Shanghai has always had a moderately healthy cultural scene , with cinemas showing foreign and Chinese films, and theatres featuring opera, dance, drama, acrobatics and puppets. To find out what's on and where, look out for the "Calendar" section of Shanghai Pictorial, or read the "What's on" section of Shanghai Talk. Otherwise ask CITS to check the listings in a local newspaper for you. For many events it's worth either booking at the relevant venue in advance (try to have your requirements written out in Chinese) or getting CITS to do it for you for a fee, although you may be lucky just turning up on the night.

 

Shanghai's stately new glass ballet, drama, opera and symphony house, the Grand Theatre , was designed by the same architects who created the Bastille Opera House in Paris. The Shanghai Grand Theatre has pretensions of being a truly world-class theatre, on a par with the Bastille or Milan's La Scala, and based on the quality of recent interpretations of an Ibsen play and several Wagner operas, it stands a good chance of succeeding. There are two smaller theatres that host Chinese opera and chamber music productions (ticket hotline tel 63276562 or 63868686 ext 3303).

The huge, new multi-purpose theatre (tel 62798600) in the Shanghai Centre on Nanjing Xi Lu hosts concerts, ballet, opera and acrobatics of international standard. The nightly acrobatics show by the famous Shanghai Acrobatics Troupe is a superb spectacle - in Western terms it's more of a circus, including tumbling, juggling, clowning, magic and animal acts. Some of these skills - sword swallowing, fire eating and the amazing balancing acts - were developed as long ago as the Han dynasty, others have taken on a more trashy look featuring motorbikes, spectacular costumes and even a giant panda driving a car. Tickets (¥70 per show) can be bought on the same day from a window outside the theatre or up to three days in advance at a ticket booth in front of the Shanghai Centre (daily 9am-8pm; tel 62798663). Performances usually take place at 7.30pm.

Shanghai is well represented by both Western and Chinese opera. The Tianchan Yifu Theatre at 701 Fuzhou Lu (south side), one block east of Renmin Park, puts on twice-daily performances of Chinese opera , with Sunday matinees of Beijing opera (daily 1.30pm & 7.15pm; ¥20-100; Chinese speakers can call 63225058). The Grand Stage Theatre , at 663 Jiujiang Lu also holds occasional performances of traditional Chinese operas and plays (tel 63224509). Both Western and Chinese opera, as well as the occasional magic shows , take place at the imperial-era Lyceum Theatre, now better known as the Lan Xin Theatre , home of that mainstay of colonial life, the British Amateur Dramatic Society, located just opposite the Jinjiang Hotel on the northeast corner of Changle Lu and Maoming Lu. The local expatriates' dancing school performed a wildly popular "Follies" revue every year here until 1933, once featuring a promising young ballerina called Margaret Hookham - who grew up to become Margot Fonteyn.

There are plenty of cinemas in Shanghai, some of them dating back to the pre-1949 days, though most foreign films are dubbed into Chinese. The most unique place to see a movie in Chinese is at the Huangguan Yongle Theatre, on the fourth floor of a nameless building on Nanjing Dong Lu, between Zhejiang Lu and Henan Lu. It shows a mix of foreign and Chinese movies (all dubbed into Chinese) with plush carpeting, sofas almost as comfortable as those at home and a cosy ambience worlds away from the hubbub outside (¥5-10 per movie; daily 11am-2am). There is, however, a rapidly growing number of cinemas playing films in English, to satisfy expats and local English students alike, such as the Shanghai Film Art Centre, at 160 Xinhua Lu, which regularly shows the latest American blockbusters; and the Yong Le Gong Cinema (Paradise Theatre), at 308 Anfu Lu, which screens more arty films. Many bars have regularly scheduled "Movie nights", check the listings section of Shanghai Pictorial for details. Malone's bar has a weekly film night on Wednesdays, while Judy's Place holds one on Sunday nights.

Of the venues where you can hear classical music , one of the most pleasant has to be the Shanghai Conservatory of Music at 20 Fenyang Lu, south of Huaihai Lu, quite near the Changshu Lu metro station. Established in 1927 as a college for talented young musicians, it continues to train many of China's infant prodigies. There are performances here every Sunday evening at around 7pm. To find the ticket office, go in through the main entrance and turn immediately right, until you come to a noticeboard; the office is on the third floor of the building opposite here. It's best to book a day or two in advance to be sure of a seat. Tickets are incredibly cheap - just a few yuan (Chinese speakers can call 64370137 ext 2166 to make enquiries). Other theatres for classical music include the Shanghai Concert Hall at 523 Yan'an Dong Lu (tel 63869153), and the Jingan Hotel Auditorium , at 371 Huashan Lu, with chamber music concerts every Friday evening (tel 62481888 ext 687; ¥20). For jazz , the most popular venues are the Cotton Club (the locals' choice), the Jingan Hotel , at 371 Huashan Lu, and the more touristy Peace Hotel Jazz Bar .

For a little taste of everything, the Great World Entertainment Centre is unbeatable. Standing in neon-lit splendour at 1 Xizang Nan Lu, just south of the elevated Yan'an Dong Lu expressway and characterized by its white-and-beige steeple, it began life in the 1920s as an even bigger complex of buildings putting on every conceivable kind of entertainment, from love letter booths to fan tan tables and earwax extractors. It now consists of four floors with two auditoriums on each, surrounding a central well with an open-air stage. Staircases fly off in all directions; supposedly one used to have a dummy doorway at the top, through which ruined gamblers could step to their deaths as the climax to an unsuccessful evening. Peripheral amusements include dodgems, a Hall of Mirrors, snooker, bowling and video games, but in addition there are simultaneous performances of Beijing Opera, a large-scale puppet theatre, at least one movie, talent shows, gyrating pop singers and discos, while the main stage features non-stop acrobatics, clowning and comedy. You can wander at will from one room to another, walking to the front for example to examine the opera orchestra at close range and then leaving when the plot gets too complicated (daily 9am-8.30pm, ¥20 includes admission to everything within the complex).