2012 Jan 21 News You Might Have Missed: Chunjie Survival Guide
If headlines are to be believed, not many people are enjoying the Spring Festival. As Beijing empties out (though seriously, how empty can a city of nearly 20 million get?), bellies growl louder with each restaurant that closes for the break. Travelers, of course, have their own issues to deal with. The only winners we can find in this whole Chunjie chaos are some prisoners in Ningxia.
Anyone spending the holiday in Beijing may need to stock up for the week. Your Chunjie survival kit should contain: a list of restaurants that will be open and a backup list if you must rely upon your own cooking skills, safety goggles for anyone setting off fireworks (or else, an insurance card and the name of the nearest hospital), ear plugs (the fireworks don't end on New Year’s Eve) and places that will offer some entertainment, whether it's at the temple or in a bar.
Beijing residents are also being warned of various road closures that may impede driving in certain areas. Expect traffic controls to be enforced on Chang'an Avenue several evenings during the week. Authorities also plan on restricting traffic around Changdian, Daguanyuan and Yonghegong. Taking the subway is an obvious solution; just keep in mind that Yonghegong station will be closed on January 23.
If staying in Beijing seems more hassle than it’s worth, the travel option isn’t looking much better. The new train ticket system continues to plague passengers. Those lucky enough to get tickets will face uncomfortable, overcrowded trains, while flight delays – either from fog or snow – are sure to frazzle more than a few air travelers.
Here's our vote for the folks who are probably having the best New Year: 66 convicts who have been granted a five-day release from their prison in Ningxia. While this sounds like the easiest prison-break set-up ever, the penitentiary has been giving well-behaved prisoners (with less than two years left on their sentences) a New Year’s get-out-of-jail-free card. This will be the fourth year they've tried this – and not a single jailbird yet. Five days with the family is apparently enough to get anybody ready to return to their cells.
Photo: a1social.com
You might also be interested in :
Family Feud: Memories of an Explosive Spring Festival
Spring Festival is a time for family and blowing shit up, but since I grew up in Virginia without extended family or illegal fireworks, Chinese New Year got lost between the fanfare of Christmas and the narcissistic revelry of my birthday. Kowtowing to my parents for a red envelope became a formality – like a lapsed Catholic going to Christmas mass – before it was stopped altogether. I left China at the age of four, which means I must have celebrated Spring Festival when I was very young. I have no memories of it, though. So when I came back to China in late 2007, I was excited to celebrate Spring Festival the right way – with family and explosions.
Time For Temple: Chinese New Year's Fairs
One of the best parts about staying in Beijing over Chinese New Year is the chance to attend the temple fairs. Food stalls serve up goodies from chuan’r to cotton candy, while carnival games let you shoot, throw or guess your way to a bundle of cuddly stuffed animals. This year, expect plenty of dragon paraphernalia as well. All you have to do is pick which ones to go to and work on your pitching arm in the meantime.
Spring Festival Travel: Planes, Trains or Automobiles?
The Chinese New Year travel period, known as Chun Yun, began this past Sunday and will last 40 days. More than three billion passenger journeys are expected to take place before the mass migration ends. In other words, prepare yourself for some transportation challenges until at least February 16. To make your holiday a little easier, here are some travel options, along with what you should know or avoid.
Enthralled to Suicidal: How Foreigners Experience Spring Festival
The smoke has finally cleared from the city (yeah ok, the smoke never really clears over Beijing, but at least the smoke directly attributable to fireworks has gone) and the firework frenzy has ended for another year. Over at World of Chinese magazine, they have amusingly charted “How Foreigners Experience Spring Festival in China” on a graph.
More Firework Restrictions as New Year Celebrations End Tomorrow
Tomorrow (Thursday) is the fifteenth day of the lunar calendar, also known as “Lantern Festival,” which officially marks the end of the new year celebrations. That means one final orgy of pyrotechnic action across the city before fireworks are banned in urban areas for another year. In response to a steep increase in firework-related fires this year, local authorities have tightened restrictions on places where fireworks can be let off in anticipation of tomorrow’s activities.
james2009
Re: News You Might Have Missed: Chunjie Survival Guide
For a few days, Beijing is back to 80s'