13 brilliant things to do in Shanghai this week

Photograph: courtesy Boxing Cat

It's Monday and it's another packed week in Shanghai. Read on for our picks of the best things to do, including a book talk about baijiu, a pop-up market in collaboration with Discovery Channel's Shark Week and the return of Shanghai's annual non-profit game fair.

Things to Do

Photograph: courtesy Common Rare

Book talk and cocktails with baijiu expert Derek Sandhaus

Baijiu is the world's most consumed alcohol, yet many things about it are still misunderstood. To learn about the spirit for yourself, join Derek Sandhaus, author of Baijiu: The Essential Guide to Chinese Spirits, along with UnTour's Kyle Long, for a book talk inside recently opened Duoyun Books. Ticket price includes one baijiu cocktail and a 20 percent book discount.

📍Duoyun Books, 501 Yinchengzhong Lu, near Lujiazuihuan Lu, Pudong. Tue 27. 7-9pm. 118RMB. Extract the QR code above to book.

date2019 Shanghai Design Week Forum

As part of Shanghai Design Week, designers, artists and scientists from all over the world will get involved in three days of talks and forums, with topics including Pop Culture and Digital Technology and Intangible Cultural Heritage and Design. There will also be an audiovisual performance from AV Party on Saturday night.

📍Shanghai Exhibition Center, 1000 Yanan Zhong Lu, near Tongren Lu. Fri 30 Aug-Sun 1 Sep. 10am-6.30pm. 300RMB.

Common Rare pres Blue Blue Blue Pop-Up Market

Common Rare is partnering with the Discovery Channel for its latest pop-up market, Blue Blue Blue, to showcase goods from independent designers and food brands that are all inspired by sharks or the sea. In addition to products for purchase, the market will have shark-based activities including screenings of Discovery shark documentary footage.

📍Alluneednow, 1728 Nanjing Xi Lu, near Huashan Lu. Sat 31 Aug-Sun 1 Sep. Midday-9pm. 20-30RMB. Extract the QR code above to book.

Checkpoint 3 Shanghai Game Fair

Checkpoint, Shanghai's annual non-profit game fair, returns this Saturday to showcase 25 games from studios like Ubisoft and Epic Games. This year, the free event includes lectures on game development, workshops and a Super Smash Brothers tournament.

📍Yoyo City, 152 Xingeng Lu, near Tianyaoqiao Lu. Sat 31. 2-9pm. Free entry.

Poetry book launch and open mic

Taking place at Madame Mao's Dowry, Patrick Schiefen joins Literary Shanghai to read from and discuss his new poetry collection, If You Know, You Know. 

📍Madame Mao's Dowry, 207 Fumin Lu, near Julu Lu. Sun 1 Sep. 7-9pm. Free entry.

Music & Nightlife

Photograph: courtesy Specters

Canadian Rawk Night

The Shanghai Canadian Club hits Specters for a mid-week mixer. Expect Canadian rock from the likes of The Hip, 54-40, Pursuit of Happiness, The Odds, Headstones and Treble Charger, and entry of 100RMB gets you three select drinks. Conversation will inevitably swing towards the current state of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

📍Specters, 753 Yuyuan Lu, near Zhenning Lu. Wed 28. 8pm-5am. Free entry.

Eating & Drinking

Photograph: courtesy Chope

Boxing Cat Xintiandi Grand Opening Party

Boxing Cat's Xintiandi flagship officially opens this Thursday and it's celebrating with a party that includes games, prizes, three beers and free flow snacks when you buy a ticket.

📍Boxing Cat Brewery (Xintiandi), No 19, 181 Taicang Lu, near Madang Lu. Thu 29. 6pm-late. 128RMB.

Franziskaner Oktoberfest 2019

The Franziskaner Shanghai Oktoberfest kicks off this Thursday in a big festival tent near The Bund and will run until Saturday 7 September. Expect live music from a Munich-based band, eats courtesy of Zeitgeist and free flow beer deals.

📍Yuanmingyuan Lu, near Suzhou Nan Lu. Thu 29 Aug-Sat 7 Sep. From 375RMB. Extract the QR code above to book.

Into the Light: A Beer & Spicy Chicken Wing Pairing

Stone Brewing is pulling together ten IPAs from the archives for one day only. Buy any tasting flight of all of them (each five-ounce pours) for 278RMB, or get spicy with a pairing of its four most complex IPAs with chicken wings.

📍Stone Brewing Tap Room Shanghai, 1107 Yuyuan Lu, near Jiangsu Lu. Thu 29. 11.30am-11.30pm. Free entry.

Film

Image: courtesy Universal Pictures

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw

If you're a ride or die for Fast & Furious, its first spinoff won't disappoint, even as it strays even further into a fully unbelievable save-the-planet spy comedy. As it must, the plot throws Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and Jason Statham together against their will on the trail of a stolen apocalyptic plague. Just go with it.

📍On general release.

Art

Photograph: courtesy Yuz museum (Tan Ping)

Duet: A Tan Ping Retrospective

Yuz Museum presents a retrospective featuring the work of Tan Ping, one of the most important figures in the Chinese contemporary art scene. From oil paintings that extend way off the canvas to a woodcut work that resulted from carving a single line for six hours, the exhibition is a duet between art forms Tan has attempted to master over the course of his career.

📍Yuz Museum, 35 Fenggu Lu, near Longteng Dadao. Until Sun 22 Sep (Tue-Sun). 60RMB.

Wet Paint Shanghai

Graffiti artist Dave Persue comes to Shanghai for an exhibition of his 'Wet Paint' series, together with his doodles of Bunny Kitty (a cat in a rabbit costume) that have become a symbol of New York counter-culture street art.

📍Creative Park 1, The Cool Docks, 505 Zhongshan Nan Lu, near Zixia Lu. Until Sun 6 Oct. From 85RMB. Extract the QR code above to book.

Stage

Photograph: courtesy 247tickets

The St Petersburg Masterskaya Theatre: And Quiet Flows the Don

And Quiet Flows the Don is the first of two productions produced by Grigory Kozlov and the St Petersburg Masterskaya Theatre about the Russian Civil War. It follows the lives of extraordinary people and a great and tragic love story that unfolds against a backdrop of revolution, world wars, civil wars and social upheaval.

📍Shanghai Culture Square, 597 Fuxing Zhong Lu, near Maoming Nan Lu. Fri 30. 6-8pm. 780-1,280RMB. Extract the QR code above to book.

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