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November 2007 - Posts
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 Our friend, Jack Chen of Shanghai Studio, the wonderful guy that was responsible for all our freaky decorations during our Halloween party and the vampire that freaked quite a few of you out, shows us that his less creepy side can be just as creative with his very first personal art show of Angel art paintings.
What:
Jack's Angel Art Show @ Shanghai Studio
Entrance: RMB50 (incl. one Tiger Beer)
Free entry for everyone in white or an angel outfit
Where:
1950 Huaihai Zhonglu, No. 4 (by Xingguo Lu)
淮海中路1950弄4号地下室
When:
Tonight at 9pm
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Shanghaiist is looking for a few good men and women to round out its staff of talented contributors. If you think you can help make Shanghaiist just that little bit more fabulous, read on! You may be the one that we're looking for...
What We Can Offer You
Liberty. Free at last. Contributors on Shanghaiist get to do what they want to do, and do it on their own terms. We edit the content of posts sparingly, and you won't be pigeonholed into doing any one thing for us –– say, only writing about music –– unless that's what you want. (Having said that though, we do have a pretty urgent need for contributors to take care of the following segments –– Arts, Fashion, Parties, and Sports).
Glee! It's actually fun work, if you can believe it: aside from the sweet reasons for your joyousness mentioned above and below, you get accreditation to media events, interviews with your idols, party and conference invites, and you get to work with our pretty terrific staff!
Order. Liberty without order is chaos. We'll keep you sane.
What We're Looking For In A Contributor
Talent. You're really good at what you do. You love sharing information with the people around you. You understand that quality always trumps quantity. You have your ear to the ground and know when cool and interesting stuff is happening.
Commitment. You should be able to contribute quality work consistently and regularly. We're looking for people who can post, in the very least, two times a week. And if you have agreed to take ownership of a certain segment or column, you will not flake out on us.
Enthusiasm. You really, really, really care about Shanghai, and you really, really, really want to write for us.
Speed. Uh...not the drug. You should be able to write (or photograph or illustrate or what have you) quickly without being sloppy. And you learn quickly and don't have trouble adapting to changes.
What You Get From It All
Exposure. Shanghaiist has become an alternative media force to be reckoned with, in Shanghai and around China. With an average of 5,000 unique readers everyday, we're one of the most popular English-language China blogs around, and all sorts of cool people — newspaper and magazine writers and editors, students, musicians, bloggers, photographers, designers, whatever — read us every day!
An excellent platform. You've been dreaming about becoming the world's best known art reviewer? Food critic? Sex columnist? Gossip blogger? Use us, by all means, to carve a niche and make a name for yourself.
Shanghaiist business cards! And oh yeah, a Shanghaiist email account to call your own.
Invitations and press passes to some of the most fabulous art openings, parties, media events, product launches in town!
Your own bio on our staff page after a month of consistent, regular, and quality output.
Open doors. Many Shanghaiist contributors have gone on to better jobs and greater things in life (which is why we need more fresh blood now).
Money. Alas, none of the English-language China blogs has seen any real money yet. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, for more than two years, it's been a labour of love from our wonderful team of Shanghaiist writers who have been informing and amusing readers since day one. In return though, you get lots of love and a load of good karma for your next life.
What We Want When You Apply
Tell us about yourself. We want to know about you! What are your interests? How long have you been in Shanghai? Do you already keep a blog? What are some of the blogs you read? Do you know something about Shanghai or China that no one else does? Do you have a special network of contacts that will give you access to a certain type of stories?
Some post ideas. We're trying to get a sense of the kind of work you'd do for us. If you were on Shanghaiist staff right away, what would you post about? Is there any one thing that you specialize in covering, or are you multi-talented? What new ideas and new kinds of content can you bring to Shanghaiist? Would you want to write a regular column or have a regular feature?
Some samples of what you do. We want to get a feel for your style. Your blog (or online writing/drawing/photo portfolio, or Flickr account, etc.) works, as do clippings. If you've never written something that you think would fit on Shanghaiist, that's cool too –– write us an example post.
How To Apply
To apply, send an e-mail to us at info@shanghaiist.com. There is no closing date for applications; we're accepting them from this point forward.
(Oh, and please don't be offended if we don't pick you; we receive hundreds of applications, and we still love you. Promise. You are, in fact, all quite awesome.)
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Yet more news on China's HIV/AIDS situation, and this time from a most unlikely source. Did you know, dear readers, that Naked News, the "program with nothing to hide" that has its news anchors strip as they read the news, has male strippers newsreaders too? Apparently this program is targetted mainly towards the gay market (which makes us wonder if the program will ever have a market among women)? We were surprised to learn that China is among the things that Naked News seeks to (un)cover. Too bad, the channel doesn't seem to be available on satellite here. Hah.
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Thanks to reader Brian Lim who took this picture at the Shigongshan park in Suzhou!
Send more pictures of bad Engrish our way at info AT shanghaiist DOT com
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Yet another weekend has arrived, and seems a lot of people have been talking about the opening of the Shelter. They are holding a 'soft opening' tonight and hosting Dex, from the Underground Resistance, tomorrow. For those of you who are in the mood for more of a visual than some dude spinning on the decks (or laptop), there are plenty of live shows to choose from. Just down the street from the Shelter are 3 great live venues. JZ Club, Cotton's and Labellas. Both JZ and Cotton's have live Jazz and Blues bands playing every night while Labella's Cafe has a great Jazz Funk night every Friday. For Shanghaiist, tonight, we plan on infiltrating the pop world of Carrchy. We had difficulty getting info on this event, but know Carrchy is playing at the Dream Factory, their performance is similar to Pixel Toy(if you happened to catch them) and from the video (above) seem pretty mainstream (we secretly liked the video...sshh). If their pop sound isn't your thing, then Boys Climbing Ropes, with a few new Shanghai bands, are playing in what is billed as Punk in Park at Yuyintang (which is in a park). Out at Live bar local expat bands featuring Korean and Japanese nationals unit for two nights of debauchery.
Saturday, Reflector from Beijing is in town on the Shanghai leg of their China tour. Formerly an old school punk band, Reflector’s new album is a collection of pop punk songs that fans of Avril or new Green Day will love. Also on Saturday, the Dream Factory is holding a Decay Age Metal Party (definitely no poppy music here) featuring 3 bands playing 3 different sub-genres of metal. Xian based band, Hush, will be performing at Logo's STD Party and on Sunday at Live Bar. Also on Sunday, the Re-tros, one of the best post-punk bands in China (after PK-14) will be performing at Yuyintang and shouldn't be missed.
Video of Carrchy
Friday - November 30th
Punk in Park - Yuyintang - 9pm(30rmb)
Carrchy w/ Hard Queen - Dream Factory - 9pm(40/30rmb)
Korean & Japanese night - Live Bar - 9pm
Saturday - December 1st
Hush - Live Bar - 9pm(30/25rmb w/ 1 drink)
STD Party - Logo Bar - 11pm
Reflector - Yuyintang - 9pm(50rmb)
Decay Age Metal Party - Dream Factory - 9pm(35/30rmb)
Sunday - December 2nd
Re-tros - Yuyintang - 9pm (40/30rmb)
Yuyintang - 1731 Yanan Xilu 延安西路1731号(凯旋路)天山公园小白楼
Dream Factory - 68 Yuyao Lu 余姚路68号，同乐坊内，近西康路
Live Bar - 721 Kunming Lu 杨浦区昆明路721号，近通北路
Logo Bar - 13 Xingfu Lu 幸福路13号，近法华镇路
Abe Deyo is Shanghaiist's Music Editor. Email tips, recommendations, news and gossip about Shanghai's music scene to music at shanghaiist.com.
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 Yet. For those who like to keep up to date on Shanghai-English-language-website news — yes, all three of you — head on over to Urbanatomy.com. That's the future home of a new website from the folks at That's Shanghai. And if Urbanatomy.com is as half as good as thatssh.com ... someone seriously needs to be fired over there, because thatssh.com is really quite awful. But they know that — hence the new site. But why switch domains? Well, that's where it gets a little "sensitive." Supposedly the gubment (that is on Urban Dictionary) somehow owns the thatssh.com URL and wanted a little too much control over the site's content. Same thing for thatsbj.com, which is why they changed to thebeijinger.com earlier this year. We have heard that the magazine will remain That's Shanghai, but we have also heard that Urbanatomy will have one or more print titles, too (no word on the subject matter). Regardless, this is awesome news, because we all know this city needs more English language magazines, especially "famous" ones.
Our first impression of "urbanatomy" was to mentally misspell it. And so we were going to suggest to the That's people that they also purchase urbananatomy.com as a backup, but some guy named Rusty Smith from Decatur, Georgia has owned it since 2004. But who are we to give advice on website names? The majority of people we talk to assume our website is called "Shanghai List" (or "Shanghaist," which someone has already bought the URL for). A Google search shows that "urbanatomy" is not a new word (maybe this guy came up with it?) and it's not even a new URL — someone let it expire earlier this year. And if you are wondering what the mysterious meaning behind the Chinese title of the site is, 无标题文档 means the site has no title. Anyway, we're rambling now — we are in procrastination mode for another writing project. Here's hoping that Urbanatomy.com is a solid addition to the Shanghai web scene. We'll keep you (the three people still reading now) updated with news as we hear it.
Speaking of news, we have heard that SH mag's head guy Michael Cole, who was with the magazine way back when it was known as That's Shanghai (backstory here and here) is leaving or has left the magazine that he started. We don't have any details other than he golfs a lot now. And this is old news, but some months ago City Weekend redesigned their website for the 17th time[1] in a year and a half. The result is very Yelp-ish, and CW's site remains the first one we turn to when in need of some kind of listing (until a better listings site comes along).
[1] Exaggeration.
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 We've had a hard time making sense of the conflicting reports on China's HIV/AIDS situation that kept appearing on our RSS this morning. First, there was an AFP report that China says estimated HIV/AIDS cases rise to 700,000, and then AP came out with a conflicting report entitled China HIV/AIDS figures down.
In the AP report: China has 223,501 people infected with HIV, the official Xinhua News Agency said Thursday, a sharp drop in previously reported figures.
The brief dispatch from Xinhua did not give any more details.
In 2004, China scaled back the estimated number of people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, from nearly 1 million people to 840,000, and then further lowered the estimate to 650,000 in 2005.
Even though all the various reports appear to have come out from the same press conference given by China's Health Minister Chen Zhu yesterday, newswires all had their own twist on the story. We found that AP's story was very sloppy in comparing the 223,501 HIV cases this year with the 650,000 in 2005. Allow us to clarify the key points of what the health minister said:
- There were 223,501 officially reported cases of HIV/AIDS.
- The total number of people estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS in 2005 was 650,000.
- An estimated 50,000 people will contract the disease this year, bringing the total number of people living with HIV/AIDS to 700,000.
In China, as in many other countries, there is a disparity between the number of officially reported cases of HIV/AIDS and the number of people thought to be living with the disease. Of course, in China's case, the disparity is very large. But that disparity is being slowly reduced with the encouragement of (anonymous) testing, better data collection methods, and greater openness in information dissemination, among other reasons.
China's latest figures appear to come with the stamp of approval of international organisations such as United Nations and the World Health Organisation, although independent Chinese AIDS activists such as Wan Yanhai have begged to differ. Just last week, we told you that UNAIDS was busy fighting allegations that it had inflated its estimates in many countries worldwide for years in an alarmist effort to raise funds. The worldwide total of people infected with HIV, estimated one year ago at nearly 40 million and rising, is now reported as 33 million, and one of the reasons for the disparity cited is an improved data collection methodology. Yet, other AIDS activists are ringing new alarm bells, and the controversy continues.
Back in China, Ben Blanchard of Reuters reports: Of the new infections, 44.7 percent will come from heterosexual transmission, 12.2 percent from men having sex with men, and 42 percent from intravenous drug use, the report said.
This apparently is the very first time sex (both heterosexual and homosexual contact) has been cited as being the main cause of HIV transmission instead of intravenous drug use. Nevertheless, at 42 percent, drug abuse still remains a key driver in the spread of the disease, a relatively unique Chinese situation, it would seem.
We were also surprised to read from the Reuters report that Chinese authorities were mulling over the plan to push for a circumcision campaign to combat AIDS: "This is a technical question. I think our experts will evaluate it," Chen later told Reuters. "Even before the AIDS era some children in China were already being circumcised."
Circumcision rates are low in China compared to Asian countries like South Korea or Japan, where the foreskin is often removed at birth for hygiene reasons, or Muslim countries like Indonesia which practice it for religious reasons.
China's Muslim minority, concentrated in the far western region of Xinjiang, likewise circumcise their male children, normally as they reach puberty.
Chen said that were the government to decide to promote circumcision among the wider population, he did not think it would run into much opposition or cultural problems.
"As long as there is evidence it is effective, I don't think it would be an issue," he said.
The report also added that while the WHO has recommended circumcision as one of the ways to fight AIDS in Africa and even though circumcision has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV transmission by up to 60 percent, it does not offer total protection.
We are somewhat sceptical about the effectiveness of a circumcision campaign to fight against AIDS and think it could lull circumcised men into a false sense of security that they are immune to the disease. And then, we read this report by a Christian commentator that HIV/AIDS prevalance in Africa is highest in those countries where Protestants and other non-Catholic Christians predominate, and lowest in Muslim-dominated countries — a very interesting situation which leads us to ask more questions if the report is to be believed.
Yet one thing remains certain. If public education on sexual and health matters is not improved in China, a circumcision campaign will not help.
In other related news: China will launch a three-month campaign to wipe out illegal advertisements of sexual medicine and venereal disease treatments.
Related links
Reuters: China AIDS rate slows, main transmission now sex
SCMP: Heterosexual contact top cause of new HIV/Aids cases [Subscription]
AP: China HIV/AIDS Figures Down
ABC: China reports sharp drop in number of people infected with HIV/AIDS
AP: Sex Now the Main Cause of HIV in China
AFP: China says estimated HIV/AIDS cases rise to 700,000
People's Daily: China to wipe out illegal ads of sexual medicine
Picture of baby boy in front of a condom machine by Nick Lui: Will circumcising this baby boy keep him safe from AIDS?
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 Heres' a public service announcement to (illegal) satellite TV users from Shanghaiist: Don't put stuff on top of your satellite receiver box.
We had gotten in the habit of placing the occasional DVD or DVD sleeve on top of our satellite box, which is covered by a bunch of small vents. Not long ago, while working at our computer (surprise, surprise) at around 1 am, we heard a popping noise coming from near the TV (which was plugged in but powered off at the time). We turned around and saw smoke and sparks coming out the top of the satellite box (which was plugged in and powered on). We raced over, unplugged everything and swept all the stuff on top of the satellite box to the floor. It was pretty scary, especially considering we normally would have been in bed by that time, and we have no idea what would have happened if we weren't in the room to put a stop to things.
So just be careful satellite users. Your illegal TV habit likely won't get you in trouble with the authorities, but it could burn your house down. (The don't-lay-stuff-on-top-of-electronic-equipment-with-vents suggestion likely holds true with legal devices, too.)
Luckily, we had a spare satellite TV box (doesn't everyone?) and when we hooked it up, while all the channels were mislabeled, we appeared to have two sports channels we previously had never seen before, and we thought we should almost burn down our landlord's home more often. But apparently it wasn't magic that made the channels appear , it was some suit in the Philippines. The channels are BEN Sports 1 and BEN Sports 2 (Chinese name 明哥体育台) and they now come standard on Dream Network satellite TV. This is very good news — they show live feeds of a variety of sports from a variety sports networks around the world. Some people have wondered about the legality of these channels because they often just show the ads from whatever network they happen to be showing (and when they don't, they play the song "Yeah" by Usher ... over and over again). Some people are also saying that there are BEN Sports 3, 4 and 5 — bring 'em on!
Right now, we are watching live coverage of the Dallas Cowboys vs. the Green Bay Packers, an NFL game that, because of the network it's being shown on, isn't viewable by quite a few people in America. Take that, bitches!
Related
『閒聊』可愛的Ben Sport明哥体育台
146明哥体育台是盗播大王
146梦幻Dream Cinema电影台变为 明哥体育台(BEN sport)
Also on Shanghaiist
No Right: The illegal satellite TV screen of death
Watching the NBA Finals on satellite TV
A note to the dozens of NFL fans who might read this
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Saturday looks to be a big night for all you DJ lovers out there and will pit the underground vs. the above ground.......literally.
Dex aka Nomadico, of the Underground Resistance, is set to blow away the electronic music crowd at the Shelter (underground in a bomb shelter). While at Bon Bon (above ground in a tall tower) DJ Qbert will amaze the crowds with his scratching. Let the battle begin.
(Is this DJ Qbert or Dex? maybe not)
Saturday Dec. 1st
Dex w/ support from the Void crew - The Shelter - 10pm (50rmb/one drink)
DJ Qbert - Bon Bon - 10pm (150rmb- 80rmb after 2am/open bar)
The Shelter - 5 Yongfu Lu, by Fuxing Xilu 永福路5号，近复兴西路
Bon Bon - 2F, 1329 Huaihai Zhonglu 淮海中路1329号，云海大厦2楼
Abe Deyo is Shanghaiist's Music Editor. Email tips, recommendations, news and gossip about Shanghai's music scene to music at shanghaiist.com
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One of the things that makes being on the tube during rush hour even more miserable than we had previously imagined possible is the "film" made by Starbucks and Pepsi showing on the subway TV. Titled 晴天日记 (Qingtian riji), the film is about a young man and a young woman, blah blah blah. Of course the film takes place in Shanghai but most of the scenes take place in Starbucks. We think the whole rationale behind "soft-advertising" is that it's supposedly better than "hard-advertising" or traditional advertising. Honestly, we prefer the traditional type as a lesser of two evils. Soft advertising is supposedly less in-your-face, but in our media saturated world we all notice it (it would be a failure if we didn't), but we resent all the insinuations and false associations that soft-advertising relies on.
But don't listen to us, here it is from the straight from the horse's mouth: The actors say that to connect with an audience that will be watching on small screens in a swaying subway, they kept dialogue and movement to a minimum. In one shot, Sunny slowly twists a bottle filled with water and guppies - to reveal the Starbucks "Mocha" label.
"It's a new medium," says Director John Xiao Qi. A film with strong elements of a commercial isn't a compromise, he reasons, as "It's easier for the audience to accept the message because of the setting." We've seen this "film" several times, and there's nothing subtle about it—most of the scenes take place in Starbucks, with the logo ever present. Furthermore, where do you get off saying that "the audience can accept it more because of the setting." Statements like this really tick us off because this type of marketing malarkey involves insulting the intelligence of the audience—that is, all of us—while all the chimps at the board meetings congratulate themselves for being so smart for thinking up such a scheme. Sure you've got a captive audience, who are "bored", but at least from our personal experience, watching that small flat-screen TV when the subway is moderately or very crowded is a futile exercise at best. If the subway cars were empty, we'd probably find a seat as soon as we could, which might be far enough from the TV to make viewing impossible. This is perhaps why the product placement is so egregious—they really don't care if you can read the subtitles or follow the plot. Of course, that's the not the bad thing—the bad thing is that everyone knows this.
Starbucks is in the game to win the game, and we respect that. We've noticed recently that Frappucinos are being sold in convenience stores as well as Starbucks itself. What we don't get it is why it's more expensive to buy in Starbucks than it is in All Days, but who really cares, since it was a *** drink to begin with. Whoever designed that drink has evidently never heard of a disease called diabetes.
If you're interested in seeing the series, most of the episodes broadcast can be found on video-sharing sites such as Tudou. It looks like they are up episode eight on the video above. Each episode is about three minutes in length. Here's a link to the various episodes:
In other Starbucks news, you might have heard that Starbucks recently opened its first store in Xi'an. Welcome to civilization, Xi'an! A colleague of ours went there recently, and snapped a picture.
It's easily the most interesting design of all the Starbucks stores we've ever seen.
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 If you've been browsing the DVD shops lately, you might have already come across Nanking, a documentary—of sorts—about the Nanjing massacre of 1937. The film consists of three elements: first-person accounts from survivors and eye witnesses, including Chinese civilians and soldiers as well as Japanese soldiers. These are all real people, telling their stories on film. Then there actors portraying some of the people, mostly Europeans and Americans, that played a role in setting up a safe-zone for civilians and thereby saving thousands of lives. Among these was the famous John Rabe, a German and Nazi known as "The Good Nazi" or even China's Oskar Schindler (read the write up from Howard French of the New York Times on the restoration of Rabe's house and Sino-Japanese relations here and a general write up about him from The Independent here). There was also an American doctor named Bob Wilson, who was played by Woody Harrelson, as well as other roles played by Mariel Hemingway and Stephen Dorff.
It seems that most of the critics on Rotten Tomatoes thought the film was decent, at least in the sense that it's hard to really *** up something about atrocities, especially if you believe, as we do, that the general facticity of events is not to be doubted. There are a lot of people out there who are happy to debate those things, but let them get sucked into the cesspool of denials and counter-denials, we just wanted to see what the movie had to say. For those of you that read Iris Chang's The Rape of Nanking, there's nothing you didn't already know. Our first exposure to this episode in history was through that book, and we think that no matter how many different takes and testimonies we see, nothing will hit us as hard as that book did, and hit us hard as it did. We had to put it down various times out of shock, awe, and the sheer inability to digest the horror of what was happening exactly 70 years ago. In fact, this film was dedicated to Iris Chang.
If we had to say anything about the film, it would be that it was okay. The foreigners are good, the Japanese are evil, and the Chinese were mostly helpless and innocent. Once that's been established, the rest of the film follows. Don't get us wrong, we're not trying to dispute the validity of that, but maybe we're just used to or more keen on watching films where there is a bit more moral complexity. It sounds daft to say that about a historical event of this magnitude, but we're not talking about history per se, but rather how we perceive and consume this history through a particular medium and through a particular instance of that medium, i.e., this film. All in all, the film was okay, worth a watch, especially as a primer for the uninitiated.
There are a few more Nanjing massacre films in the works, read about them here.
On an almost unrelated note, read some of the inane statements about China made by Mrs. Rupert Murdoch at the New York premiere of Nanking.
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So it turns out that 42nd Street was as popular in Beijing as it was in Shanghai. Our inside sources tell us that while the musical packed the halls in Shanghai and Beijing, ticket sales just about everywhere else sucked. Sexy Beijing's Sufei went down to a screening to ask Chinese audiences what they thought of the show, and interviewed the actors as well. Two glaring observations:
1. Kristen Martin, the lead actress of the show, when asked what's the one thing she wanted to do in Beijing, replied, "Eat as much food as I possibly can." When she was asked again what's the one thing she wanted to eat, we swear we thought she would have said something Chinese, like Peking duck or something, but instead she said... oh we're not going to spoil that for you, watch it for yourself!
2. Sufei asked two of her interviewees the following question, "Do you think Chinese men are hot?" and by the third one she for some reason felt compelled to rephrase the question as "Have you ever had Chinese encounters of the romantic kind?" Hilarious.
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 Adam Minter of Shanghai Scrap describes his uneasiness at finding a medicine vending machine on the edge of "the city’s best (if not largest) fake market". Honestly, since Xiangyang was torn down, we're not too sure which other fake market has taken over as "the city's best fake market". This is a really kickass machine, and Adam's got some great close-ups too. Hop on over to his blog for some ‘Cold and flu medication,’ ‘Fever reducing and painkilling medication,’ and ‘Chinese Medicine’.
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Shanghaiist has a soft spot for John Cusack, and an even softer spot for Gong Li ( despite what those eejuts at CCTV might think, so we were mildly excited to read that the two are pairing up to film in Shanghai at some point next year. Okay, the odds of bumping into Ms Gong in our local Lian Hua may be slim, but as the movie is set in Japanese-occupied Shanghai just before Pearl Harbour was bombed, we reckon there's a pretty good chance of landing a part as an extra in one of the inevitable mass-panic-and-flee scenes, and getting to strike up a conversation with the lady herself at the catering wagon between takes. It's being directed by Mikael Hafstrom, who just worked with Cusack on 1408, the adaptation of a Stephen King story, which we still haven't watched yet. Though someone told us it was "alright". Bodes well!
Photo from ChinaDaily.com
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The Red Laowai (红老外) — yes, that shirtless dude in New York that's been singing communist propaganda songs such as “My China Heart"《我的中国心》, "Without the Communist Party, there is no New China"《没有共产党就没有新中国》and "Oriental Red"《东方红》and putting his videos online — has done it again. This time, he has put his shirt on, created a music video and he's singing Jay Chou and rapping. The song 止战之殇 (The Wound That Ends War) is an anti-war song in 七里香 (Common Jasmin Orange), Jay Chou's fifth album.
To get an idea of the waves that he has created all across China, his blog says it is received 83,561 hits within less than a month. Ladies and gentlemen, this may be the very first laowai to get famous even before coming to China. Great potential there to join the ever-increasing ranks of Chinese Internet idols — although we're still not sure if we should put him in the same category as Furong Jiejie.
The wonderful Global Voices Online has translated a selection of comments by Chinese netizens on this guy (thank goodness, we were thinking of doing this at some point in time, but looks like someone else has done it for us!):
作者: 刘礱
太可爱了..
继续加油哦..
如果来中国的话可以来找我玩哇..哈哈…
Author: Liu Long
You're so cute..
Please carry on..
If come to China, you can hang out with me..ha ha…
作者：who…
同志，你实在让我太佩服了！这么难的歌都能让你唱得有声有色，不支持不行啊！！加油！欢迎到中国来！
Author: who…
Comrade, I really admire you! You can sing such a hard song so impressively. I have no reason not to support you!! Come on! Welcome to China!
作者：嚣尘
你这个老外不了解中国~~要在中国的网络玩搞笑，扒了衣服唱些过时很久了的革命时代的歌曲是没用的““去你们的WALMAKET买件中国产的衬衫穿穿““应该比你赤膊更有效果““
你是美国人“`喜欢中国““不过这可不叫爱国“`来中国办绿卡吧“`（中国绿卡比你们国家的绿卡好办多了）当你成为中国公民的时候“你才能说自己爱中国就是爱国了““
记得“`要和谐“`和谐““把老外全部和谐了“`那社会就和谐了““还有“`开播客“`是可以“`千万别有一丁点侮辱中国或者中国人民的话““NEWYORK可不是中国“`是能买到GUN的“`要弄死你很容易““
Author: Xiao Chen
You foreigner don't know China~~If you meant to make spoof on China's Internet, it's useless to take clothes off and sing some really out-of-date songs of the revolutionary era….Go to your WALMAKET to buy a made-in-China shirt and put it on….it must be more effective than being half-naked….
You are American…likes China….but that can't be regarded as patriotic…Come to China to apply for the green card…(to get green card in China is much easier than in your country) When you become a Chinese citizen..then you can say your love of China is patriotism….
Keep that in your mind… we need harmony…harmony…When all the foreigners are harmonized…the society will be harmonious….and…it's OK…to open a blog…but never give out any words that vilify China or Chinese people…NEWYORK is not China…it's easy to buy guns there…so it's easy to do away with you.
More comments after the jump...
作者：光光
你老一口一个同志,一口一个同志的,你知道吗?同志在中国还有另外的一个意思就是GAY,想必你是GAY(同志)
还有,我喜欢你的体型,鼓励你不穿衣服~
现在的家庭哪还有挂毛主席照片的,我觉得你现在的崇拜有点傻,有点落后,要跟上时代的脚步~崇拜是在心里的~还什么毛主席语录,你当中国还处在20世纪60年代呢吗?
Author: Guang Guang
You always keep saying comrade (同志). Did you know comrade's another meaning in China is GAY. I suppose you are a gay (comrade). And I like the type of your body, encouraging you not to put on clothes~
Nobody would like to hang Chair Mao's portrait on the wall now. I think your present warship is a little silly and backward. You need to follow the trend of times~the worship is in your heart~as to the Chair's Mao's Little Red Book, do you think China is still staying in the sixties of 20th century?
作者：晴天Pi…
同志，你好！！
我是在土豆上看到同志你的身影的，你很可爱哦！！也很革命哦！！
不过你真的是国际友人吗？？不要欺骗我们的感情哦！！
你的中文真的是自学吗？你好厉害哦，虽然还有些表达不是很流畅的地方，但是加以时日，你必定能成为一个中国通哦～～
不知道在你心目中的中国是一个什么样的国家，只怕你来了以后会发现跟你想象中的会有所出入
但是依然欢迎你来中国作客！！！
还有，如果在中文学习上遇到任何问题，都欢迎你随时发问，我相信大家都会很乐意帮助你的~
加油！！
Author: Qingtian Pi…
Hello, comrade!!
I see your videos on Tudou. You're very lovely!! And also very revolutionary!!
But are you really international friend?? Please don't cheat us!!
Did you really learn Chinese by yourself? You're brilliant. Although some of your expressions are not fluent, after a while you will definitely become an expert of China~~
I don't know what China's like in your mind, but I'm afraid when come here you will find out there are some discrepancies between the real China and your imagination.
However
Still welcome to China!!!
Besides, if you get any problems in Chinese, don't hesitate to ask us. I believe everyone is glad to help you~
Good luck!!
作者：WANGXin
红同志真可爱！
请允许有五年党龄的我，代表全体为共产主义奋斗的中国青年向你致以亲切问候和衷心鼓励！
希望你继续热爱中华人民共和国，喜爱中国，早日到中国与革命同志们会师！
和革命同志握手！
Author: WANGXin
Comrade Hong is very lovely!
Please allow me who has been in Communist Party for five years, on behalf of all the Chinese youth striving for Communism to extend to you the cordial greetings and sincere encouragement! Hope you continue loving the People's Republic of China, liking China and come to China to meet the revolutionary comrades as soon as possible!
作者：chan…
可是我们还是比较喜欢穿衣服的人哦，下次记得穿衣服哈。
其实偶们是比较保守的，不太喜欢经常革命，一两次就够了。
Author: chan…
But we still prefer people in clothes. Please don't forget to get dressed next time.
Actually we are very conservative and one or two revolutions are really enough for us we don't like that very much.
作者：逆龙鳞
这些你写的blog大都涉及革命什么的字眼,其实…我们也不是以此来判断你是不是我们的朋友:）
嗯,还是不要走”红”为好,如果你喜欢,你可以以行动影响你们周边的人,比如推广一下中国文化,比如改变一下中国在他们眼中因不了解所造成的误解.自学的中文都已经很不错了,我们也很乐意帮助你…
Author: Ni Longlin
Your blogs mostly mentioned the revolution or the related words. In fact…we won't judge whether you are our friend by that standard:)
Eh, you'd better not go to the “red” way. If you like China, you may influence people around you, for example, by popularizing Chinese culture or dispelling their misunderstanding about China. Your Chinese is not bad especially when you study it by yourself and we are all happy to help you…
作者：Renee
支持你！喜欢东方文化毕竟是好事， 虽然表达的方式有点过激， 热情了点， 可是可以接受。（你可能不太了解，现在的中国人喜欢资本主义的东西， 不喜欢你把中国和苏联说到一起去， 你还是应该找个讲中文的人教你中文和中国国情）
…
Author: Renee
I support you! After all, it's good to like the Eastern culture. Although the way you expressed yourself is a little immoderate and exciting, we can still accept it. (Maybe you don't know too much about China. Now Chinese people like capitalism things and don't want you to put China and USSR together. You'd better find a speaker of Chinese to teach you and tell you something about China)
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 A group of 1,800 angry workers demanding overdue pay at a cotton mill in Xinhe, Chongming Island have held seven top managers of the Korean-owned mill hostage since Friday, including the chief executive officer of the factory. The news was reported in the Korean Chosun Ilbo, and as Fons Tuinstra of China Herald notes, the Chinese media has been silent on the story because "Chinese media cannot write about such unharmonious behavior". Our own search also turned up zero search results (so if anyone finds anything, please do let us know).
Apparently, like the Shenzhen gang attacks we just told you about, this one is also related to the upcoming labour law changes.
More from Chosun Ilbo:
According to the Consulate General, several hundred Chinese workers in groups blocked the gate of the factory to prevent the Korean officials from leaving. During the process, some of the Koreans were beaten by workers.
H has been doing business for 10 years and set up a second cotton spinning factory two years ago. However, it has been preparing for liquidation due to a worsening management environment.
After being alerted to the situation, the Consulate General asked local police to protect the Koreans. It also asked the local government to mediate the situation and try to negotiate with the workers. Negotiations between the workers and Korean management are underway now.
Photo of factories on Chongming Island from juliekimyan
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This is just waaaaay too cute. If these three videos aren't enough for you, then hop over to Life in the Fast Lane for more amazing pictures and videos of baby pandas from day 1 to day 120 of their birth that made us keel over from an overdose of cuteness. Have a fabulous Thursday, Shanghai.
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 Earlier this month, when we told you that China's new labour law was going to be a big, big thing, we had no idea it would also be the cause of some serious blood-letting. Local gangs and triads have been attacking the Shenzhen Dagongzhe Migrant Worker Centre which has been instrumental in providing legal advice for rural migrant workers and informing them about their rights under the new labour law. In separate attacks, they shattered the glass door and destroyed all computers and equipment in the centre. Apparently, in one attack, patrolling policemen did nothing to stop the attack.
One labour activist has been seriously injured: On 20 of November, the victim, Huang Qing-nan, was chopped by two criminals on his back, waist and leg when he left the center to visit another injured colleague in the hospital. The cuts were up to 10cm in length. His left leg suffered the most serious injury, bones and tendons, blood vessels and nerves were cut apart. He was sent to the intensive care unit and then transferred to the orthopedic ward. It is very unlikely that Huang can fully recover from the injury as he has once suffered from serious burnt from an industrial fire and such medical record makes the treatment more difficult.
A coalition of civil organisations in Hong Kong have held a joint press conference and demanded for the central government and the Shenzhen city government to:
1. Openly condemns & investigates all violent incidents, and in particular the attack on Huang Qingnan;
2. Helps DGZ Centre to re-start its works and provides Huang Qingnan with appropriate medical treatment and rehabilitation;
3. Implements the national policy to maintain a harmonious labour relations, improves the protection of civil groups and their staff in order to prevent violent acts and maintain public security.
Hospitalisation and treatment for Huang Xing-nan is estimated at HKD200,000 (USD30,000). An appeal for donations is being managed by a group called Worker Empowerment, which is one of the organisations in the above-mentioned coalition:
Bank A/C Name: Worker Empowerment
Bank A/C no.: 227-9-090365
Bank Code: 024
Bank Address: 83 Des Voeux Road, Central, Hong Kong
Swift Code: HASE HKHH
We assure you this will not be the last of the incidents we will hear from the new labour law. More details of the attacks here.
Photo from Interlocals
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At a recent Andy Lau concert in Chengdu, one fan managed to slip past the watchful eye of the security guards to get to the stage so as to present a bouquet of flowers to the mega-popstar. As soon as he got down though, he was surrounded by a mob of security guards and manhandled by them (it is not clear from the video whether the fan was actually hit by the guards). Upon seeing this, Andy Lau jumped down from the 2 metre high stage and a little confrontation between him and the guards ensued (it also turned the crowd wild). Eventually, Andy Lau walked the fan out of the stadium. (via Virtual China)
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 With Christmas just around the corner, there are plenty of parties to attend, plus more wine tastings and other opportunities to get thoroughly blotto. Here's what Winopete has heard about so far:
Nov 29 Oriented Happy Hour at MoCA art gallery in People's Park. Please visit www.oriented.com for details.
Nov 29-Dec 1 Italian wine exhibition at the Shanghai Exhibition Centre (Tongren and Yan'an Roads) hosted by the Institiute of Fine Italian Wine. No other details at hand. The Institute will also hold a special tasting event at Otto Restaurant and Bar on Dec 1. Contact Otto for further information. www.otto-cafe.com
Nov 30 Aussie and Kiwi BBQ, 6pm at O'Malleys, in lieu of the regular Aussie drinks at Le Royal Meridien (I don't like seeing the Aussies kow-tow to the French anyway). BBQ and drink RMB180. Book with AustCham (www.austchamshanghai.com) no later than Nov 28. Geez, don't know if I can plan my drinking 2 days' in advance, this'll be a tough call come 4pm Wednesday.
Nov 30 Bar Rouge 3rd anniversary party. RMB200 cover charge. Definitely not on Winopete's 'to do' list, but if you're a clubber, then it's probably on yours.
Dec 1 St Andrew's Ball.
Dust off the kilts and polish the claymores. All Scots in town will be at this big party to celebrate Scotland's national day. There'll be bagpiping, hot toddies, a 4-course dinner, sporrin-gazing, lots of Scotch, a visiting band from Scotland and lots of Scottish dancing, haggis, more Scotch, Robbie Burns' quotes, more dancing and more Scotch until at least 1am. Dress code is strictly black tie or kilts. Cost is a whopping RMB1050 (850 for BritCham members). If you haven't got your ticket now, then better start saving for next year. This silvertail shindig is being held at the new Hyatt on the Bund (199 Huangpu Road). Contact BritCham for further information. www.sha.britcham.org
Dec 1 Mumm champagne & truffle dinner at Otto, 7-9pm. A snip at RMB1008 for this 5-course dinner and 5 champagne event. Bookings via www.otto-cafe.com
Dec 1 Grand Cru tasting, 7.30pm at Enoteca Wine Lounge. Cost RMB750. Seating limited to just ten people. RSVP ASAP to 5404 0050. For other info, visit www.enoteca.com.cn
Dec 2 Sunset champagne tasting party, 4-6pm at The Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo (off Binjiang Da Dao, Pudong waterfront) featuring 4 champagnes from the Nicolas Feuillatte vineyard, including the Palmes d'Or champagne which retails at RMB2228 a bottle. Cost RMB480 (or RMB380 if you're an Aussino wine club member). To reserve your space, e-mail: events@aussinowines.com. Can't help thinking this event would have been better to hold during the warmer months.
Dec 3 Interchamber Mixer at Paulaner Brauhaus, Fenyang Lu, 6.30-10.00pm. RMB150 for dinner and 2 drinks; subsequent drinks RMB40 for beer, wine; RMB25 for soft drinks. Enjoy the German beer and Filipino band at this Taiwanese-managed establishment. Throw everybody by coming dressed as the Easter Bunny! Tix will be sold at the door, so the earlier you go, the better.
Three ASC wine dinners next week: Go to the events section on www.asc-wines.com for menu details and bookings.
(i) Dec 4 Rodriguez wine dinner at Frankie's. Cost RMB588.
(ii) Dec 6 Ginestet Bordeaux wine dinner at the JC Mandarin Hotel. Cost RMB650.
(iii) Dec 7 Skalli wine dinner at Cantine Nouveau Bistro, 7-9pm, includes 6 wines. Cost is RMB248 per person.
Dec 9 Canuck Connection Christmas Party at the Grand Ballroom, 3F, Four Seasons Hotel. 5-9pm. There will also be raffle prizes, music performancea and a Santa to please the kiddywinks. Cost RMB400 for non-members, RMB350 for members. To book tickets, e-mail Maggie (maggiezhu@ccbc.com.cn) or Lee (Lee.Ting@international.gc.ca). Hurry, they're selling fast.
More diary notes and pub news coming soon...
Photo of Christmas tree at Grand Gateway shopping mall in Xujiahui two years ago from Marc van der Chijs
Winopete is Shanghaiist's resident drunkard. Email tips, recommendations, news and gossip about Shanghai's bar scene to drink at shanghaiist dot com.
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Jiangsu Satellite tells us of the roller coaster ride a young stock investor had recently. One morning, Mr Peng, while checking his stocks online, found RMB900 million mysteriously credited to his account. Shocked (but pleasantly surprised), Peng didn't know what to think and went about his work. A few hours later, when he checked on his account again just to make sure he wasn't dreaming, all RMB900 million had disappeared, along with the over RMB4,000 that he originally had in the account! Not long afterwards, the money was returned into his account. With the help of Jiangsu Satellite, Peng eventually got in touch with customer service at his stock broker's and as it turned out, this was all a part of their routine check and he was assured that his privacy was in no way compromised. Hmm...
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Do yourself a favour this morning and read James Fallows' latest post. You will be glad you did.
Share with us how you see Shanghai, or China! Simply 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.
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If you are like us at Shanghaiist..... then weeks in advance you strategically map out a strategy to maximize potential fun for the weekend. So here are a few noteworthy events coming up that we think should not be missed and we are always (sometimes..maybe) right when it comes to picking events. The 8th of December will be a big night with PK-14 back in town as is Coldcut w/ DJ Nu-Mark and Pfadfinderei.
PK-14 is a respected post-punk band from Beijing that has been exciting crowds since 1997. They are coming down to celebrate the release of a new documentary covering their infamous 2004 China tour. With 2 shows on the 8th (4Live and Yuyintang), there is no excuse to miss seeing this great Chinese band (who actually sing in Chinese).
England based duo, Coldcut has been a pioneer in the underground scene for a long time. Not only are they great musicians they also are responsible for the creation of venerable record label Ninja Tunes. They are joined by DJ Nu-Mark of Jurassic 5 fame and Pfadfinderei as part of HP's Art in Motion series. Not only will they combine great music with mind bending digital art.....but this event is FREE (god, we love free stuff) for anyone who registers in advance. Just click here (the registration form is in Chinese, but you should be clever enough to fill the minimal fields required...otherwise you don't really deserve free things). OH, and besides free entry you also get a free drink!
For Shanghaiist we plan on starting our night at PK-14''s Yuyintang show (8:30pm) then heading to 4Live for their STD performance (11:30pm..but Muscle Snog and Boys Climbing Ropes will get things going earlier). At midnight we will rush over to Rojam (we didn't even know this place was still open!) where Coldcut and DJ Nu-Mark should be about to take the stage.
(* last word from HP is that for free entry and drinks you should arrive before 10:30pm for the Coldcut/DJ Nu-Mark show)
Friday - December 8th
8:30pm - Get to Yuyintang early, catch the PK-14 show.
10:30pm - Catch Muscle Snog and Boys Climbing Ropes at 4Live, stay for part of PK-14
11:50pm - Arrive at Rojam, get our free drink and have (what little is left) of our mind blown away by the visuals and sounds of Cold Cut and DJ Nu-Mark.
(video of Coldcut)
Yuyintang - 延安西路1731号(凯旋路)天山公园小白楼
4Live - 8号桥- 建国中路8号7号楼
Rojam - 淮海中路283号，香港广场4楼，近嵩山路
Abe Deyo is Shanghaiist's Music Editor. Email tips, recommendations, news and gossip about Shanghai's music scene to music at shanghaiist.com.
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You just have to give it to Furong Jiejie (芙蓉姐姐) — the "grandmommy" of Chinese Internet idols — for her remarkable ability to constantly reinvent herself to keep herself in the news. Recently dumped by her boyfriend for revealing too much of herself, Furong Jiejie has now declared that she's looking for a hunky laowai boyfriend. Many moons ago, she once said she's not into laowai's, but apparently that has all changed (oh the miracles that can be wrought through breakups!). Interested applicants, please call her directly at 13121619119 or email her at frjj@188.com. To find out more about her, refer to her official web presence at furongjiejie.bokee.com. For video samples of her talent in singing and dancing, click here.
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 You guys ready for yet another ranking of most expensive cities? ECA International has ranked Shanghai the 8th costliest city in Asia for expats, so if they're to be taken seriously, Shanghai is cheaper than Beijing which came in 7th but more costly than Singapore which came in 9th. Seoul was the most expensive Asian city, while Guangzhou came in 10th.
Also, Shanghai was named the 100th most expensive city in the world. That's 99 spots behind Luanda, Angola, which had the distinction of being the costliest city worldwide. Kinshasa in Congo came in 6th, Libreville in Gabon 8th, and Abidjan in Cote D'Ivoire 16th.This is curious, because the last time we checked, we were supposed to be the 22nd most expensive. Of course, this was another consulting company researching with a completely different basket of goods.
So one consulting company tells us we're the 22nd costliest and another tells us we're the 100th? Who are we supposed to believe? Feel free to make up your own mind, but personally we believe none of them. IMHO, all these "costliest" rankings and "quality of life" rankings are becoming increasingly irrevelant in the new world. Jaded expats like ourselves (and we aren't even strictly speaking an "expatriate", more like a "half-pat") now know better that it isn't going to get more or less costly for ourselves just because these guys tell us so. One man's meat is another man's poison, and we're all living different lifestyles, so really, one-size-fits-all rankings just don't cut it anymore. Do these consultants know it? Sure they do. But we doubt anything's going to stop them from spending more man-hours and money every few months coming up with a different ranking to make it to the news (and blogs like this one). Sigh.
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