Jing'an offers cooling respite for summer's heat

New sports stadium

Jiubo Urban Sports Center – which integrates fitness and leisure – opened its doors this month at 158 Jiangyang Road S.

Covering an expansive 15,000 square meters, it aims to serve over 1 million residents within a 3.5-kilometer radius.

The center boasts a versatile layout across three floors.

The ground floor features a fully equipped gym, a refreshing swimming pool and a casual dining area.

Upstairs, enthusiasts can indulge in activities ranging from fencing and indoor golf to taekwondo, yoga and Pilates.

The third floor houses badminton courts, and a comprehensive training area, complemented by outdoor soccer and tennis facilities.

Beyond its physical offerings, the center promises a range of personalized fitness programs, group classes, and specialized sports training, catering to adults, children and teenagers alike with expert instructors guiding every step.

Monet Garden

Early this month, Maoming Road N. was transformed into a French garden in celebration of the 60th anniversary of Sino-French diplomatic relations.

Amid the "French Garden Art" event, the road featured lush greenery and striking iris flower sculptures, embodying both French elegance and Shanghai's distinctive romanticism.

The event integrated geometric art forms, showcasing the precise symmetry reminiscent of French gardens, harmoniously juxtaposed against the backdrop of the century-old shikumen stone-gated buildings of Zhangyuan Garden.

Cool relief for workers

Jing'an has launched an initiative to provide relief for outdoor workers amid scorching temperatures.

It provides essential services at 89 air-conditioned stations, ensuring workers, including street cleaners, package and food delivery workers, and truck and taxi drivers, have a place to gain respite from the scorching sun.

Equipped with refrigerators, microwaves and even blood pressure monitors, these stations cater comprehensively to the needs of workers, providing essential services such as free mobile charging, WiFi access, iced water and emergency medical supplies.

Summer camp begins

The "Awaiting Blooms" Youth Summer Camp started this month, divided in four themed camps: arts, intangible cultural heritage, drama and science.

From children's printmaking, ukulele playing and children's cross talk, to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, taekwondo, children's cheerleading, anime illustration, basic sketching and leather handicrafts, the arts camp provides a fun and creative learning platform for youth.

In the intangible cultural heritage camp, children can experience a series of traditional craft lessons, while in the drama camp, families engage in play rehearsals through systematic course teaching. The science camp offers a series of special lectures for teenagers, covering topics such as first aid knowledge, traditional Chinese medicine, fire safety and more.

Brass performance

On July 6, the Magic Mirror Brass Quintet from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music's Symphony Orchestra performed a free concert at the Westgate Mall Plaza.

The concert started with a violin solo, followed by relaxing brass melodies including Bach's "Air on a G String," Debussy's "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair" and Joplin's "The Entertainer."

Mozart's Wonder World

"Mozart's Wonder World: Immersive Art Exhibition" has opened at the Meet You Museum Shanghai, marking Asia's first immersive light and shadow art show dedicated to the composer (1756–1791).

Curated by a team of Italian artists, the exhibition merges music, lighting, installations and static displays to transport visitors back to the splendor of 18th-century Europe. The exhibition will last to October 7.

Rice plantings on campus

In a groundbreaking move blending urban education with rural traditions, students from the Yongxing Road No. 2 Primary School were seen donning straw hats, knee-deep in mud, and planting rice seedlings barefoot on the campus.

In the recently-launched initiative, "Dreams of Rice," the school transformed a corner of its campus into a rice cultivation practice field.

Forty-eight students became the first batch of "little farmers."

Ahead of the planting exercise, they learned about rice types, ideal growing conditions, and how rice grows. They then waded into the half-acre rice field and experienced the age-old ritual of transplanting rice.

Two years ago, the school converted an unused space into a 2,000-square-meter garden where students are able to grow various fruits, vegetables and medicinal herbs.

Principal Zhao Weiqiu said the vision behind the initiative was emphasizing its educational value in connecting students with the land and the laborious process of rice cultivation.

"We want students to feel the warmth of the soil under their feet, understand the hard work that goes into each grain of rice, and gain invaluable knowledge beyond textbooks," Zhao said.