On Nov. 3, popular China news and culture website, Shanghaiist together with its parent network shutdown abruptly, leaving many of its loyal readers mourning the demise of an informative and entertaining platform on China.

Crowdfunding Campaign

Nearly two weeks later, it has emerged again to announce plans for a crowdfunding campaign to relaunch the site.

The team at Shanghaiist posted a 1200-word note online late Tuesday night (Nov. 14), entitled "The rumors of our demise have been greatly exaggerated", updating their readers on the efforts behind the scenes and their future plans.

Striking a stoic and defiant tone, it thanked its readers for their support and clarified what had happened, given the impression that it was shutdown days after staff at its parent network decided to unionise.

The team said that the site operated as an independent entity and will not be affected by the shutdown of the network’s sites in the United States.

It was also not in any way involved in the union vote that led the owner of DNAinfo to shut down the network.

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What next

The crux of the message by the Shanghaiist team is perhaps this:

"The events of the last week have impressed upon us the need to build a new model for the future, one where we can be completely free from corporate interests and commercial pressures."

It has informed readers that it is now "redesigning a whole new digital presence from the ground up".

It is also assembling a technical team to undertake the task and also securing its archives.

The Shanghiist has produced more than 35,000 stories over 12 years.

Top photo from Shanghaiist Facebook.