Shanghai’s nightlife spins around clubbing, loud music, expensive drinks and an air of pretension. What the city lacks are British-style pubs. Half is not exactly a pub, but it certainly has the friendly, chill atmosphere of a good boozer.

With reasonably priced drinks (Tsingtao ¥15, soft drinks ¥20, spirits ... Read more »

This is another little spot in the Tianzifang lanes that offers basic spirits and mixers and a couple of nice beers plus smoothies (¥28) and juices (¥22).

It also has a wide selection of food (curry and pasta from about ¥25, Korean appetizers for around the same). There’s a ... Read more »

Taikang Lu has a plush new venue beneath 288 Melting Pot. Head down a broad flight of stairs into a Moroccan-themed interior lined with red sofas and trimmed with north African doodads.

A large central bar dispenses the booze (beers start from ¥35, ¥45 and up for spirit mixers and ... Read more »

It's another smoking hot weekend in Shanghai. The sun is shining. The temperature is clement. S.T.D at Not Me looks good tonight, with the Eli Smith of So Sweet Records on the decks. Start there, then move to Dada where B6 has promised to oil up and ... Read more »

Hugely popular Yunnan restaurant Lost Heaven has opened its second location.

This one comes with a large terrace for art shows and a two-floor bar and club, also with a long, lavish balcony. Waltzing up from the restaurant on the second floor, it feels gloriously plush and over the top ... Read more »

Shanghai’s first burlesque club in over half a century has opened in a former Buddhist temple in Hongkou.

The proprietors are trying to recreate a sultry 1930s atmosphere to go with their two nightly stage shows. It’s free to get in, free to sit down and free to ... Read more »

The iron door opens onto a small garden, and in the garden is an attempt to understand all the mysteries of the world. Wuwei: Being and Nothing poses the question: is nothingness the opposite of being?

Wuwei is the Taoist doctrine of non-action, or acting in a spontaneous way without ... Read more »

This massively ambitious project tries to portray the different movements and transitions within the Shanghai art scene from the late ’70s up to the present. Held in a hard to find, half-finished space, the work fills five galleries over four floors. However, the cavernous, plaster-shedding rooms seem strangely appropriate for ... Read more »

This small but excellently finished bar sits almost totally hidden beneath the Dunhill store in Plaza 66. Wander in and you’ll find yourself in a down-sized gentlemen’s club. Men sit around the few tables in shirtsleeves smoking cigars and swinging bottles of scotch. Eighteenth-century Italian art hangs on ... Read more »

The Puli Hotel has been trying to open for the past few months but finally managed it on September 9.

We hope the longevity implied by its opening date–the auspicious 9.9.09–proves accurate, because its Long Bar is a fantastic addition to the city’s high-end drinking ... Read more »

Kaiba, Belgian Beer Garden ★★★★✩

Kaiba’s second location is a great spot for those who want something more than a warm bottle of Tsingtao with their beer nuts. This Belgian bar features more than 50 imported bottled brews. They’re shipped in not just from Belgium but beer-loving nations around ... Read more »

Charlie's Bar ★★★✩✩

How fitting for this salacious city to name a new bar after a womanizing celebrity obsessed with girls one quarter his age. Charles Chaplin was a cinematic pioneer and unashamed philandering hedonist. This bar–within the Crowne Plaza Shanghai–is nothing like as innovative or daring as ... Read more »

Liu Yiqing’s first solo exhibition in China at Don Gallery documents the lives of her and her closely knit group of 10 friends at the Shanghai University Fine Arts School. Liu says the exhibit has no “greater meaning,” yet it is not devoid of theme; it reads like a ... Read more »

A large dance floor and a long, central bar gives this recently re-launched Jing’an spot the potential for fun times. The new management is going for an upscale feel. Booths line either side of the room, with some curtained off for privacy. The DJ is given pride of place ... Read more »

Tucked away down an alley between LOgO and Anar, this low-lit gem gives us another reason to spend our nights on Xingfu Lu. Backed by the Antidote Crew–some of Shanghai’s best party people–Dada opened quietly a month ago and built a sizeable stir while the licensing snafus ... Read more »

The newest museum to step on to Shanghai’s art scene is a large space that’s packed with intriguing installations.

The Minsheng Museum anchors the creative complex known as Red Town, a trendy cluster of small galleries, cafés and the Shanghai Sculpture Space. Its soft opening, a group show ... Read more »

The next time someone says live music in Shanghai is tame, point them towards the city’s emerging experimental noise scene. Local acts such as Torturing Nurse, Zhi Wang and Nine Inch Screw put on performances that are part art installation and part torture chamber, bombarding their audiences with atonal ... Read more »

CW: So, you come here often?

P&A: No, it’s our first time in China and we can’t wait. We’re playing three places–Shanghai, Guiyang and Shenzhen.

CW: Before you started mixing, you two were glamor models. Do you struggle to be taken seriously as DJs?

P ... Read more »

Jing’an’s new house of shochu gets a few things right, but not quite enough: friendly staff, a large selection of shochu (all around ¥38) and an English cheat sheet to help those unfamiliar with the Japanese spirit. Shochu is distilled from rice, wheat, barley or sweet potatoes. In ... Read more »

Ah, closed already.

We’re not too sure why we like this new spot behind Plaza 66. In a different mood, its combination of sofas, dancing girls and Western prices (¥55 for house spirits) would have left us underwhelmed. The sound system was turned up too loud for talking, and ... Read more »

Chinese artist Dong Zi’s porcelain works tackle topics that range from the cultural to the personal, with a lot of playful pieces in between.

The Beijing-born artist, who now calls China’s porcelain capital Jingdezhen home, says she was attracted to Leo Gallery, with its exposed bricks and hardwood ... Read more »

Tonight sees the national final of the DMC World DJ Championships at Zhijiang Dream Factory. The best scratchers and beat jugglers will be going all out to impress for their chance to represent this great nation at the world final later in the year. Aftershow party is at The Shelter ... Read more »

Tonight sees the opening of Zone+, a new bar on Tongren Lu taking up the space formerly known as Mint. Various drink deals are on offer for the opening, including free shots for the earlybirds, RMB15 beers and free Champagne for those who stick around until 4am. There's more ... Read more »