Which places will close during the Spring Festival?

[Dan Bang]

Hi,

I was thinking about to what extend the Spring Festival will influence the opening time of clubs, bars, restaurants - and what about transportation and the art district Dashanzi? What can I expect to be closed during the Spring Festival? And how long time does this normally last? I'm not talking about specific places, but I would just like to you how it'll be if you Sunday night want to go out and get a beer, or even Saturday, which is tomorrow... I'm asking since a friend uenxpectedly came here to stay for something like a week, so time is short - and then I'd like to get an idea of what would be possible to do, even though the Spring Festival is all over the country... Any (quick) answer would really be appreciated!

Dan

[roddy]

Pretty much everything commercial is open. Some places might close, but there'll be another one next door which is open. If you want to go to a specific restaurant / shop / whatever it might be worth phoning ahead, but if it's a case of just going to Houhai for a drink, etc, you'll have no problem. Small family-run places are more likely to close, I think.

Transportation isn't affected at all.

Dashanzi I'm not sure about, as a lot of the places are artist run, and you never know what artists will do.

[Dan Bang]

Thanks Roddy! Am I by the way the only one who feels like in the middle of a freaking war zone? Since I live in a 17th floor-apartment facing the shared areas in my complex, I have fireworks exploiding right outside my window annoyingly often - I have already visualized how awfully wrong things could go here in Beijing, and especially with me, with the firework ban lifted and stuff, but hey it's new year!

p.s. I'll assume what you just said counts for taxis as well.. Thanks again!

[roddy]

Yeah, I'm on the 22nd floor (although by the time you subtract the non-existant 4th, 13th and 14th floors, I'm only about 20 feet off the ground), and it's kind of noisy. Rest assured though, they're only getting warmed up and even in full flow Beijing is positively peaceful compared to anywhere without firework restrictions. . .

Should be plenty of taxis around.

[venture160]

I was wondering, I heard its crowded at all the markets today because everyone is in for a last minute rush to by things. If you are planning to go out ot the bars or anything, bring friends with you, as they have all been dead this week because people are on break.