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SCMP Reporter

MY young guide to Shanghai after dark leaned close to my ear to make herself heard over the boom-boom-boom of the disco beat: ''It's like a Shanghai hot pot - you pour people in and it's very hot!'' she said with delight.

  It was around midnight one Saturday night and we were perched on bar stools offering a sweeping view of two of the four levels at Shanghai's ''in'' night spot - JJ Disco at 1127 Yanan Road (M).

  About 1,500 people were packed into the former cinema which has been transformed into the ultimate mainland disco experience by a Taiwanese-American entrepreneur.

  JJ's is huge, by any standard, and its music easy-to-bob-to disco, with the occasional burst of guest spot karaoke, or KTV as it is known in Shanghai. The dress code is come as you please, the atmosphere happy and friendly. The cover charge is 48 RMB, includes one soft drink. Five RMB extra gets you a beer.

  The entertainment highlight of the evening for the gathered throng takes place at around 10.30 when a flashing, smoking spaceship makes its journey across the roof. The locals love it.

  This throbbing, let-your-hair-down warehouse is just one of a number of places Shanghai has on offer for a little night-time entertainment with Chinese characteristics.

  JJ's is a wonderful introduction to Shanghai at play - you couldn't hope for a better place for young-people watching. Easy dancing favourites of the 80s are spun by two London DJs, and two dance floors, a long bar for exhibitionists to climb up on and arow of upper level KTV rooms keep a lot of people happy every night of the week.

  For a gentler, but equally fascinating, night out in Shanghai try Southeast Paradise, on Wanping Street, an entertainment complex hidden in a former Cold War bunker.

  Tunnelling deep into the ground near a leafy park, the thick-walled bunker is well equipped to keep party crowds safe and in relative comfort should Russia drop the bomb. Now the halls, rooms and cinema have been opened up to the public.

  By day, lovers come to meet in the dimly-lit coffee shop or dine in the restaurant. By night the lower floors come alive for ballroom or disco dancing (it alternates) in a room decked out as a forest with props from the Shanghai Film Studio. It's an extraordinary place and is still being remodelled as money allows. Along with food, music and drink, there's also art hanging on the walls.

  There is a cover charge of 10 yuan during the day and 15 yuan in the evening, which includes one drink. There is a 20 yuan minimum charge for karaoke sessions.

  Dotted in the streets around the Hilton Hotel and Jin Jiang Tower, you'll find small bars such as Yesterday, on Changle Street.

  Billing itself as ''an old-fashioned style bar'', this little pub comes complete with posters of Hollywood movie stars of yesteryear on the walls. It is open from 7pm to 2am and drink prices are reasonable.

  Filipino bands are making their presence felt in the international hotels of Shanghai, where you are always guaranteed a drink and a seat if the bustling world outside gets too much. There are both bars and discos in the big hotels.

  Starting at the top end of the market there's Club Top Ten on the 8th floor of the Portman Shangri-la - considered the city's most exclusive club - with disco and karaoke. The entrance fee is more than 200 yuan, which gets you two free drinks.

  Casablanca on the 30th floor of the Rainbow Hotel stays open until 3am. Here there's a disco and ubiquitous KTV rooms. Designers from the Shanghai Academy of Theatre are each month invited to do what they will to the decor. It costs 75 RMB to walk through the door, free drink in hand.

  Starlights, on the ground floor of the Yangtze New World Hotel, has a Filipino band, friendly bar staff and a relaxed atmosphere. No cover charge.

  For a drink with no disco or KTV frills, try the elegant Oasis Lounge of the Garden Hotel or the Long Bar of the Portman Shangri-la for chamber music. It now boasts the longest bar in Shanghai.

    For a walk into the past, the Old Jazz Bar still stirs itself for tourists between 8pm and 11pm. There's a 10 yuan cover charge.



See Shanghai and jive