Earlier this morning, a deadly fire broke out at a hawker stall close to the Ladies' Market in Hong Kong's Mong Kok district. The death toll has risen to nine people with a dozen people seriously injured, while the Hong Kong Fire Services Department pulled up with 30 trucks on the scene to the tame the 50 flaming stalls. The fire still remains under investigation. more ›

The best swimmers in the world are in Shanghai for the FINA (Fédération International de Natation) championships. Some of them, like Michael Phelps, were in Beijing for the Olympics. Back then, Facebook and Twitter were allowed. more ›

People all over the country have been doing wacky things for the 60th anniversary: hair statues, wild safaris, you name it. But this one takes the (urinal) cake: a public garden in Panyu has just opened a massive tourist park with over twenty scenic spots, and "six star bathroom facilities". What makes a bathroom worthy of six stars, you may ask? The bathroom is made of gold, of course! Apparently the luxurious bathroom in the new NanYue park complex cost eight million yuan to make, and will host a grand opening party on National Day. Happy birthday, China! more ›

Attendance falling at your local place of worship? Loyal herd looking elsewhere for spiritual direction? Have a carnival! That'll win 'em back. If only the Pope had thought of it ... like the Shanghai Xuhui District Tourist Bureau did. It's annual Longhua Temple Festival runs until May 7th, meaning you have one weekend left to catch all the fun. more ›

This morning, Chinese language news portal 163.com had a great scoop, and revealed the future planning for Shanghai and China's Maglev railway system. more ›

Imagine Superman, Monkey King, time travel, martial arts and state-of-the-art technology all rolled into one. Sorry for that mental image, but this is what Mohuan Shouji (魔幻手机 or "Magic Cellphone") promises when it hits the small screen in November. This "modern" fantasy television drama series brings up a concept that human beings can actually be transported through SMS (we have heard rumors that Shanghai officials and mobile phone service providers are actually planning on launching this functionality ... by 2010, the magical year when all of our dreams will come true). more ›

Lots of juicy transportation news today: more ›

Lucky for Shanghaiist, we won't be. But we certainly feel for people who will be stuck in the city for the holidays. So we've compiled an incomplete list of a few things to keep you occupied while your friends are back home drinking eggnog and getting wasted with family around the Christmas tree. more ›

Late last month, we told you about the Shanghai Wild Animal Olympics, and we probably didn't infuse the post with the proper amount of outrage. Thankfully, some commenters picked up our slack and even directed readers to the animalsasia.org website, which includes information on how you can help put an end to such disgusting displays. We will now quote that information here: more ›

Even though we are way way past school age, we still get a little melancholy at the close of summer. Fortunately, our friends across the -ist network know that the shenanigans don't need to end just because the big yellow buses are back on the roads. So, grab your sunscreen and your favorite hangover cure, as we take a tour of end of summer fun from -ist cities all over the damn place. more ›

We love the title of this Shanghai Daily article: “Tourist festival great for boozers.” Whoever wrote that title is hereby invited to write for Shanghaiist -- don’t worry, you’ll fit right in. more ›

• .. .train tickets have changed every-so-slightly? In a move to make the process more friendly to visitors from abroad, train stations are now printing the departure and destination city names in English, just below the original Chinese. Since the departure time and car/seat numbers are written in the other international language (numbers), the only thing left to fully interpret a ticket is the bottom/middle/top character on sleeper train tickets. more ›

Shanghaiist, admittedly, isn't much of a museum goer. While we can spend hours wandering the galleries at 50 Moganshan Lu, we have yet to set foot in that big famous museum in People's Square. We blame our short attention span on MTV. But when we do find a museum we like, we'll tell you about it. And this weekend we were thoroughly impressed by the little-known Shanghai Post Museum, which opened on January 1. more ›

If you choose to undergo the necessary procedures for hiring a car, or even easier, borrowing a friends, then where to go? more ›

Since Shanghaiist kicked off in July this year, we've inflicted opinion after opinion on you, our faithful readership. Here comes a whole bunch more. more ›