Travel Destinations - China - Shanghai

Shanghai: State of the Art

Tina Kanagaratnam reflects on the rise of China's international art industry and visits one Shanghai gallery giving the nation's younger stars the chance to join the party

People, it seems, are the great paradox of China. In a nation of 1.3 billion people, employers cry that human resource challenges – specifically, finding the right people – is their biggest problem. So it is too, for the collectors of contemporary Chinese art. Currently the darling of the art [ read more ]

Shanghai: Somersaulting Ahead

Many acrobatic feats stem from ancient daily life;
Kristi Lanier is won over by the enthusiasm of the team plotting an acrobatic revolution in Shanghai

On a late July afternoon, the interior of Shanghai Circus World is quiet, the air sluggish and hot. Construction materials lie in scattered, dusty piles. The faded red seats ringing the stage sigh with age. The whole place looks ready to give it all up and go home.

But the [ read more ]

Shanghai: Shanghai Surprises

Albert Einstein once roamed the halls of the Astor House Hotel
Gary Bowerman gets off the tourist treadmill and shows the way to a way cool Shanghai weekend

So you've arrived in Shanghai: global headline generator and current darling of the lifestyle glossies. You took the Maglev from the airport. You've done the Bund, Jinmao and Xintiandi. There's the Oriental Pearl Tower, isn't it funny-looking. Now you're dutifully shuffling across Yu Yuan's zigzag bridge. People are pushing you. [ read more ]

Shanghai: Divine Light

New look nativity with contemporary lines influenced by Chinese paper cuttings
Amidst the hustle and bustle of Shanghai's Xujiahui traffic junction, four nun's, a bishop and a Beijing designer are challenging the boundaries of Christian art. Their ground-breaking renovation of Xujiahui Cathedral's stained glass windows could breathe new life into faith in China. Crystyl Mo sees the light through the colourful new panes

Sunlight streaming through coloured glass into a dim, hushed church is an almost holy experience regardless of one's faith. The muffled light tends to reveal those specks of dust that float suspended in the air, refracting light in an eerie way.

St Ignatius cathedral, like those specks of dust, is [ read more ]

Shanghai: A Global Cocktail

Shanghai's bars having been serving drinkers for over one hundred years. Jamie Kennet gets into the mix at the city's oldest and latest after-dark destinations.

Shanghai's bar culture has deep roots. The present crop of chic city bars may at first seem to be nothing more than make-up on a city's new face but, look again, and you'll find glamorous drinking haunts have long been a part of the Shanghai scene.

Skip back to the [ read more ]