Apocalypse Now

Slick, modern Taiwanese-owned club/restaurant with a newly arrived Filipino band, XLNT (Tue-Sun). Just make sure you turn up at the right time. First half of the night is clubby dance music. Second half is Celine Dion territory. These days, they’re pulling in a crowd typical of the Shanghainese and Taiwanese style: a lot of drinking, dancing and ogling the girls in the weekly beauty competition.
Daily 10am-2am. All cards. 3/F, Ya Xin Guang Chang, 401 Chang Shou Lu (6276 6855)

Babylon

Open again with a new design, as well as a new focus: live music every night from 8.30pm. Since the clubbers officially abdicated the stage a couple months ago, there’s now room to bring up all kinds of musical equipment for jamming - both established bands and eager amateurs are expected to play. Later, clubbing will resume as normal with resident DJ Patrick spinning from 11.30pm till late. DJ Chris Lee returns for his usual set on Fridays and guest DJs spin on Saturday nights.Tue-Sat 8pm-late, 180 Mao Ming Nan Lu, through the Flower Market gates (6445 2330)

California Club

Another haokan establishment from Hong Kong’s Lan Kwai Fong Group rounds out the remodeling of the former Park 97 complex. Since its soft opening at the beginning of October, California Club has become the “it” spot for nightlife in post-Mao Ming Shanghai. Resident DJ Hiro spins Sun-Tue 9pm-2am. DJ Daiya spins latest imported house and funky tunes Wed, Fri & Sat. Late night grooving on weekends. Regular guest DJ Chris Lee makes an appearance on Thurs.
Sun-Wed 6pm-2am, Thur-Sat 6pm-4am. All cards. 2 Gao Lan Lu, in Fuxing Park. (6318 0785)

Caribe

Caribbean/Cuban theme carried out with tropical-style color, particularly the tree house DJ booth suspended above the bar and the colourful murals on the walls. Music, the bar’ s other big feature, comes courtesy Sonora Caliente, a seven-piece Cuban band that specialises in Salsa and Latino sounds. Tue & Thur salsa dance class from 8.30-9.30pm. When the band isn’ t around, there are still around 40 Cuban cocktails by Pedro Marrero, a Cuban BBQ and a slew of Cuban cigars to keep you in that chilled-out Caribbean vibe.
Daily 6pm-2am. All cards. 878 Ju Lu Lu, by Chang Shu Lu (6249 5512)

Cateye’ s Club

Cateye’ s had two big Xs against it from the start: incredibly bad location (out in Gubei at the Xian Xia Tennis Centre) and a slightly less than inspiring decor. Still, they manage to pull in a loyal, mostly local (read: Gubei) crowd night after night. House bands play Jazz, blues and English pop nightly from 8pm. Later, DJs spin hip hop, house and techno from midnight to 4am. To get their name out, they’ re also hosting special monthly events (this month is the Cateye’ s Star Singing Competition). H/H 7-9pm, buy-one-get-one-free.
Daily 8pm-4am. All cards. 1885 Hong Qiao Lu, inside ATP Tower (6261 7779)

D.D’ s

Old fave went from D.D’ s to Mambo Jumbo and back to D.D’ s again. Now they’ re a karaoke bar with over 500 English songs from which to choose. After midnight, it turns back into the D.D’ s of old with DJs playing techno music. Picked last month to play host to Derrick May.
Daily 5pm-5am. All cards. 2/F, 322 Hua Shan Lu, by Chang Shu Lu (6248 2251)

dkd

Three months post shut-down, dkd is still attempting a comeback. And they’ re starting to see some of their old crowd return, at least for “secret password” night on Tuesdays, hip hop night on Wednesdays and big club events on the weekends. Owner Julian is optimistic about the future, too, with big-name DJs like Derrick May continuing dkd’ s reputation for providing some of the most best music in the city.
Daily 7.30pm-late. Domestic cards. 172 Mao Ming Nan Lu, btwn Fu Xing Zhong Lu & Yong Jia Lu (6415 2688)

Galaxy

One of Shanghai’ s old timers, catering at first to foreigners, then to students, and now to anyone they can manage to pull in at all. Daily 7.30pm-8.30pm, Chinese traditional Gongfu show. Fri/Sat Students Night (student ID required) with RMB 15 drinks including drafts and tequila.
Daily 8pm-2am. 2/F, Galaxy Hotel, 888 Zhong Shan Xi Lu (6275 2999, 6275 5888 ext 2380)

Heat & Fire

Fire Bar: A good space for live music. Singer Angel Yang performs nightly accompanied by a pianist; expect Chinese, Japanese and American ballads starting at 9.15pm. Local band Face to Face follows with pop and rock from 10.15pm-midnight. No cover or minimum charge on normal nights. Heat Disco: Tue College Student Nights, free entry for students and RMB 10 tequila shots; Thur Ladies Night, free entry and (again) RMB 10 tequila shots for ladies. DJ Jacky is joined by Italian DJ Andrea to provide the music. RMB 20 cover includes one free drink. Closed on Mondays.
Tue-Sun 8pm-2am. All cards. 6/F, Grand Gateway, 1 Hong Qiao Lu (5451 0002)

To see more information about China discos .

To see more information about China .