Next, Chinese New Year « My Shanghai That’s Shanghai

Next, Chinese New Year

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Probably in western countries, after the Christmas and New Year, everything is gradually back to normal, party is getting to the end. But in China, no, no, no….. Christmas and New Year is just the warm up for the biggest event of the year, Chinese New Year!

Every year, Penny, my friend who is working in an American non-profit organisation feels like to have two months off at work.

December - Christmas and New Year, no Americans working
January - Chinese New Year, no Chinese working

Chinese New Year is calculated according to lunar calendar and usually in January or February (14th Feb is this year’s Chinese New Year Day, together with Valentine’s Day).

So now let’s prepare for the Chinese New Year!

Some suggestions for Chinese New Year:

Travel

If you do need to travel during this time, plan your journey and book your tickets early!

For trains, peak time starts at least 20 days before the Chinese New Year Eve (13th Feb). Flights are about a week.

It is a bit tricky here because not every line is busy.

Before the Chinese New Year:

From major big cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen) to inland 2nd tier cities/towns (Chengdu, Changsha, Chongqing etc), extremely busy. However, if you are travelling vice versa (from small cities to big cities) before Chinese New Year, high discount!

Chinese New Year might be the only time in a year for those migrant workers and new Shanghainese (who is not originally from Shanghai but work in Shanghai) to return to their hometowns and unite with their families. So before the Chinese New Year, those people will flood out of those big cities. The same reason, after the Chinese New Year, they will come back to those big cities to work.

In Chinese tradition, the New Year holiday won’t end until the Lantern Festival, which is the fifteenth day of the first month in Chinese Lunar Calendar (28th Feb this year). So there will be two peak time after the Chinese New Year. One is after the Chinese New Year and the other is after the Lantern Festival.

Hotels:

Actually hotels are not so busy during this period of time especially some five star hotels because the reduced corporate customers.

Dinning:

Restaurants are becoming busier and busier when the New Year is approaching. Before the day, there are those companies annual dinners. On New Year eve and during the New Year week, family gathering is the main reason. I’ve got several messages now informing their New Year Eve night (13 Feb) have been fully booked and there are only few tables available for lunch.

Shopping:

Most shops are open as usual (normal business hours 10:00am-10:00pm) except on the New Year Eve (13th Feb). Shops are closed earlier on New Year Eve because everybody is going home for the biggest family gathering. Some private small shops may be closed for a week.

So things just started here in China.