Features
Sunday, 31 May 2009 08:05
Written by Urbanatomy

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The Very Best  of Shanghai
Your city. Your vote. Your awards.

Compiled by the That’s Shanghai and Urbanatomy team
Portraits by Chad Ingraham

The winners are out. You voted, loads of you, nearly 3,00 in fact, in the augural awars that celebrate the best that Shanghai's arts and lifestyle scene has to offer. So here you go...

Amd it's all celbrated this weekend on June 6 / 7 - so come on down to Sogo Pedestrian Area at anytime to check it out.


Shanghai Hero 2009
Gary Wang, founder of The Shelter
What’s the most heroic thing you’ve ever done?
Fighting an asshole who tried to cut the taxi line right in front of Carrefour for someone else.

Nice. What does The Shelter offer that no other nightclub does?
A lot of the other clubs don’t focus on… um… well I won’t say “good music” but indie/underground/interesting music. We’re really into it, and no one else is doing it.

What’s the most gratifying part of your job?
I feel like I don’t have a job, but every hour I’m busy and I have something to do. I’ve never in my life worked for a company…

Never? Not even flipping burgers at 14?
Never. Before this I made a living DJing. So I work, but it’s stuff I’m really
enjoying. Except sometimes it’s really stressful, like when I end up doing loads of admin trying to get international DJs booked.

What’s been your best night at The Shelter?
Actually, our biggest night was our Halloween party, when everyone dressed up all bling-bling and we only played really mainstream hip hop. Everyone loved it! We played stuff we would never ordinarily play, but it was a really good night and we sold 1,000 tickets. Also, DJ Kentaro, Cut Chemist and People Under The Stairs have been really big nights too.

When are you getting a ventilation system installed?
There’s not much I can do! It’s an old bomb shelter! We put four air filters in… anyway Muse is much smokier than we are.

Other than The Shelter, what’s your favorite club?
(Gary shakes his head, forlornly.)

Say no more. How about your favorite guilty pleasure track?
Mainstream stuff? Pop stuff? No...

Nothing?
Not really.

C’mon... The Shelter’s known for its ‘edgy’ music, but you must secretly like something uncool. Britney Spears?
Um, well, there’s this guy from Japan I like… but I think that isn’t really what you mean, right?

Never mind. How about your desert island disc?
Sharon Jones, ‘One Hundred Days, One Hundred Nights’ and Jurassic 5’s first untitled EP.
 
You’re our hero, but who is your hero?
Sharon Jones. I’m really really into her stuff.

What can we look forward to hearing at The Shelter this summer?
Come and see J-Rocc on June 5!

Young Hero 2009
Natasha Weaser
On an 8th grade trip to Yangshuo, Guangxi Province, Yew Chung pupil Natasha Weaser spent a day up in the mountains playing with the kids of Hope School. It was the first time she had been exposed to real poverty and, like many others, it affected her. But while some return to their lives, Natasha was galvanized into action and resolved to seek out charity work in Shanghai.   

She approached Heart to Heart and was told that, at 14, she was too young (all of their volunteers are adults). Undeterred, she pestered them until they agreed that she could start at 15. Through a series of fundraisers and donations, Natasha raised RMB60,000 to pay for life-saving heart surgery for three impoverished children in nearby Jiangxi Province.

She was also selected as one of only five foreigners as an Olympic torchbearer and became a positive role model for young people. After the earthquake struck in Sichuan, she not only initiated a clothing drive for
victimized children, but also raised a further RMB20,000 in relief funds. From 2007 she also found time to volunteer at the Jin Hu Migrant School but, realizing they had ample resources, sought one that didn’t. It took three months to secure permission to lead a weekly trip to the You Miao School to teach English, but she stuck at it and continues to this day. Conscientious, hard-working and very resourceful – this is an inspiring, dynamo of a young lady. And one truly deserving of our Young Hero Award.

Best Artist
Yu Zijun
Soundly beating out the competition in our readers’ poll, Yu Zijun has been painting longer than most of the young upstarts nominated in this category have been alive. With a focus on watercolor painting, the 82-year-old artist has had a prolific career which continues today – he’s consistently been producing enough new material for solo exhibitions every few years (most recently with a series of South China landscapes shown at the Noeli Gallery). But beyond his masterful brushstrokes, Yu has played an active role in promoting art education and mentoring young artists since his graduation from the Shanghai Fine Arts School in 1950 (much like his own personal mentor at the school, Liu Haisu). Among other community services, he developed some of Shanghai’s first after-school children’s art programs, maintained membership in groups such as the Shanghai Fine Art Education Council and has taught at Song Qingling’s China Welfare Institute. In short, Yu Zijun is the real thing.
www.noeligallery.com




Best Sports
Shanghai International Football League
Formed in 1995, the SIFL has grown from strength to strength over the years, now boasting 20 teams in two divisions and an international cast of players. SIFL is the Shanghai success story, and among the most competitive expat amateur leagues in Asia, yet it remains run by a group of dedicated volunteers with games played (almost always!) in the spirit of fair play. Football is the first port-of-call for many a man arriving on these shores, and it is the friendships made, as much as our voters’ love of the beautiful game, which is behind this sports award.
www.eteamz.com/sifl

Best Design Store
Simply Life
Aaron Law, general manager, congratulations. How would you describe Simply Life’s design ethic?
Simply Life represents modern China – mixing the best of the East and West into a certain style that is right for the particular individual. We are first and foremost a retail store (and not an exhibition center). Our products are not just well designed, but are meant to be used in everyday life.

What is the trick behind choosing designs for the store?
Quality, uniqueness and functionality are three elements we look for in a product. Inevitably, it’s about surrounding ourselves with products that make us feel comfortable and inspire us in our daily life. We also try to ensure that our products are branded because people trust brands and what they stand for (quality, reliability and reputation).

What is most inspiring thing you’ve ever designed?
An ox-blood-red ceramic vase inspired by the qipao – it was one of the first pieces worked on by our founder, Choon. It was taking inspiration from an element from the East and turning it into an everyday item that fits in with today’s lifestyle context.

Why do you think Shanghai people love what you do?
We bring together top quality, unique, well-designed local and international products in our stores. We believe an item purchased at Simply Life is a guarantee of quality and good taste. We’ve been around for 10 years and a certain sense of trust and reliability has been built up – people know that when they’re looking for that something special, they’ll find it at Simply Life. Most importantly, it’s about having fun and
enjoying the experience.

Best Green Initiative
Roots & Shoots
Roots & Shoots’ greatest strength is their focus on educating and including young people in their green projects, based on their policy of investing in the next generation. “Our biggest achievements are the students we work with – they’re the leaders of the future, politicians and businessmen,” says Operations Director ZeeZee Zhong (pictured center left). “After 10 years of operation, we’re still going strong and the community supports what we do, which means we’re needed and effective. We’re very proud of that.”

Despite all the polluted, smoky obstacles that working in Shanghai’s urban jungle throws up, R&S has managed to make a real difference to the city. They work with 188 schools, and one of their most ambitious projects to date is the tree-planting program. The aim is to improve the ecological and humanitarian conditions of Kulunqi in Inner Mongolia by planting an astounding one million trees over the next few years. “We now have a total of 200,000 trees planted in the desertified area,” announces ZeeZee.

But does it ever feel like a losing battle pushing green issues here? “We always want to send out a positive message,” she says. “Go and actively look for solutions to problems! There are always ways to correct what’s wrong, and yet it’s up to everybody to do it.”
jgi-shanghai.org

Best Travel Company
Ctrip
Really, who else had a chance? This travel company is still waving the wand when it comes to being the go-to-point for English-speaking travelers in China. Their service is pretty damn efficient, and they even trust you to pay when you get the tickets in your hand. That said, we’ve seen a lot of movement in travel companies in the last year and Ctrip have some good competitors coming out of the woodwork, such as package tour giants China Spring Tour, Travelzen and specialist companies such as Tibet Travel Experts. The market is heating up, so expect deals galore very soon.
www.ctrip.com

Best Writer
Paul French
Our winner divides his time between writing about China ‘right now’ and writing about China ‘back then.’ If you don’t already receive French’s Access Asia Weekly Update email, you really should. He somehow manages to illuminate the often colorless subject of Chinese business while throwing in a few laughs along the way. On top of that he’s written books on North Korea; his hero, US adman of the 1930s Carl Crow; and the old China press corps in Through the Looking Glass. Next up French will tackle the real-life, unsolved murder of a 19-year-old English girl brutally butchered in Peking in the 1930s. Can’t wait!

Best Development
Taikang Lu
Happiness is: drinking your second cup of organically-brewed coffee in the sunshine on a Sunday afternoon. And the best place to do it is, of course, Taikang Lu. The limitless patio options for al fresco drinking and dining make it everyone’s favorite summer haunt; and when you’re done, you can walk it off with a bit of window shopping. One of the best places to browse tiny clothing boutiques and stores selling silver jewelry, off-beat furniture and artwork, Taikang is a veritable hipster’s paradise. Check out Kommune for BBQs and beer, Insh for Shanghai designer Helen Lee’s punchy tees, and Pottery Workshop for homewares by local ceramicists.

Best Gallery
MoCA
The first non-profit, privately-owned museum in China, MoCA Shanghai was established in People’s Park in 2005. “It almost started by accident,” admits founder and museum director Samuel Kung, formerly a jeweler. But, having snagged “one of the best spaces in Shanghai,” MoCA today offers two expansive floors of exhibit space, as well as the experimental lounge/cafe Art Lab on the third floor. With Victoria Lu as the museum’s creative director, there are several fully-curated shows each year and two Biennales which alternate years. “There’s an emphasis on curatorialship,” says Lu, “that’s the policy; we always try to promote young curators.”

Lu also wants people to know that MoCA is a museum for the people: “We’re open and friendly – we always allow audiences to take photos (without flash, of course). And we’re not involved in commercial sales – that’s very important.” Kung concurs: “We’re willing to work with artists and curators in many different aspects. We’re young and full of energy and always willing to learn. But the most important thing is that we are promoting contemporary art.” “Yi wu fan gu,” he concludes. “The only way is forward.”
mocashanghai.org

Best Charity
BEAN Shanghai
BEAN founder, Aimee Haynes (center), congratulations. So what’s it all about?
It’s a group of young professionals who believe that “There is more to life…” than just working and partying. We participate in volunteering pursuits, as well as networking and social events.

How does the volunteering work?
We work to create four or five events each month that cover a wide range: a dental education program in migrant schools, volunteering at a local orphanage and hospital, and a variety of new projects addressing the needs of disabled adults, the environment and local youth.

How many members do you have?
We started in September 2008 with a handful of members and we’ve grown to over 1,000 now. We have members of all ages, but the most important quality is the desire to give back to the community, rather than fitting a particular profile.
shanghai.beanonline.org

Best Boutique
Eno
Tor Petersen, CEO, congratulations. Tell us about Eno…
It’s a creative lifestyle brand. Really, creativity sits at the core of this company, trying to inspire creativity in our employees, consumers, how you dress, how you carry yourself. Being creative in life is sort of the centerpoint of what we stand for.

Why does it work in China?
There is an incredible need for self expression in this country. The education system is tightly managed and kids’ lives are tightly controlled. Young kids need outlets. If you go to KTV you see the expression, you see the need, and so we wanted to start a brand that sort of came from the youth. It’s a grassroots brand; we work with lots of different designers to bring new ideas into fashion, and provide a platform for many of these young designers in China.

So how valuable are independent labels in Shanghai?
Labels are important. People here are status conscious. But I think a lot of people are interested in our products simply because they are creatively well designed, with good materials. At a period of copycat manufacturing, we like to stand out as a company that is original in its outlook. Hopefully, we can inspire more people to be original in what they do.
www.eno.cn


Best Community Group
Community Center Shanghai
Allison Mona, congratulations. What exactly is the Center?
We’re a non-profit organization dedicated to “Making friends, helping people and building community among internationals in Shanghai.” We were founded in 1998 and connect residents through social, educational and charitable programs with the people, culture and energy of China. The Center offers a variety of resources including cross-cultural orientation and training, professional counseling, adult education, outreach programs and social activities for adults and youth.

Why are you so popular?
We’re here to help get people’s feet grounded and to build a supportive community around them. I think people are grateful for the comprehensive services we can offer.

How can our readers get involved?
At our centers, Monday through Friday 9am-5pm. For Puxi call 6406 4267; for Pudong call 3382 1770.

Best Attraction
Shanghai World Financial Center
Everyone’s favorite new addition to the city’s skyline, the long awaited Shanghai World Financial Center, aka the Bottle Opener, finally doffed its hat last August. Since then you’ve been flocking there in your thousands to check out the (for now) world’s highest observatory and sip champagne at the also-extremely-high-up 100 Century Avenue Bar. Or, if you’re very lucky, you may have stayed at the phenomenal Park Hyatt, housed at the top of the 492m building. Even paying a rather steep RMB150 (to get to the 100th floor) doesn’t detract from the sensational panorama once you reach the top, which, of course, includes the overwhelmingly vertigo-inducing view of the tip of the Jin Mao tower. 

Best Hairdresser
Toni & Guy
Mike Lau, MD, congratulations. So what does it takes to be a great hairdresser?
A natural craving to learn more.
 
Okay, what’s the strangest hairdo you’ve ever done?
It was for a mate’s party. It’s too complex to describe in words, haha. But in retrospect, it seemed… appropriate.

Is there a popular haircut in Shanghai right now?
On the street we still see lots of bob cuts and structured crops. Pixie cuts and
long curls are in with my clients.

Gotcha. How about perms?
We have perfected our perm so it looks really natural and requires really low maintenance.

Best Photographer
Charlie Xia
Last night there was a fantastic party. Beautiful people were packed on a Bund rooftop terrace, downing bottles of Cristal and dancing to the latest beats shipped in fresh from Ibiza. And you missed it? Then how do you know it happened? Because every glamorous little detail was captured by Charlie Xia. But if all you know of him is his nightlife photography, you aren’t seeing the whole picture. When Charlie came to Shanghai seven years ago he was just a self-taught hobbyist. “I used to just go around and shoot the city with my dad’s Leica,” he told us. Yet he proved a quick learner. that’s Shanghai recognized his talent and commissioned him to capture the clubs around town. Now he shoots architecture and design in and around China for national and international publications. 

Best Website
SmartShanghai
You know why you log on: Maps, yep. Steamy sex tips, maybe. But mostly because the writing is really frickin’ funny. Smart Shanghai has turned I-really-mean-the-opposite-of-what-I-just-said humor into a form of high art. Editor Morgan Short, however, was sincere when he told us: “We have nothing but fiery disdain for the other entrants in this category, and view their palsied attempts as contemptible and base effrontery of the lowest order. We gracelessly recognize this award as yet further evidence of the exalted nature and purpose of our mandate: Total. Market. Annihilation.”
www.smartshanghai.com

Best Singer / Band
Coco Zhao & The Possicobilities
Shanghai’s star jazz singer Coco Zhao proves he’s still as popular as ever. Call him one of our city’s favorite sons; he’s certainly one of its most recognizable faces, seemingly everywhere at once. From his weekly Sunday performances at JZ Club with his regular band The Possicobilities to trying out new projects with the Quintessence quintet or the Menage a Trios trio (and he still makes it out to his fair share of international gigs too – he’s currently on tour in LA this month), Coco’s always a sight to behold on stage. Full of energy and flamboyance, his performances are striking and memorable – with the town’s most impressive vocal skat-attack to boot. Shanghai rock hipsters might think they’re too cool for croon, but they’d do well to take note: Thanks to Coco’s hard work and professionalism (he doesn’t monkey around), jazz is still on top in this town.

Best Hotel
Urbn
Although we are constantly criticized for living in a socially irresponsible city, it turns out that you, dear reader, are genuinely and passionately concerned about helping the environment. So you voted China's first carbon neutral hotel to win the Best Hotel category. Urbn, and its CEO and founder Jules Kwan (pictured), have a lot to be proud of; the boutique hotel's structure is built with recycled and locally sourced materials including reclaimed hardwoods and old Shanghai bricks. They use solar shades and other carbon off-setting gadgetry, but best of all, guests get to relax in the notion that they have made the green choice.
www.urbnhotels.com


Best DJ
V-Nutz
Even before he got to heroics (see our Shanghai Hero Award), Gary Wang was on the decks, scratching records. Ten years later (he got his first turntable in 1999, practicing with a Rectangle Battle Breaks record), he’s perhaps better known by his DJ moniker: V-Nutz. As the first titleholder of China’s DMC Championships (held in 2002), V-Nutz has blessed Shanghai beatheads with his impeccable selection of old-school hip-hop and funk breaks. Beyond the parties, he’s played a major role in mentoring young talent, opening The Lab (China’s first non-profit DJ workshop, which just celebrated its third anniversary) and continuing to organize China’s DMC competitions. Today the parties have moved over to The Shelter, where Wang is a founding partner, and where you can catch him raising the roof every month, either headlining his own funk nights or opening for some of the endless string of international DJs he brings to town through his promotion brand, Organic Soul.
www.thelab.cn

Best Food Store
City Shop
It doesn’t matter if you’re fresh off the boat or a so-called Old China Gland. If you’re a transplant you will inevitably suffer from a bout of culinary homesickness. Never mind Shanghai’s wealth of international cuisine; sometimes the restaurants here just don’t cut it. And sometimes you just want Vegemite on toast or a bowl of Froot Loops with melamine-free milk in the comfort of your own home. That’s why City Shop won this race by a landslide. Nowhere in Shanghai will you find a better selection of all those culinary comforts of home. Just don’t look at the receipt.

Best Spa / Massage
Dragonfly
Our Dragonfly friends create a mini oasis in the city and offer affordable, clean and seriously relaxing treatments. “We are not McDonalds selling a hamburger; we are delivering a personal service with a human touch. This makes it so much more challenging to ensure consistency,” says Dragonfly founder Georgie Yam. Having always been drawn to China, he finally moved here from Singapore but found all the street level massage shops “primitive and uninviting for a man, and even more forbidding for a lady.” Georgie had a ‘Eureka!’ moment. Their famous ad campaign reads: “NO SEX, no food, no phones and no TV.” This unique slant got people’s attention in Shanghai. “Our offering is different,” says Georgie. “We are designed for couples, and for families. We are designed for men and ladies – and no one feels uncomfortable about our service.”
www.dragon-fly.com

Best Film
Park Shanghai
Providing Shanghai’s answer to the Sixth Generation filmmakers of Beijing, Park Shanghai explores the lives of several twenty-something locals and their struggles. Taking place over one night following a high school reunion (and largely set on the rooftop of an anonymous apartment block), the film is “as indie as it gets,” says director Huang Kai, who worked on the film as a student at the School of Film and TV Art at Shanghai University. The film was warmly received by Chinese critics, and proved popular enough to run at Shanghai’s mainstream theaters earlier this year (with a packed local premiere in February). It’s great to see that in a year of Crazy Racers, Mei Langfang and Zhang Ziyi, Shanghai audiences can still support their own talent. Even the Shanghai International Film Festival, taking place this month, has referenced Kai as an example to emerging film directors. If the city’s indie film scene needs a genuine adrenaline boost, Park Shanghai is it.

Best Gym
One Wellness
When it comes to working out, One Wellness is Shanghai’s premier boutique fitness club. It will push, preen and pamper the lot of you, we promise. While not the most demotic in terms of pricing it seems that, in this case, you get what you pay for: A super-clean gym space with the latest innovations; friendly management; helpful trainers; a peaceful bamboo tree-lined patio with outdoor yoga classes; a café serving gourmet health foods; a therapy area for massage, acupuncture and reflexology; and a limited membership. Witness the fitness...
www.onewellness.com.cn

Best Wine Store
Just Grapes
Can you actually drink something that has legs, or a nose? Or for that matter would you even want to? What about malo-lactic fermentation and carbonic maceration? Hello? It’s no wonder we steer clear of the wine crowd. And yet sharing a bottle of wine is one of life’s greatest joys. It shouldn’t be
intimidating. Which is why you voted for Just Grapes. They’ve devised a simple system for describing their wines: Do you like it fruity and red? Or minerally and white? It’s all there, plainly laid out in icons which even a five-year-old can grasp. Bacchus would be proud.
www.justgrapes.cn

Best New Business
WeightWatchers
Fat people? In China? Never! Well they’re coming apparently, and WeightWatchers have arrived in time to help trim off those extra pounds. The best part of this initiative is that it’s not a faddish diet plan, nor a starve-yourself-till-you-vanish idea, but rather a question of eating the right food (and loads of it). They have taken all the classic Chinese dishes and slotted them into their famed points system, so you know exactly how much of what you can eat. And for that you hail them.
www.weightwatchers.com.cn

Best Fashion Store
Zara
This fast-fashion Spanish designer now dominates the fashion world with designs for men, women and children. The word on the street is that they produce designs in the tens of thousands per year and can have them on the shelves in a minimum of two weeks, so by pure math alone there must be something we all like eventually. Their profile is life-size without advertising at all – but their branches seem to pop up around Shanghai faster than Swine flu victims on the Mexican border. Hmm, fashionable surgical masks, now there’s an idea. Are you listening, Zara?
www.zara.com

Best Event
Shanghai International Literary Festival 2009
The Shanghai International Literary Festival is now a permanent fixture in the city's cultural calendar and a solid winner for our “Best Event” category. What began as a modest affair seven years ago with just a handful of authors has now blossomed into a 16-day event with over 60 authors and helped to affirm Shanghai’s place as China’s preeminent center for literary aspirations. The authors provide the words, M on the Bund and Glamour Bar provide the style…
mrestaurant.com

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