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[2017]: Best of the Blog

Nothing but hard-nosed lifestyle journalism here, my friends. Here's the best of the SmSh blog reel for 2017. It's raining Pulitzers!
Last updated: 2017-12-19
Take a knee, Shanghai. It's time for the annual barrage of year-end articles. In "2017", SmSh takes a look back at the terrible highlights and wondrous lowlights of city life for the year two-oh-one-seven. It can't get any worse! Can it?

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These are the best of our non-brunch related articles for 2017. Thanks for reading, everyone. Ayyyy, you're alright.

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January


Shanghai"



The futuristic city's futuristic group that gathers to predict the future.



Bang a gong. Get. It. ON. Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏÍø becomes one with the cosmos via some sweet gong vibes.


February





Come on Barbie, let’s go party. SmSh takes a trip to the Bund on the Barbie-themed tour bus.



An interview with our favorite gonzo architectural photographer.



Tales of triumph and defeat. Here's what our readers got up to for Chinese New Year.



Fantastic tea and where to find it. SmSh takes you through the markets and shops of China's largest tea distribution center.



SmSh talks to the Shanghai gallerist about 10 years of hard labor.



Standing in a three to four-hour line for a mayonnaise-stuffed cake covered in seaweed and beef. Yum. Find out if it was worth the wait inside.


March





A intrepid trek through the dive bars of Shanghai in search for a nice circle of meat between two buns.



Driving the shared poor man's Tesla. Can the experience live up to the concept?



SmSh asks a social worker, a spiritual counselor, a helpline operator, a mindfulness trainer, and a life coach to find out.



Ahhhh consumerism!



SmSh and Shanghai Drag Contest 2017 winner Miss Mint toot and boot the looks from the newly opened Victoria's Secret Shanghai flagship store!



Ten places that have been dishing local favorites since the Qing Dynasty. Here's our guide into true old school Shanghai dining.


April





Basically, an article about standing in line for an hour for Coco Chanel Coffee and Makeup.



Mobike and Ofo are convenient, but this one you don't even need to pedal.



An intimate look behind the scenes of Kunqu Art Week, currently ongoing at the reopened New Shanghai Theater.


May





Join documentary filmmaker and photo-journalist Dvir Bar-Gal for some hardcore Jewish history.



A meeting of the minds as two of Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏÍø's professional Chinese food critics taste test 7 interesting zong zi variations ahead of Dragon Boat Festival.



The new English-language Didi interface rolled out to us. Another win for cross-seat communication. We try out the Chinese Uber, except in English.


June





The one about that time I spent 24 hours at The Beer Lady. Forever drinking towards greatness is our mandate!



Yeah, sounds like it would be good like Alien vs Predator, but is instead a huge disappointment like Alien vs Predator.



Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏÍø catches up with darkly amusing, misanthropic comic artist Joan Cornellà to discuss humanity's various problems and how to make them into great works of art.



Behind a small door on Wuning Lu is a vending machine that sells sex stuff. All kinds of sex stuff you can buy in sweet, sweet solitude.



Flying egregiously close to the sun on wings of chrome. Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏÍø tests out the Cool Qi Bike. It's the gold one!



SmSh got Martin Nexo, co-founder of RunnersHai, to share his favorite running routes in Shanghai. Then we went and ran them ourselves. Results varied! (Mostly positive!)



Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏÍø goes to the Luyuan Fishing Leisure Center in search of real big fish. Oh, you didn't know you could go fishing in Shanghai?


July






SmSh puts on its dancing shoes to check out the salsa hot spots around town—and oh dios mío, there’s one every night!



Relive your childhood disappointment for under 250rmb at this new amusement park in Fisherman's Wharf.



Bridge 8 gallery Modern Art Base (MAB) hosts 19 prints of Beijing photographer iconoclast Ren Hang in a memorial exhibition. Final representations of idealized forms.



Looking for a few easy answers at the Dragonfly. SmSh getting that bikini bod with the latest technology.


August


Shanghai"


Metamorphosis is a collective of international dancers that meet annually to put together a piece of experimental modern dance. This year they’re in Shanghai and we went to take pictures.



Comedy video troupe Mamahuhu have made their return to the internet after a two-year hiatus where they got jobs as Uber drivers, foot masseurs, and bums living in the mountains.



Professional athletes and mere mortals from across the city faced off this weekend in over 11 cross training, power lifting, and bench pressing challenges. ‘The Battle on The Bund’ bigger than ever before...


September


shanghaitower


Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏÍø takes the super duper 680rmb VIP tour of the world's second tallest building. This is what we saw, heard, experience, felt, lived.



Hey you, don’t throw that old monitor in the trash! You can recycle it by texting Feibao.



Recommendations on who to seek help from in Shanghai from someone who's been there.



Ever seen those groups of bikers riding around at night with the light-up bunny ears? We finally figured out what that's all about.



A template for traveling around China's northwestern region. Food, culture, experiences, yaks, lakes, rainbow mountains, all that good stuff you're missing.


October


Shanghai"


Here's a photo gallery of Shanghai Comic Con 2017. Punch it, Worf!



School’s back in session, and it's time to foist your unrealistic expectations onto your child! Here are some things your kid can get into after school.



I don't feel equipped with the critical tools necessary to honestly assess this thing! MUHAHAHAH!



Ahead of their one year anniversary, SmSh sits down with the Snap! gents, stirring things up in Shanghai's gay scene.



Ahead of his leadership workshop in Shanghai on November 30, SmSh talked with CEO Rich Fernandez, about his time in Executive Development at Google and how the leadership institute he now leads, was born there.



From your favorite sports pubs, to low-key lounges, to impress-your-clients Bund deals, get to drinking, now faster and easier that ever before!


November


Betty


Ms. Betty Barr has lived, as she likes to say, "50 of my 84 years" in Shanghai. She's got stories. We asked her how many of her old haunts remain. Quite a few, it turns out.



A day in the life...



The artsy comic-loving community is making waves with their zines, events, and over all adorkability.


December


Shanghai"

Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏÍø spends the day at Andersen Park, a bewildering amusement park with a Hans Christian Andersen theme now open in New Jiangwan City.



Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏÍø gets a look inside Starbucks Reserve Roastery. Coffee grandes at the end of the world.

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Thanks for reading! Excelsior!

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