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Nanxiang Bun Shop
chinatown
Old Street, viewed from Shanghai Old Tea House
A tanker loading up.When to Go...
When to Go ------------------------------------------
Summer is the peak tourist season, and hotels and transportation can be very crowded. Book early-several months in advance if possible-for summer travel. The weather can be scorching in the summer in most of China. The weather will be better and the crowds not quite as dense in late spring and early fall, although be prepared for rain. Winter is bitterly cold and not conducive to travel in most of China. Avoid traveling around Chinese New Year, when much of China shuts down and the Chinese themselves travel, making reservations into and out of China virtually impossible to get.
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Climate -----------------------------------------------
What follows are average daily maximum and minimum temperatures for Shanghai: January-February, 33-47°F (1-8°C); March and December, 36-55°F (2-13°C); April and November, 45-66°F (7-19°C); May and October, 57-77°F (14-25°C); June and September, 66-82°F (19-28°C); July and August, 74-90°F (23-32°C).
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Festivals and Seasonal Events -------------------------
China has only three official holidays a year: Spring Festival or Chinese New Year, National Day, and International Labor Day, for a grand total of five days off. These are high travel times for the Chinese, especially during Chinese New Year, and it's best to avoid them if at all possible.
The majority of China's holidays and festivals are calculated according to the lunar calendar and can vary as much as a few weeks from year to year. Check your lunar calendar for dates more specific than those below.
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Winter-----------------------------------------------
December 25 and January 1: Christmas and New Year's Day are becoming an excuse for the Chinese to exchange cards, buy decorations (made in China), and eat out banquet-style. In the big cities, Christmas makes itself known by a ubiquitous paper Santa that is taped to almost every store. Some employees get a day off on New Year's.
February: Chinese New Year, China's most celebrated and important holiday, follows the lunar calendar and falls in early to mid-February. Also called Spring Festival, it gives the Chinese an official three-day holiday to visit family and relatives, eat special meals, and throw firecrackers to celebrate the New Year and its respective Chinese zodiac animal. Students and teachers get up to four weeks off, and many others consider that the festival runs as long as a month. It is a particularly crowded time to travel in China, as workers and students use their time off to go to and from home. Many offices and services reduce their hours or close altogether. Tickets and hotels may be unavailable for as much as a week.
February/March: The Spring Lantern Festival marks the end of Chinese New Year on the 15th day of the first moon. Colorful paper lanterns are carried through the streets, sometimes accompanied by dragon dances.
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Spring -------------------------------------------------
April 5: Not so much a holiday as a day of worship, Qing Ming (clean and bright), or Remembrance of the Dead, gathers relatives at the graves of the deceased to clean the surface and leave fresh flowers.
May 1: International Labor Day is another busy travel time, especially if the holiday falls near a weekend.
May 4: Youth Day, though no longer a publicly celebrated holiday, commemorates the first mass student movement in 1919, which has come to symbolize a rejection of traditional, political and religious ideas.
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Summer ----------------------------------------------
June: The Dragon Boat Festival, on the fifth day of the fifth moon, celebrates the national hero Qu Yuan, who drowned himself in the 3rd century in protest against the corrupt emperor. Legend has it that people attempted to rescue him by throwing rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves into the sea and frightening fish away by beating drums. Today crews in narrow dragon boats race to the beat of heavy drums, and rice wrapped in bamboo leaves is consumed.
July 1: Perhaps July 1 will go down in history as the day China ended 150 years of shame and looked to the future with Hong Kong under its wing. Stay tuned for what turns up on both the island and the mainland-a
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memorial day or a celebration?
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Autumn
October 1: National Day celebrates the founding of the People's Republic of China.
October: Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th moon, which generally falls in early October. The Chinese spend this time gazing at the full moon and exchanging tasty moon cakes filled with meat, bean paste, sugar, and other delectable surprises.
