced on Saturday." more ›

Photo from Shanghai Sky more ›

Recently we stumbled across an interesting website that might have finally answered the age-old question: 'What should I do with my visiting friends and family while I'm at work?' ChinaTrackers.com is a company offering MP3-guided tours of Shanghai and we would assume, from the animation on their homepage, other cities will be soon to follow. The Shanghai destinations include plenty of the standard tourist fare (Old Town, People's Square, The Bund), but also has a couple of off-the-beaten-path stops (two Hongkou tours) as well. more ›

We've seen the signs off of Yan'an for years, but yesterday Shanghaiist decided to take one for the team and visit a real dinosaur of a museum: The Shanghai Natural History Museum. As far as we can tell, we have a new ranking contender for saddest museum in Shanghai (and we've been to the Bund 'Museum' under the Monument to the People's Heroes.) The paint was crumbling, the stuffed animals were near the point of disintegration, and most of displays look like they were taken straight out of a 1950s science-fiction novel. We didn't get too close to the dinosaurs out of fear that they might collapse at any moment. That being said, there's something about this museum, schadenfreude perhaps, that made the whole 5 RMB visit worth it. more ›

From Shanghai Daily:

SHANGHAI issued an orange alert for heavy fog this morning. It was the first orange fog warning since winter began early this month. more ›

From Danwei: more ›

Time to top-out your public transport cards, all RMB 999 folks, Opening Day is upon us! The Shanghai metro system will soon be welcoming into the family "three lines and two segments," as the opening as been nicknamed, consisting of new Lines 6/8/9, the 2nd northern extension of Line 1 and the final stretch of the Line 4 loop line. Thanks to "planning with Chinese characteristics" it is still unclear whether the first day of operation will remain on the original 28 of December, or be pushed back to December 29. Whenever it is, on that day Line 6 will begin shuttling Pudong'ers up and down their side of the river, Line 8 will bring civilization to the northern boonies we call Yangpu, Line 9 will make quarantining those rowdy university students out in Songjiang that much easier, Line 1 will become twice as crowded as it already is, and Line 4 will mess with our sense of direction by abandoning the concept of terminal stations. 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 ›

Metro news from the local press: more ›

Back in the office and just can't concentrate on work? Here's a bunch of useless links we gathered that you can entertain yourself with (while pretending to look oh-so-busy)! more ›

Random older gentlemen caught dancing with themselves by the guys from The Shanghai Show. It is sights like these on the street that explain why we're in love with our city. more ›

Cross-posted on the Shanghai Public Transportation blog more ›

Photo from Swiss James of ISpyShanghai.com more ›

Everyone's having their own little calendar these days it seems. Second Chance Animal Aid recently came up with one, and this time, it's the boys from The Shanghai Rugby Football Club and Shanghai Hairy Crabs, and they've shed their clothes for a good cause! more ›

Right: We told you about the duet between mainland crooner Sun Nan and Singapore pastor-turned-popstar Ho Yeow Sun that was supposed to have been the theme song for the Special Olympics but was scrapped. Now we found the video. Make your own judgements. more ›

Right: Walk down Asia's longest and busiest shopping street (did you know it was in our city?) with the guys from The Shanghai Show. Yes, Nanjing Lu remains as psychedlic, mesmerising and frenetic as ever. more ›

Here, Shanghai, were your favourite stories for the month of September: more ›

We've just been made aware of a new daily (well, almost) vod-cast called The Shanghai Show. Hosted by Aric Queen who used to contribute to this blog, it features interesting snippets of daily life in Shanghai from the People's Square, inside some Shanghainese guy's new home, the Jingan area to the Jiashan wet market. Today's show, however, takes the cake (yes, literally). As advised by the producers, only those with really STRONG stomachs should proceed. Our friends from Danwei will be elated to know what we're doing with our Toilet Bowl Award. We still want the award next year, you know. more ›

The Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau has announced that this year's average air quality so far is poorer than the same period last year. Normally, the city's air quality from June to September is the best of the year thanks to the wind direction and tropical cyclones. The worst season is from November to February, the bureau said. more ›

Although June is the designated month of Gay Pride events all over the world, Shanghai will show its Pride this week by holding several events at Shanghai's own, one-of-a-kind gay dance club/bar/motel multiplex, PinkHome. All of the events are the result of much hard work by Shanghai's own, (and also) one-of-a-kind organization, Shanghai's LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) group. As for the events, there won't be a parade or hopefully any tear gas, curses, or... more ›

From varietyasiaonline.com: more ›

Expats it’s time to start renegotiating your contracts! The Shanghai Daily reports in the past week the price of zongzi (粽子), the delicious pyramid-shaped dumpling made of sticky rice and meat, has according to reliable sources increased by a whopping 10 percent. The treats are now fetching a prohibitive 2.50 RMB. The reason for the increase is probably due to the coming Dragon Boat Festival and the ever-rising price of pork. While there are rumors that the Duke Brothers might be behind the rise, others believe that the demand for pork in an increasingly wealthy China is outstripping supply of the animal. In the past year pork prices have risen 70 percent, a record level. more ›

to embroil a listed company this year. more ›

Will this finally be the end of the Shanghai clique? The death of Huang Ju, a former Shanghai mayor and party secretary and now former member of the Standing Committee of the Politboro, spells trouble for Jiang Zemin's already waning influence on the Hu administration. Having ascended to the role of vice premier of the State Council in 2003, Mr Huang had long served as the figurehead for the "Shanghai Clique", a group of politicians joined by their love of all things Shanghai (and Jiang Zemin). Were Raekwon the Chef asked to sum up the situation, he might say something like this: "The Shanghai Clique forms like Voltron and Huang Ju was the head." more ›

Friday was the first day that Shanghai's ban on honking withing the Inner Ring Road came into effect. Fines range from RMB 200 for prolonged honking, RMB 100 for average offenses, and simple friendly reminders at the officer's discretion for unavoidable toots. The Shanghai Morning Post reports that traffic noise was down on 11 decibels on average at 70 sites being monitored around the city. more ›

On Friday night, we set out to rub shoulders with Shanghai's glitterati, nouveau riche, assorted celebrities, politicians, and captains of industry at the Millionaire Fair, where we watched them splurge their hard-earned, unearned, or ill-gotten gains on some of the priciest merchandise in the known universe. There were stretch hummers, Scotch whiskey, French wines, US$350,000 diamond necklaces, and quoting from the New York Times, "Blüthner pianos, private islands off the coast of Dubai, beluga-size speedboats, snub-nosed sports cars. It is a woozy carnival of excess, with Cuervo cocktail shakers hurtling through the air and vaguely Soviet floor shows to delight or repulse, depending on how you like your entertainment served." more ›

Photo by Jakob.Montrasio.net taken from the Shanghaiist Contribute page. more ›

Photo by Shanghai Sky taken from the Shanghaiist Contribute page. more ›