Chen Weihua is the Chief Washington Correspondent of China Daily and Deputy Editor of China Daily USA. He has a particular focus on US politics and US-China relations.
Being a major business city, or the New York of China, Shanghai's hectic pace doesn't surprise me.
If there's one thing that makes the residents of Shanghai proud of their city, it's that it served as a safe shelter for some 30,000 Jews who fled the Nazi persecution during World War II.
A 50-something man leaps from almost 2 meters away to grab a seat a woman has just left.
The decision of US colleges and universities to admit overseas students earlier than before has come as a relief for more than a dozen students in my daughter's middle school. They can finally bid farewell to the country's test-oriented rote and cram system.
I scorned Shanghai dialect comedy, or huajixi, in my college days, considering it low taste and "vulgar". I took a modern drama class and went to every play in town, from Shakespeare's Hamlet to Eugene O'Neil's Desire under the Elms.
The economic recession seems to have disappeared from the streets of Shanghai. At least, that's the way it feels.
Some 400,000 residents of Shanghai woke up to a rude shock on Wednesday morning. Their taps had run dry after a pump room in a local water plant got flooded due to leaks and equipment failure.
It's really futile to debate over whether Chinese film star Zhang Ziyi should be condemned for sunbathing topless while frolicking with her Jewish boyfriend on the beach, or should she have at least some right to privacy regarding her personal life.
American television talk show hosts like Jay Leno and Jon Stewart are hugely popular among the audience for their satirical humor - right from ridiculing US President George W. Bush's statements to making fun of 'Chinglish' labels on Chinese exports.
Ask a chain smoker to kick the butt, and in all probability he'll tell you he's tried quitting a hundred times before.
In my city of Shanghai, I have often wondered why most people seem to be part of the silent majority when confronted with audio/visual pollution caused by ubiquitous liquid crystal display (LCD) panels in apartments, offices and supermarkets.