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Shanghai Nightlife

Awash with watering holes, Shanghai has an inventive and wide-ranging concoction of different bar types, from gritty student dives, solid Irish pubs and sports bars to jazzy cocktail bars, seductive wine lounges and elegant, fashion-conscious establishments operating from grandiose
concession-era buildings. Drinks are pricier here than in the rest of China, so happy-hour visits (typically 1700-2000) are worth considering.

Details of the best nightlife and cultural venues in Shanghai are carried in listings magazines such as City Weekend (www.cityweekend.com.cn/shanghai).

Bars in Shanghai

Boxing Cat Brewery

This deservedly popular microbrewery, with two branches in Shanghai, does a fine range of ales as well as decent Southern-style American food.

82 West Fuxing Road and Unit 26A, 519-521 Fuxing Road, Shanghai
Tel: (021) 6431 2091 and (021) 6426 0360.
Website: www.boxingcatbrewery.com/en/about.html

Cloud 9

Housed above the Grand Hyatt hotel on the 87th floor of the magnificent Jinmao Tower, Cloud 9 is no longer the highest bar in Shanghai, but it’s still, arguably, the coolest.

87th floor, Jinmao Tower, 88 Century Avenue, Shanghai
Tel: (021) 5047 1234.
Website: http://shanghai.grand.hyatt.com

The Glamour Bar

This stylish bar in Shanghai is set in a beautifully restored space just beneath M on the Bund. In addition to mixing great drinks, it hosts film screenings, an annual literary festival, music performances and China-related book launches.

6th floor, 20 Guangdong Road, Shanghai
Tel: (021) 6350 9988.
Website: www.m-theglamourbar.com

Clubs in Shanghai

California Club

One for Shanghai's fashion lovers, California Club has a clubby, vibrant atmosphere with renowned resident DJs sending their sounds echoing around a sleek red interior. Music veers from house to progressive to dance, pleasing a crowd of young, image-conscious Shanghai clubbers.

2A Gaolan Road, inside Fuxing Park near Sinan Road, Shanghai
Tel: (021) 6318 0785.

Muse

One of the hottest clubs in Shanghai (playing house and hip hop) over the past few years, Muse has three locations. The main club is in north Jing’an. The other two (both smaller) are in the former French Concession area.

New Factories, 68 Yuyao Road, Shanghai
Tel: (021) 5213 5228.
Website: www.museshanghai.cn

Shelter

Unquestionably underground, on account of it being housed in a converted bomb shelter, this dark, thumping club venue in Shanghai dishes up consistently cool tunes (reggae, drum and bass, electro, hip hop) and refreshingly cheap drinks.

5 Yongfu Road, Shanghai
Tel: (021) 6437 0400.

Live Music in Shanghai

House of Blues & Jazz

Jazz and blues lovers will love a visit to this classy restaurant and bar where the in-house band, which changes every few months, performs live music from around 2200-0100.

60 Fuzhou Road, Shanghai
Tel: (021) 6323 2779.

Mao Livehouse

Much larger than Yuyintang, Mao Livehouse, which also has a very successful venue in Beijing, is another great place to take in live music, particularly local rock bands. It's located in the Red Town arts complex in the west of Shanghai and can also be reached on metro lines 3 and 4.

Building 32, 570 West Huaihai Road, Shanghai
Tel: (021) 6445 0086.
Website: www.mao-music.com

Yuyintang

Small enough to feel intimate, but big enough for a sometimes pulsating atmosphere, Yuyintang
has long been the place in Shanghai to see live music. Rock is the staple diet, but anything goes, from hard punk to gypsy jazz. It’s west of the city, on metro lines 3 and 4. The entrance is on Kaixuan Road.

1731 West Yan’an Road, Shanghai
Tel: (021) 5237 8662.
Website: www.yuyintang.org

Opera in Shanghai

Yifu Theatre

Close to People’s Square, this is the main opera theatre in Shanghai, staging a variety of regional operatic styles, including Beijing opera, Kunqu opera and Yue opera. If you don't fancy sitting through a complete opera, there's a Beijing opera highlights show several times a week.

701 Fuzhou Road, Shanghai
Tel: (021) 6322 5294.
Website: www.tianchan.com

Dance in Shanghai

Paramount Ballroom

This old art deco theatre was the biggest nightclub in Shanghai in the 1930s, and today has sedate afternoon-tea dances to the sounds of old-school jazz and tango, as well as ballroom dancing in the evening. It makes for a nice nostalgia trip for those with an interest in Shanghai's colonial past.

218 Yuyuan Road, Shanghai
Tel: (021) 6322 5294.

Shanghai Circus World

This impressive modern venue in the north of Shanghai has nightly shows of elegant modern acrobatics including some funky multimedia elements.

2266 Gonghexin Road, Shanghai
Tel: (021) 6652 7501.

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