2009 Aug 27 Party! So Please Stay at Home – Subway & Road Closures This Weekend

In case you’ve been asleep the last few months, there’s a large celebration planned for this October 1 to mark 60 years of the People’s Republic. Less publicized has been a series of subway and road closures planned for this weekend, as rehearsals for October 1 take place around Tiananmen Square.
Details of the closures are convoluted to say the least, and seem to have been published only in Chinese.
In essence, from this Friday (August 28) until 5am on Sunday (August 30) many bus routes passing through or near Tiananmen, particularly routes along Chang’an Avenue, will either cease operation or won’t be stopping around the Tiananmen area.
Subway lines 1 and 2 will also suffer disruptions from late Friday evening and all Saturday. In addition some trains will be closed to the public.
Tiananmen East and Tiananmen West stations on line 1 will be closed from 8pm Friday and all Saturday.
The Chairman Mao Memorial Hall (ie Mao’s mausoleum), National Museum, Forbidden City Meridian Gate, and Zhongshan Park south gate will also be closed on Saturday.
In short, save yourself a lot of pain and avoid the Tiananmen area this weekend.
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