Expats in China have been mourning the loss of a popular offbeat news website and blog which was abruptly taken offline by its US parent company.

Shanghaiist, which was set up 12 years ago, was closed by New York-based Gothamist network, along with a string of websites which carry out street-level reporting in major cities across the world.

The decision came after reporters and editors in the combined Gothamist and DNAinfo newsroom in New York opted to unionize.

The company said that there were a range of factors which had caused it to “discontinue publishing”, while chief executive officer Joe Rickets blamed the general business environment.

“DNAinfo is, at the end of the day, a business, and businesses need to be economically successful if they are to endure,” he said in a statement that has been posted at the Shanghaiist’s web address.