Did Beijing Seem Empty This Past Week? That's Because 8.48 Million People Left During CNY

After considerably placated attack from firecrackers and fireworks, Beijing seems much quieter than usual – shops and restaurants remain closed, the subway is still pretty empty, and even the streets are not as lively as before. That's because 8.48 million people left Beijing over the past week, which equates to 40 percent of the city's total resident population (21.73 million), as reported by Sohu.

According to the chart above, this year differed to last year in that the number of residents fleeing the city rose day-on-day, reported Beijing News. Volume of traffic was about 1.1 million on January 27 and 28, rising to 1.4 million on January 29, before hitting a peak of 1.7 million on February 1 and 2. The average of daily volume of traffic was 1.47 million, an increase of 8.39 percent on last year, and includes 0.73 million arriving to Beijing and 0.74 million leaving.

Beijing attracted 9.61 million tourists in total during this year's ushering in of the cock, up 4.6 percent compared to last year, which brought RMB 5.22 billion in revenue, up 6 percent against last year, according to Xinhua. “China’s retail and catering firms saw sales over the week-long holiday of around RMB 840 billion, up 11.4 percent over 2016,” said the Ministry of Commerce.

In comparison, major Beijing parks received 1.37 million visitors throughout the holiday period, with a record single day high of 0.46 million set on February 1.

Want to see where the crowds are headed? Take a look at which venues are reopening their doors this weekend.

More stories by this author here.

Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @flyingfigure
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Photos:  BJ Nnews, Tracy Wang

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We were trying to demonstrate the emptiness of Beijing but see how this might have been misleading, even though Beijing still has the same emptiness currently. The pictures have now been swapped for one from during the holiday.