... and going with strange girls who want to practise their English to coffee shops is STILL a bad idea, folks. Yet another chump — this time a Swedish guy on a business trip — has fallen for the time-honoured scam by following a pair of temptresses who were "dressed like university students" (so wearing mortar boards, presumably) to the Manabe coffee shop on the 3rd floor of the Brilliance Shimao Plaza, Shanghai Daily reported... more ›

New street signs are being put up throughout the city. They are supposed to be easier to read. But one local official likes not what he sees -- the letters 'R' and 'D'. He thinks "Lu" should replace "Rd" -- this is China, after all. OK, fine ... but why not bring this up before thousands of new signs were printed? more ›

What was this about relaxing on the last weekend of a holiday? Nonsense, that’s what it was. We’ve been busy -- actually Brad’s been busy and we tried to help him (more on that in a few), but we still managed to get the show out … albeit, a few days late. Sorry. more ›

Numbers tell a story. And the number emblazoned upon a Shanghai taxi’s dashboard tells a tale of experience -- i.e., how long the particular driver has been in the job. The higher the number, the less time he or she has spent behind the wheel (numbers are issued in sequence, just like baggy green caps). more ›

Fumin Lu in between Changle and Julu Lu is a small yet concentrated swath of Shanghai’s “pink and pirated” trades. more ›