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It's Friday! Well, it's the last working day of the week, as tomorrow is the Qing Ming Festival public holiday. Since 1999, China has gathered its public holidays together into so-called 'Golden Weeks' - these took place at Chinese New Year, Labour Day in May, and National Day in October. The golden week holidays were established in order to boost consumer spending, as large numbers of people would take holiday at these times. As the affluence of China has grown over the past decade, the original reason for establishing the golden weeks has become less important, and the downsides have become apparent - congested transport, full hotels, crowded tourist sites etc. No doubt taking these concerns into account, the central government late last year announced the cancellation of the usual May golden week, and its replacement with several single-day holidays, the first of which takes place tomorrow - Qing Ming Festival (清明节). The Chinese New Year and National Day holidays remain in place. Qing Ming Festival falls on the 15th day after the Spring Equinox - one of the two days in the year that the night is equal in length to the day, which falls on March 21st. Qing Ming is often known as Tomb Sweeping Day, as it is traditional for Chinese people to honour their ancestors on this day, by sweeping their graves and making offerings of food and pouring libations. Tags: Chinese New Year, golden week, National Day, Qingming Festival Lijiang's Yulong Snow Mountain reopens after rare windstormSunday, 17th February 2008 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
After getting shut down by intense recent winds that were strong enough to rip a 100-year old tree out of the earth by its roots, Lijiang's Yulong Snow Mountain (玉龙雪山) reopened to visitors last Friday. On February 8, the second day of Chinese New Year - a day which is traditionally spent visiting family and friends - Lijiang's Yulong Naxi Autonomous Prefecture was hit by rare intense windy weather that damaged more than 550 homes and affected 2,100 villagers, according to a Dushi Shibao report. Elderly residents who had spent their entire lives in the area said that they had never witnessed winds as powerful as they experienced last week. The windstorm - which came just as Lijiang and surrounding areas were beginning to recover from a late winter storm - continued for four days before tapering off on February 12.
Images: clzg.cn Tags: Chinese New Year, Lijiang, travel, wind storm, Yulong Snow Mountain
While the rest of the country has been coping with less than ideal weather, Kunming has been enjoying blue skies, warm sun and cool breezes - a great ending to the year of the pig. Yesterday the city welcomed the year of the rat, with few cars on the streets and loads of people in parks and temples such as Yuantong Temple (see above photo). GoKunming wishes its readers, the people of Kunming and all of China a happy year of the rat. 恭喜发财！ Tags: Chinese New Year, year of the pig, year of the rat, Yuantong Temple Chinese New Year travel hit by winter weather, 8,000 stuck in KunmingMonday, 28th January 2008 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)Kunming Wujiaba International Airport was reporting 21 delayed flights and more than 2,000 travelers stuck in limbo on Sunday due to inclement weather at airports in Changsha, Tianjin, Sanya, Wenzhou, Hefei, Nanjing, Qingdao and other airports stretching from the Bohai Bay down to the South China Sea, according to Kunming media reports. Kunming Airport is reportedly scrambling to make food and lodging arrangements for the stranded travelers. Rail travel in and out of Kunming has also been affected by the extreme weather, with the city's railway station announcing that in the coming few days, train departures and arrivals could be delayed by the resurgence of winter in much of the country. A hotline has been set up to deal with Kunming-related rail travel queries: (0871) 6122122. Road transport in and around Yunnan province has also been affected. Buses between Kunming and Diqing prefecture - located near the Yunnan-Tibet border - have been delayed indefinitely as snow continues to fall upon Diqing. Passenger bus service leading from Yunnan northeastward toward Guizhou has also been suspended due to extreme weather in the province, which neighbors Yunnan. Virtually all of China is feeling the impact of the winter weather upon the central and southern regions as many connecting flights located in affected areas have been delayed. Major trunk rail lines and highways in other less-affected areas are also feeling the strain of the bad weather far away – on Sunday Guangzhou's rail station was reporting more than 100,000 stranded travelers, with that number expected to increase. Related articles: China prepares for holiday theft surge Kunming preparing for Chinese New Year Tags: Chinese New Year, Diqing, trains, travel, winter storm As Spring Festival – also known as Chinese New Year – draws nearer, many Chinese are receiving their year-end bonuses and preparing for the journey home to celebrate the beginning of the lunar year, the most important holiday of the year in China. With 179 million people expected to travel by train this year, many carrying cash and valuables, the holiday is also a major opportunity for pickpockets and thieves. Holiday travelers are being warned to be vigilant against theft, especially in crowded areas such as train stations - ATMs are also popular places for thieves to operate. As this CCTV report puts it: Don't be cheated. Related article: Kunming preparing for Chinese New Year Tags: Chinese New Year, theft, travel
With Chinese New Year just around the corner – this year it lands on February 7 – China is preparing for a major surge in domestic travel. At the beginning of next month, millions of students, soldiers, workers and businesspeople throughout the country will meet up with family and friends to celebrate the end of winter and the coming of spring. More than 22 million air passengers are expected to fly China's skies this holiday - which is known in China as Spring Festival. The General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) has announced that it might add temporary domestic flight routes to handle the spike in air travel. CAAC said it will 'strictly control' air traffic in Kunming's Wujiaba International Airport plus other major airports in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu to ensure everything goes smoothly during the holiday. Air travel may be increasingly popular with Chinese travelers, but the majority of people returning home will get where they're going via China's extensive rail network. China's Ministry of Railways is expecting nearly 179 million rail travelers – almost the population of Brazil – this holiday season. The ministry is adding 311 trains to the normal national rail schedule to absorb the increase in travelers. Kunming's main rail station is anticipating a major influx in ticket buyers this month, to address the demand for train tickets it is building 40 temporary ticket windows in front of the station. The windows will sell tickets 24 hours a day beginning Wednesday of this week and lasting through the holiday. Aside from increased travel, the Chinese New Year season is also a time for higher food and drink prices as a large percentage of China's billion-plus population spend the holidays focused on eating and drinking. This year rising food prices are putting more pressure on holiday budgets than usual. Even beer as well as baijiu and other traditional Chinese wines spirits are feeling the bite of inflation as alcohol prices in China are experiencing unprecedented price hikes, blamed on rising costs for grain, coal and transport. Image: clzg.cn Tags: Beijing, CAAC, Chengdu, Chinese New Year, Guangzhou, Shanghai, trains, travel GoKunming wishes Kunming, China and all its readers a happy, healthy and prosperous year of the pig. We will resume daily updating on Monday, February 26. Tags: Chinese New Year Dragonfly Garden in Dali will ring in the year of the pig with a party this Thursday, February 22nd featuring the first performance by a new Kunming hiphop collective plus all night food, drink and dancing. One highlight of the party should be the debut of South Silk Road, a China-US bilingual hiphop crew featuring Kunming natives Hu Xuan aka Tangrenti and MC Jumpfish who will be sharing mike duties with MC Mike Wind and rapper/producer Marshall Hatfield. Word from Mike Wind is Jumpfish will be absent for the Dali performance but should be present for upcoming shows in Kunming to promote the first South Silk Road album, which is due for release in the next few weeks on Kunming label Codeword Records. Kris Ariel, who produced the track 'Upwind Jumpoff' for MCs Jumpfish and Wind last year, will headline an all-night lineup of area DJs also featuring DJs Echo and Yan. Entrance to the event is 20 yuan, which includes one beer and an Indian snack. Drinks, pizza and barbecue will be on sale all night. There will also be an all-night shuttle bus between the Dragonfly (on Erhai Lake) and the intersection of Renmin Lu and Bo'ai Lu in Dali Old Town. For party information call Moe @ 138 8867 2754 or Dragonfly Garden at 135 2965 7680. Click below to listen to mp3s by members of South Silk Road: • MC Jumpfish/Mike Wind • Tangrenti Tags: Chinese New Year, Dali, Dragonfly Garden, Kris Ariel |
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