[See & Be Seen] A Ton of Expat Families Weekend Drinking in Qingpu

Alright, a quick See & Be Seen gallery before the holiday. As usual, scroll down to the photo gallery to see if you can spot anyone you know.

On the western side of Shanghai lies a district you might not have been to; it's called Qingpu. But wow, it is an enclave of expatriate families. You have Western International School of Shanghai, as well as the Eurocampus (French & German School), as well as specialized public schools like the Shanghai Qingpu World Foreign Language School and the college-looking campus of Shanghai United International School (SUIS), Qingpu Campus.

The international population is so concentrated out where the sun sets in Shanghai that City News Service opened our first offline community hub out in Qingpu. The weekend before last, hundreds of families gathered at WISS (more than 500 people in total) for their annual Sundowner event.

Being a parent in Shanghai... is something else...

Now, what is a Sundowner event (cause prior to WISS, I'd never heard the term)? It is a casual drinks gathering held around sunset, usually starting late afternoon or early evening. The name comes from British colonial-era slang, particularly in East and Southern Africa, where a "sundowner" was the drink you had as the sun went down at the end of the day. On safari, it still refers to stopping somewhere scenic at dusk for a gin and tonic.

Is this a distinctly Shanghai thing? Where schools organize an event for parents to get together to "toss a few back"? As I've observed over the years, being a parent in Shanghai... is a category of its own. Growing up in California, my parents didn't get together for drinks with parents of the school I went to (and brought me along). They also didn't attend cocktail nights on high-floor terraces surrounded by a Bvlgari aesthetic (shout out to the Shanghai Mama's).

At the Sundowner, roughly 400 families joined in on parent-led rock bands, student bands and singers, dance performances, and a ton of mingling. It ended up raining during the event, but that didn't dampen attendance at all. Some people had umbrellas. A lot did. No one seemed to care. And in fact, it made for some pretty great photos. The rain and performances weren't too unlike Balenciaga's Spring debut in Shanghai back in 2024. The rain at both events added something memorable.

Without further ado, here's the See & Be Seen gallery. If you were at the Sundowner, drop a comment below, tell us what your favorite thing was!

The Afternoon

Credit: Ti Gong

Here's Jeremy Williams, Head of School at WISS giving the opening welcoming remarks. Behind him, is a huuuge digital illustration created specially for the 20th Anniversary by Miya Yang - Alumni Class of 2026.

Credit: Ti Gong

This is Professor Chen Xinmao, former Vice Dean of the School of Fine Arts at East China Normal University, an internationally exhibited Chinese painter, and the grandfather of a WISS Primary student. He's been an active part of the WISS community, and was given a certificate of recognition of leading a traditional Chinese painting session for the WISS Parents Cultural Club, during which he created this beautiful bamboo scroll painting that he donated to the WISS Sundowner silent auction.