Features
Wednesday, 24 February 2010 03:02
Written by Ned Kelly

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A Musical Benefit for Haitian Disaster Relief on March 5th

At 4.53pm on Tuesday January 12 an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale struck 25 km west of Port-au-Prince, capital of Haiti, bringing scenes of utter devastation to one of the world’s poorest countries. The International Red Cross estimate that about three million people were affected by the quake, while Haitian Interior Minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aimé, anticipates the disaster will claim between 150,000 and 200,000 lives. Haiti is a nation in desperate need of help.

Spurred into action, Nathaniel Mallon and Carl Siegel of Three Chord Truth, managers and producers of reggae outfit Lions of Puxi, were inspired to organize Dance For Haiti: A Musical Benefit for Haitian Disaster Relief, on March 5. The idea is to unite the music community of Shanghai, bringing together all styles and all fans. They got in touch with the Dream Factory, who loved the idea and offered the venue free of charge.

Doors open at 9pm with six bands playing short 30-minute sets. First up will be Wayne’s Basement, a gypsy jazz and swing trio. They’ll be followed by experimental prog rock riffers Duck Fights Goose. Next up is Studio 188 with some good old fashioned rock ’n’ roll classics, before Monroe Stahr – fronted by our very own music writer Nicky Almasy – and then the Lions of Puxi. Capping the night off will be Weghur, fronted by Xinjiang guitarist/vocalist Hassan Mahmud, who are tipped for big things

(You can listen to tracks from Duck Fights Goose,Weghur and Lions of Puxi here)

Features
Wednesday, 10 February 2010 01:02
Written by Urbanatomy

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So in our own little way we have produced an index to see just how expensive a Starbucks Venti Cappucino is across the world in comparison to Shanghai. You'll be surprised... Right now, Shanghai is more expensive than London. That's crazy talk. Check out the interactive image below.

 

Features
Wednesday, 10 February 2010 03:02
Written by Helen Elfer

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Tying the knot without a hitch

Love. You’d think it was all about finding that one special person; to have and to hold, to bring you tea and tell you you look good in the morning, ’til death do you part. But unfortunately it’s not that simple. If you want to get married this year, be warned, it’s a war zone of superstition out there. Are you ready to dodge those zodiac love rats, pick the right kind of tiger to tame and leap through ‘widow’ windows? We’ll take you by the hand…

1) Golden Tiger Year
This new lunar year is set to bring fortune and good luck, since the tiger represents power and the element of gold is of course linked with wealth. Unfortunately, it’s also a ‘widow’ year, meaning if you get married this year you’ll be beset by bad luck and infertility for your whole life. A lifetime of misfortune does sound pretty bad, and recent Internet chatter indicates lots of anxious young lovers are getting worked up by it. However, don’t fret too much, as even the ever-comforting Shanghai Daily has said widow years are a load of “uninformed” rubbish. Wedding planner Stephanie Wei agrees that this is one superstition to ignore. “If you call all the five-star hotels in Shanghai, you will find most of the auspicious dates this year are all booked for weddings anyway”, she says.

2) Supernatural numbers
Get your luuurve calculators out, there’s a lot to remember.

Features
Tuesday, 09 February 2010 06:02
Written by Helen Elfer, Hailey Meng, Jade Bremner, Britany Orwin, Gene Gao

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If it buzzes, whirs, tickles or only just fits, we’ve checked it out

A writer walks into a sex store and asks where the vibrators are. “Just come this way,” says the manager, gesturing with her finger.

OK, the joke works better in person than print (you have to wiggle your finger suggestively), but it is partly true. We did walk into a lot of sex shops, we did ask a lot of questions, but, unsurprisingly, the staff recommended their products rather than a bit of digital diddling.

So here are our findings: the whole spectrum of Shanghai sex shops laid bare, from the seedy to the sexy, clinical to the clitoral, erotic to the experimental, niche to the nasty, and hot to the really, really horrible.

Oh Toys
An erotic boudoir
Opened just over a year ago, this up-market two-storey sex shop offers a whole range of chic toys and erotic outfits to the city’s horniest. The first floor is filled with imported vibrators (including a decidedly unsexy Hello Kitty number, RMB168), S&M leather toys, love eggs and stuffed animal key rings sporting colossal genitalia. The second floor consists of a large room of erotic lingerie and dress-up stuff as well as a hidden plus-sized sex toys room. Prices are affordable, ranging from RMB19 to over RMB1,000. The cheeky cashier says: “It makes me happy just to see a line of handcuffs hanging here everyday.”
106 Nanchang Lu, by Yandang Lu (5306 0835, www.ohtoys.cn)

Features
Tuesday, 09 February 2010 08:02
Written by Emma Chi

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Meet the man who connected Puxi to Pudong

Back in the 90s, Lin Yuanpei was the go-to person for a bridge over the Huangpu. The Shanghainese architect designed all four bridges connecting Puxi to Pudong, starting with the Nanpu in 1991, followed by the Yangpu in 1993, the Xupu in 1996 and finally the Lupu in 2002. Now retired to the second line of duty and working as a consultant, Mr. Lin reflects upon his masterpieces, which connect old Shanghai to new.

Do you have a favorite among your four Shanghai bridges?
I love all of them, like sons of mine. The first three are all cable-stayed bridges, while the Lupu is an arch bridge, which has the extra advantage of aesthetics; it looks more elegant.

Why the change to an arch bridge for the Lupu?
When it came to this fourth bridge, I started to question myself: ‘Do we need another cable-stayed bridge?’ The distance of the Lupu is 550 meters compared with the Yangpu's 600 meters, so from a technical perspective there was no problem to build another one. The first three bridges were cable-stayed because they are economic. But China was beginning to prosper at the end of the 90s, so I began thinking more about aesthetics. It's like buying a dress in a department store. In the old days, we focused on warm, functional and long-lasting clothes. But now we won't necessarily buy the cheapest, because our living standards have improved, so we begin to think about better-looking clothes.

Full gallery of his four bridges after the jump