How much of this quote would you agree with?: "The quality of Shanghai's high-profile architecture is now world class," says Dodington. "While early versions of the city's skyscrapers were mostly boxes covered in glass, today each structure needs to embody China's ascendancy. Subtle, avant garde exteriors fuse Western and oriental aesthetics, while massive dimensions embody the city's economic might." From Asia Times. more ›

Oh gosh, here's some really sad news. Remember Ever-spring Hall, which we featured a photo set of just a couple of days ago? The last couple of rainstorms were not kind to it - according to Shanghai Daily, its roof has completely caved in. more ›

Last year, Shanghai resident Katya Knyazeva stumbled upon Ever-spring Hall, a piece of historic Shanghai that had fallen by the wayside. Located just 100 meters east of the Temple of the City God on Wutong Lu, it was turned into a gymnasium at some point in time and then left to rot. A shame for architecture for which the saying was penned, "First, there is Ever-Spring Hall; second, there is Yu Garden." more ›

• We love Western publication tourist guides - and here's one for the Bund (set to reopen March 28!). Things you should do on our beloved Waitan include... going to Three on the Bund, going to M on the Bund and checking out the Peace Hotel. Sounds expensive! [Sydney Morning Herald]
• Pudong is cracking down on illegal "Expo families" i.e. people that are claiming to be home-stay host families in order to lure unsuspecting Expo tourists into their hovels. They face maximum detentions of 15 days and cash penalties up to 1,000RMB. [Shanghai Daily]
• Apparently China has a big problem with drug resistant tuberculosis, something that at least Shanghai is trying to solve. Now people with that form here, as well as those who have not yet recovered from the disease, will be able to take advantage of free treatments. [China Daily]

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). more ›

Li Ning, the Chinese sportswear company named after (and founded by) the famous Chinese Olympic athlete, was recently featured in a Beijing Review article about the steps it's taken to open up a market in the U.S. According to the piece, Li Ning is using "exotic oriental elements" to attract buyers and entice trendsetters. How interesting! Maybe that explains Baron Davis using his NBA moves to baffle locals last summer. more ›

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). more ›

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). more ›

While living in Beijing may have been a little more exciting this Monday, Shanghai was having a relatively uneventful and probably more gleeful 元宵节 (The Lantern Festival). Former Shanghaiist contributor Peijin Chen took these great photos of the city in celebration. more ›

You know about getting tea-housed, you've heard about the 'art student' exhibitions, and now it's time to talk about fake red cabs. more ›

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

Have you (like us) waited until the last minute to get your Halloween costume even though back in September you promised yourself you'd start putting it together early this year? Not to worry. Shanghaiist has you covered. Here's a list of places to get pre-made Halloween costumes and accessories that we put together last year. We've given them a call and apparently they're all still up and running. If any of you finds any other great places for costumes, please email us at info AT shanghaiist DOT com and we will add them on to the list.

Holiday House: 1188 Panyu Lu, near Hongqiao lu (番禺路1188号，近虹桥路). Tel: 64477189, Open 9:30-6:00 pm (Sucky hours!). A kind of one-stop-shop for costumes for kids and adults and decorations. Staff speak English and can be pretty surly.

Shanghai Zhongbao Dress Ornament Co. Ltd.: No.99, Lane 2035 Wuzhong Lu (吴中路2035弄99号). Open until 9pm on weekdays and slightly different hours on the weekend (we suggest you call first). Tel: 64780825/54859199, Fax: 6419 3855, E-mail: zbxj@public8.sta.net.cn. Longer hours, wider adult selection and cheaper prices, but really far from downtown (expect a 40-50 kuai cab fare) and a little hard to find as Lane 2035 is hard to see, the street numbers are out of order and the "99" is spray painted on the wall, and it's a warehouse behind a gate. But it's worth the effort!

Nantai Costume Company: 181 Henan Zhong Lu, near Fuzhou Lu (河南中路181号，进福州路) Tel: 63238344. This place, five minutes west of the Bund outfits many of the local opera troupes and has the ambience of a factory store. Shelves are stacked with everything from tasseled platform slippers to stringy beards. Say hello to Chun Ge, the store's pet mynah bird -- he'll say ni hao back.

The Shanghaiist Weather Center is 100 percent sure the answer will be yes (although is Shanghai Circuit really in Shanghai?). It's dry now in the French Concession, but the dark clouds above suggest it won't stay that way for long. Here's the latest weather update from the official Formula 1 website: Thus far Sunday has been dry with a little wind, but no sign of the edge of Typhoon Krosa, which is sweeping through the... more ›

Photo by Peijin Chen taken from 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. more ›

Want to be the devil this Halloween? Or maybe you’re more the Snow White type. We all know where you are going to be this Halloween (actually, Oct. 28) -- but what are you going to wear? Whatever you’re looking for, Shanghai’s specialty costume shops have a plethora of fun and affordable options. For do-it-yourself types, there are tons of great accessories including wigs, tattoos, face paint, colored hair spray, fake asses, fake breasts, pitch forks, swords, cowboy hats, chicken hats and elephant hats, too. more ›

This may be old news (in fact, according to this link, it's almost three-year-old news) but we just learned over the weekend that McDonald's delivers in Shanghai, so we thought perhaps it would be new to some of you, too. We're not sure if every McDonald's in town delivers, but the one we were at in Yu Yuan (don't ask) does. The sign says they deliver between 9 am and 9 pm and require a minimum order of 50 kuai -- which means Shanghaiist won't be getting delivery anytime soon, since the only reason we ever go to McDonald's is for their ice cream. more ›

Photo by spiky247 taken from 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. more ›

She's got some guy with her, too. Can't tell who it is because of the sunglasses. But who cares? Katie Holmes is in Shanghai! The mystery man with Holmes must be kind of well known, however. It's been reported that he is trying to keep a low profile -- not easy when you have a 20-person entourage and your own six-car fleet. The man, who looks to be quite a bit older than Holmes, is said to have a taste for gay men Sichuan food, so much that he spent 5,000 yuan at a Sichuan place on Yan'an Lu (is that even possible?). Holmes and her beau are staying at the Four Seasons and have visited Yu Yuan and 3 on the Bund. Tomorrow night they are expected to hit the Shanghai Grand Stage for the 2005 MTV Style Gala. After Shanghai, Holmes will head to Xitang, an old water town in Zhejiang, which has been shut down for the filming of some movie. Reportedly, Xitang will receive 100 million yuan for its trouble. We're sure much of that will trickle down to the people who need it most. more ›

Shanghaiist has fond memories of ritualistic post-swimming-practice trips to the Dairy Queen for a Peanut Buster Parfait. We remember these trips being almost a daily occurence. Oh, to be young again in the pre-mandatory-nutrition-information-labels United States! Our metabolism now is not quite what it was when we were 8, so we'll have to make our trips to Shanghai's three Dairy Queens much less frequent. Wait -- Shanghai has three Dairy Queens? You betcha. All of them are new this year. No more traveling to Beijing just for a Blizzard! (Shanghaiist never did that ... and if we did, we wouldn't admit it.) more ›

Shanghaiist is tired of living in a black hole of music. After our brother threatened to blackmail us if we asked him to send music AGAIN, we started thinking about alternatives. more ›