The plum bonsais exhibition is taking on in the Yuyuan Garden, inside Shanghai's old town area. Plums are known as the winter flowers and the blossom in the bonsai art matches the traditional Chinese gardens very well. Red, pink, green, white... the various colours bring more vividness to the winter view of Yuyuan garden.

Riddles have been in China for over 2000 years. It can be complicated at scholar's level, yet is also the fun among common people. From the Song dynasty, riddles on the lanterns became popular. Riddle lanterns have already been hung in old town bazaar of Shanghai. In the former French concession, local neighbourhood has organised riddle activity. People put up riddle paper in the XiangYang Park and enjoyed the guessing game.

Only 5 days to go entering the dragon year 2012! New year decoration has been put on everywhere, especially in the old town bazaar. There have been statues about dragon stories. Moving dragon and phoenix are set up in front of the old town food quarter. Big "lotus flowers" can be seen all over the town. The Spring Festival is the most exciting and important festival for the year.

Mid-lake pavilion has been a tea house since 1885 in the Qing dynasty. The building was originally a pavilion inside the Yuyuan garden, and later turned into a meeting place for cloth business men in 1784. It is located by the zigzag bridge in Shanghai old town bazaar. Visitors can have a break with nice tea in the 200-year-old building while watching lake and passersby.

Tang Bao can refer to XiaoLongBao in Shanghai, but more often as the name of a big soup-filled dumpling. It is a bun with soup inside. You do not find much stuffing like the common meat/vegetable buns. A popular kind of Tang Bao is with crab meat or crab roe inside. You can break a small hole on the skin or put a straw on top for the soup. Either way, be aware of the hot soup.