Photo by Chad Ingraham More photos on the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site (and here).......

Photo by UrbanNat More photos on the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site (and here).......

You have been warned. ("Rubbers" is another term for "galoshes.")......

Doomsayers over at Slate examine the myriad of potential disasters that could derail the Beijing Olympics, calling it the "Summer Olympics Disaster Guide". Pollution (no surprise here) and visa restrictions rank the highest with a 90% possibility while the unrest in Tibet and algae plaguing Qingdao’s waters come in a close second. But for us, the threat of a locust invasion entering Beijing from Duolun County in Inner Mongolia is hair-raising. According to local officials,......

Parts of Shanghai are experiencing blackouts today because sizzling temperatures have led to an exploding electricity demand and the city's power grid is, quite simply, unable to cope with everyone reaching for the a/c. A local power official tells Shanghai Daily that the city's power grid is fully loaded, all backup power generation systems are in use and blackouts may have to be introduced to help the city cope. This summer, the State Grid Corporation......

Photo taken by NoLimitsTWon Xikang Lu More photos on the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site (and here).......

If you were cooped up at home all day yesterday like us because of the heavy rains, then you probably have no idea that over a dozen roads were flooded all across the city. We heard parts of Huaihai Lu (where we live) were also flooded, but we were blissfully unaware of all that in the safety of our own homes. Anybody has pictures?......

A thick layer of mutant seaweed has bloomed over vast stretches of the 500-mile coastline of the Qingdao Bao, an Olympic sailing venue. As the algae can only be removed manually, the city has already mobilised 1,000 fishing boats and 3,000 people to haul in algae by the boatloads. Qingdao (青岛) which literally means "green island" is prone to summer algae infestations this time of the year, but apparently this is the worst the city......

Fengshen, the tropical storm that ravaged the Philippines and capsized a ferry last weekend, has moved on to Taiwan and southeast China. The storm has caused schools, markets and businesses to close in Hong Kong, but thankfully no casualties. It is expected to move north to Guangdong, where meteorological experts anticipate eight inches (200 mm) of rain to fall. Fengshen was downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm late last night.......

This tornado, captured here on video, ripped through Lingbi County (灵璧县) in landlocked Anhui Province last Friday at 2:20pm for about 5 minutes, tearing away 650 houses, damaging another 1,000, killing one person and injuring another 45. While there has been relatively scant media coverage of the tornado, over 20,000 people have been directly affected by the tornado. In 2005, a similar tornado killed 15 in the same county.......

For those of you that have been complaining about the wet weather in Shanghai here over the weekend, our friends in southern China have been having it far worse. Heavy rain in Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces are causing water levels in rivers further downstream in in Jiangxi, Guangxi and Guangdong provinces to rise. Of course all this is doubly bad news for Sichuan which is still reeling from last month's earthquake. Over 1.27 million......

Photo by Sabershadezero After a long and sometimes chaotic winter, the recent heatwave has been much celebrated around the city. Outdoor dining is back, the windows are open, and the locals are sporting this season's hottest pajama fashion. But with all the good weather there's a silver lining or, perhaps more accurately, a poisonous death haze. This is that magical time of year where all the tiny particles in the air heat up and......

Photo by Augapfel The CCP of course. As we enter day two of nasty April showers it's comforting to know someone's got our backs. We reported when China heroically went to war against the elements this winter and now they're sending in the troops again to protect the Olympic opening ceremony this summer. Determined to prevent any moisture, China is prepared to deploy their doomsday device rain-controlling technology to stop any uncooperative clouds that......

Photo by Jakob Montrasio Share with us how you see Shanghai, or China! Post your photos on Flickr, tag them with "shanghaiist", and we'll select one favorite image per day. Or you can simply email your photos to photos at shanghaiist.com.......

Earlier this week the heat in our bedroom pooped out. The weather on Friday hit a promising 18 degrees and we thought our prayers had been answered, but no such luck. Xinhua has put much of China back on a code red weather alert and it looks like we're head right back to highs in the single digits. Anhui and Jiangsu in east China, Hubei and Henan in central China and Shanxi and Shaanxi in......

For those of you that found that video of that Guangzhou train station stampede too gruesome to watch, then please, DO NOT click on this video (h/t to Global Voices). The clip contains images of dead bodies, and in fact it's so gory we're surprised that it hasn't been removed from Youku yet. On 29 January at 7.40am, a bus travelling from Chongqing flipped over a 40 metre cliff because of the frozen road conditions......

By Mike Chen Share with us how you see Shanghai, or China! Post your photos on Flickr, tag them with "shanghaiist", and we'll select one favorite image per day. Or you can simply email your photos to photos at shanghaiist.com.......

We've all been hearing reports about the nightmare caused by the snow, or what Xinhua calls "China's war on snow havoc", which isn't quite as felicitous a phrase as the "US War on Terror", but hey, at least it's more real! The New York Times, among other media outlets, talks about the sense of anger and resentment that people are feeling about what some consider as a lack of preparation on the government's part. From......

By 2 dogs: The new CCTV building in Beijing The winter chaos continues CNN: Chinese travelers gradually get back on track AP: Train Woes Ease in Snow-Wary China Bloomberg: China to Restore Power Cut by Snow Before New Year Forbes: Chinese PM urges people to be brave amid winter chaos Al-Jazeera: Stranded worker dies in China crush Reuters: China steeled for worse weather as holidays loom Yet another dumpling crisis AP: Insecticide Found on......

Long story short, the place is a zoo, but what'd you expect. Of course, things are made worse by the weather. Here are some pics from the last few days. From what we've been hearing both in the news and in our apartment elevator, the dastardly weather gods have caused big time cancellations and problems. Despite the crowds of cold people and the massive B.O. from the people waiting inside the subway station, things......

Now that the People's Liberation Army has been called in to battle the snow and the terms "war", "disaster" and "national crisis" are being used in association with the present weather conditions, we're feeling guilty for making a snowman yesterday in the park and secretly loving every flake. From (Xinhua):The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has ordered its troops to go all out to combat the lingering heavy snow in the southern part of the......

Photos by Alexandre J. Gruss (emailed to photos@shanghaiist.com) More Shanghai Snow photos available from the following Flickr users: Jake in Shanghai Clivez Slow Boat to China larocat Photos found via the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site (and here).......

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Nasty. Nasty. Nasty. If we didn't have to walk the dogs, we'd just stay inside our (semi) warm living room all day. We know the miserable sleet (or is it freezing rain?) and slippery conditions are forcing some offices to send workers home early today. But winter's icy grip on China is far more serious than some missed work or a slip on the sidewalk. Here's a rundown (and, please, feel free to add to......

A record power shortage hits China: Snow brings China to a standstill......

By Mike Chen By Mike Chen Share with us how you see Shanghai, or China! Post your photos on Flickr, tag them with "shanghaiist", and we'll select one favorite image per day. Or you can simply email your photos to photos at shanghaiist.com.......

It’s cold, it’s wet. It’s the perfect time to catch up with the overseas movie scene. Coincidentally, it’s Oscar season and a whole slew of ‘good’ films are just appearing in the shops here. A widely heralded good year for quality films (2007) has come face to face with the WGA writer’s strike, now into its third month in Hollywood. The Golden Globes were reduced to an hour long press conference announcing the winners. If......

It's official. It has now rained in Shanghai 3,173 straight days. OK, that's a mild exaggeration. But, seriously, folks: We hope you are headed somewhere warm and dry for Spring Festival. This sucks. Today, we begin what seemingly will become a regular feature on Shanghaiist. We will post a new version of the Eurythmics' 1983 classic "Here Comes The Rain Again" every day until the weather gets better (or until our readers beg us......

Well it's the fault of global warming elves, who have been wreaking havoc on China of late. First they go and make it hard for Harbin to hold the ice festival in an economical way by raising the temperature by five degrees (Celsius) over the average, while in other parts of China, there are those who are rapidly losing their source of drinking water. The subject of the latter, part of an article written by......

Typhoon Wipha might have been a no-show, and even though Typhoon Krosa was not expected to be as big as Wipha, the whistle it whipped up on our seventh floor apartment did mean we were hardly able to sleep all night (although the rain does appear to have stopped for now). Our friend who works at the Taiwanese international school here tells us some of his colleagues and students were unable to return to Shanghai......