The best things to do in Shanghai this Golden Week
As the PRC turns 70, you bet that hordes will be flooding into popular tourist sites and overstepping boundaries of personal space. For all the stragglers still in town, the festivities in Shanghai are just as dazzling, if not more so. See below for a list of activities to take part in this Golden Week for moments of appetite, artfulness and adventure.
Catch a livestream of the military parade in Beijing
Photograph: Wikimedia Commons
Catch this year's massive military parade in Beijing via livestream on Tuesday morning at GoEast. The language school will be holding free screening sessions at both its Shanghai Library and Yangpu campuses with the team present to translate the broadcast and give an informal vocab lesson.
📍GoEast Language Centre, 194-196 Zhengmin Lu, near Guoding Lu. Until Sun 6. Extract the QR code above for more info.
Spend a day museum-hopping
Head to Pudong waterfront space Modern Art Museum Shanghai to catch Bob Dylan: Retrospectrum. The massive show brings together the world’s largest collection of Nobel Prize-winning singer-songwriter Bob Dylan’s art, handwritten lyrics, oil paintings and sculptures dating as far back as the 1960s. Continue your experience at Shanghai Center of Photography’s show Martin Schoeller: Close for portraits of politicians, musicians, actors and everyday people, all revealing something vulnerable and deeply human.
📍Bob Dylan: Retrospectrum, Modern Art Museum Shanghai, 4777 Binjiang Dadao, near Pudian Lu, Pudong. Until Sun 5 Jan (Tue-Sun). 10am-6pm. 150RMB; 138RMB; 88RMB (presale). Extract the QR code above to purchase tickets.
📍Martin Schoeller: Close, Shanghai Centre of Photography, 2555 Longteng Dadao, near Longlan Lu. Until Wed 20 Nov (Tue-Sun). 40RMB.
Hide out from the rain with these blockbusters
With a couple of rainy days in this week's forecast, now’s the perfect time to catch one (or a few) of the latest releases in cinemas. With lead roles from Wu Jing (Wolf Warrior), Zhang Ziyi (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and Jackie Chan, The Climbers traces the dangerous and arduous climb up Mount Everest in the 1960s by four members of the China Everest Climbing Commando. Now on their fifth attempt, four previous failures up the mountain have not stopped the group from another try. Not your speed? You can also still catch Free Solo, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw and The Mule.
📍On general release in cinemas around Shanghai.
Dance it out at a rooftop party
Dance in the autumn air on seul & SEUL's Rooftop with a special Golden Week edition party from Alter. Disco, house and funk beats come courtesy of Tobias Patrick, Tom Price and Dora. Growing up with German techno and house sound of the 1990s, Patrick, with his soulful and ever-changing music style, has DJed in China and Asia since 2010 and is the curator of the Fun 12 Inches parties in Shanghai. Graffiti artist and actor Tom Price started DJing in 2004 while studying at the University of Sydney. Dora combines lesser known music in four-on-the-floor rhythm with disco and house flavour. Free entry before 4pm.
📍seul & SEUL, Third Floor, Taikoo Hui, 789 Nanjing Xi Lu, near Shimen Yi Lu. Thu 3. 3pm-late. 120RMB; 100RMB (presale). Extract the QR code above to purchase tickets.
Finally get around to checking out these new restaurant openings
A full week off of work means plenty of opportunities to check out the new restaurants and bars you’ve been meaning to visit. Unsure where to start? Among our favourites this season are the MSG-free, collagen-rich broths at contemporary hotpot spot Hu Hu Tang, the strong lineup of cocktails and grub at new tiki bar Birds of Paradise, and the hearty Northern Chinese fare and chungbing at Peking Inn (closed on Tue 1) and more (just call ahead to double check individual venue opening hours through the break).
📍Hu Hu Tang, Second Floor, 50 Taian Lu, near Xingguo Lu.
📍Birds of Paradise, 98 Yanping Lu, near Wuding Lu.
📍Peking Inn, Second Floor, Building 37A, Jiashan Market, Lane 259, Jiashan Lu, near Jianguo Xi Lu.
See the world's best tennis players in action
This week, the ATP Tour and the likes of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal return for the tenth edition of the Shanghai Rolex Masters. Things kick off with the official players' party at Bar Rouge on Saturday 5, and through Sunday 13, expect to see some of the finest players on the men's professional tennis circuit in action over at Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena.
📍Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena, 5500 Yuanjiang Lu, near Zhongqing Lu. Sun 6-Sun 13. 60RMB-10,800RMB. Extract the QR code above to purchase tickets.
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