H/T to G via Douban
I'm running out of stock photos of Yuyintang so here's a blast from the past.
So, Shanghai Daily has run a story on the closures now, completely off its own back and with staff writers. Online annoyance has obviously reached the mainstream. They refer to The Shelter, Yuyintang and even quote user comments on Smart Shanghai.
From the Daily:
The Shelter, one of the city's most well-known bars in Changning District's Xinfu Road, was reported to be closed indefinitely over the weekend. "We were told to close over safety concerns," Gary Wang, owner of The Shelter, said yesterday. He was told it was an Expo issue and "we should be cooperative." Officials with the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau said they were investigating illegal facilities as many pubs in the city were unlicensed. Wang said he did not know the exact reason for the closure as all relevant paperwork was in order and the bar was not too noisy at night. "We've been operating the bar for two years and I don't think that would be possible if we had been illegal," he said.As Brad pointed out in the last article, the paper seems to see no problem with printing a glaring contradiction, in this case Wang's papers being in order, and an official counterpoint that does nothing to address it.
I guess it's pretty obvious that venues seen as culturally independent or potentially subversive get shaken down during 'sensitive times' and that's all there is to it.
"The Shelter, one of the city's most well-known bars in Changning District's Xinfu Road"
Shelter is on Yongfu Road in Xuhui District.
:) Not my mistake.