October 2026

One of the first things you notice after moving to Shanghai is that your usual streaming apps don't work the way they used to. BBC iPlayer, Hulu, and many other services are geo-blocked. Local TV is in Chinese. And if you want to watch a live sports event from back home, the options can seem confusing. The good news is there are several ways to watch foreign television in Shanghai — some official,...

At some point in your first few months in Shanghai, someone will invite you to KTV. It might be a colleague celebrating a project win. A friend's birthday. A casual "we should hang out" that turns into a 3-hour singing session at 2 AM. If you have never been to a Chinese KTV, you are in for a surprise. It is not the Western karaoke bar where strangers watch you sing. It is a private room with your...