2010
02.16
02.16
Beijing becomes a ghost town around Chinese New Year as many people travel to their hometown to spend the holiday with their family. The streets are empty and the roads are quiet especially around CBD where we live. We decided to go to Qianmen Street for lunch as we thought it wouldn’t be too busy. It is one of the oldest streets in the city and recently renovated to look authentic and historic like old Beijing. However, when we got there the place was too packed. Canthy had never seen so many people and felt a little sick as the crowds were stifling so we didn’t end up staying long. But just long enough to soak up the atmosphere and watch a Lion Dance, which is another typical New Year activity.
Packed crowds in Beijing, something I probably won’t miss about the capital city… although Qianmen Street is something I do miss. I brought a group of US students there this past January and it had to have been negative 20 degrees C. Insanely cold!!! Hopefully it had warmed up for the chun jie festivities
.