Photos by Marc Dominic Cirkel Some of you have been asking on our Facebook page (remember to sign up as a Fan!) if there will be an update of the Shanghaiist logo once the WFC — you know, the building that had to be redesigned because it reminded people too much of the Japanese flag, took forever to be built because of a property glut, was almost burnt down, and recently suffered a security......

We told you about Shanghai's skyscraper envy. Now, the World Financial Center has barely been completed but our wonderful city has already announced plans for yet another skyscraper that will dwarf it. Two days ago, the all-authoritative Xinhua produly proclaimed that the new building, which is to be named Shanghai Center (we are unsure if this has any relation to the existing Shanghai Center) will be the world's tallest at 580 meters and 118......

The WFC may not be open to visitors yet, but that has not stopped some friends of ours crazy laowai's from making their way past security guards to get to the top of the building. On several occassions they were stopped by the vigilant guards, but they tried and tried again — and, at crazy hours, too, like 5 in the morning! Climbing the 101 flight of stairs took... erm... forever... but they were......

Yet another fire has broken out in Shanghai and not too far away from where the last fire broke out! This video shows some building on Nanjing Lu on fire and the fire brigade actively working to douse the fire. It remains unclear from the video (or from the comments) which building that was. Was any Shanghaiist in the area today? Related link Fire at the World Financial Center......

Fire broke out today at the US$910 million 101-storey tall Shanghai World Financial Center in an elevator shaft on the 40th floor at about 4pm today. Eight fire trucks were dispatched to douse the fire, and it was eventually extinguished by 5.42 pm. There were no reports of injuries or deaths. An AP report offers an excellent recap of the numerous travails that have faced the wedge-shaped building in the last few years (some of......

New York Yankees sign on first Chinese players. The New York Yankees announced today that they have signed left-handed pitcher Kai Liu and catcher Zhenwang Zhang to minor league contracts, becoming the first Major League team to sign a player from the People's Republic of China with approval from the country's baseball association. China Fines Six Banks for Lending to Stock Purchases China's banking regulator fined six banks for making loans that were illegally......

Shanghai's stock market isn't the only thing rising at a rate of knots. After a long period of idleness, The Shanghai World Financial Center has nearly surpassed the Jin Mao Tower. Soon, the Jin Mao Tower will no longer be the biggest dog on the block, but certainly amongst the prettiest. Photo by staffh was found via the Shanghaiist Contribute page. Shanghaiist has revived our "Photo of the Day", a series of daily pictures......

Chinese blogger exposes a 1994 fire that killed 288 pupils as officials fled "A local education official who organised the song and dance performance, Kuang Li, locked herself in the toilet, keeping out children who suffocated, according to Chen's blog. Kuang was jailed for four years." China and Russia accused of arming Sudan "China and Russia are supplying arms to Sudan that are being used to fuel the violence in the Darfur region in violation......

An article from the International Herald Tribune tells us that our soon to be completed "Shanghai Hills"/World Financial Center borrows on the mixed-used formula of the Mori company's Roppongi Hills and Atago Hills projects, both in Japan. However, it's not going to be called "Shanghai Hills," it might just end up being the World Financial Center. To get a sense of what's in store for us, we did some reading on the internet. Despite stuff......

We just read a report that says the the new Shanghai World Financial Center complex is going to be called "Shanghai Hills." But check out their official website, which seems to have been opened for business on the 20th, and introduces some of the features of this complex, which is going to be completed sometime in 2008. On the website, there's information about the hotel, world's highest observatory, shopping and business areas that will comprise......

Did you hear the rumor that Shanghai is planning on building a 700 meter skyscraper? Seven hundred meters -- a structure that would dwarf the Oriental Pearl Tower (467.9 meters), the Jinmao Tower (420.5 meters), the yet-to-be-completed Shanghai World Financial Center (491.9 meters) and even the Taipei 101 Tower (508 meters), currently the world's tallest building. How very useful. Real estate developer Lujiazui Group refutes the claim, however, saying the height of the building and......

A couple good Shanghai blogs have noticed recently that the under-construction World Financial Center in Pudong is gaining rapidly on its older (and soon to be shorter) cousin, Jinmao Tower. From Mad About Shanghai: The Shanghai World Financial Center, also known as the `giant bottle opener', is set to be the world's tallest building and at 101 storeys high will even cast a shadow over Jinmao Tower's 88 storey splendor. Due to be completed late......

When it comes to building "fire-fighting" robots, Shanghai kicks ass.China's internet portals unite! "We absolutely oppose to indecent on-line messages that are against social virtues and Chinese people's good culture and traditions."IKEA to open seven more China stores before 2010 (and Shanghaiist's brother is still IKEA-less in Honolulu).Beijing's first SPAM court case involves a company called Shanghai Yiteng Enterprise Management Consulting Company, the alleged spammer. A Beijing woman says the company's bulk emails have cost......

Shanghaiist liked this little article from Business Week which focuses on the innovative architectural landscaping that is going to make certain places look less shitty remake China from the ground up. Yessirree, we've got the National Swimming Center in Beijing, the new Beijing International Airport, the Shanghai World Financial Center (which looks like a huge sewing pin or snazzy bottle opener for giants), Shanghai's planned Donghai bridge that will connect us with the outlying islands,......

Last month, the developers and designers of the nearly-a-decade-in-the-making Shanghai World Financial Center (WFC) skyscraper in Pudong caved in to pressure from China's Japan haters and announced they had made alterations to the planned appearance of the building, which will be one of the world's tallest if it ever gets completed. Most notable among the changes -- the large circular hole that was to cut through the building's top floors was replaced by a large......