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CHINA
Opening
Hours & Festivals
The general trend in offices - airlines, travel services and the
like - is for relatively early opening and closing, with long lunch
hours. Typical hours are 8-11.30am and 1.30-4.30pm, with a half
day on Saturday. Generalization is difficult, though, as there is
no real equivalent to the Western Sunday, the universal day of rest.
Post and telecommunications offices open daily, often until late
at night. Shops , too, nearly all open daily, keeping long, late
hours, especially in big cities, and although banks usually close
on Sundays - or for the whole weekend - even this is not always
the case. Tourist sights such as parks, pagodas and temples open
every day, usually 8am-5pm and without a lunch break. Most public
parks open from about 6am, ready to receive the morning flood of
shadow boxers. Museums , however, tend to have slightly more restricted
hours, including lunch breaks and one closing day a week, often
Monday or Tuesday. If you arrive at an out-of-the-way place that
seems to be closed, however, don't despair - knocking or poking
around will often turn up a drowsy doorkeeper. Conversely, you may
find other places locked and deserted when they are supposed to
be open.
The rhythm of festivals and religious observances that marked the
Chinese year was interrupted by the Cultural Revolution, and only
now are old traditions beginning to re-emerge. Apart from countrywide
Chinese festivals, the ethnic minorities punctuate the year with
their own ritual observances, and these are detailed in the appropriate
chapters in the Guide. In Hong Kong all the national Chinese festivals
are celebrated.
Most festivals take place on dates in the Chinese lunar calendar
, in which the first day of the month is the time when the moon
is at its thinnest, with the full moon marking the middle of the
month. So, by the Gregorian calendar, such festivals are on a different
day every year. Most festivals celebrate the turning of the seasons
or propitious dates, such as the eighth day of the eighth month
(eight is a lucky number in China), and are times for gift giving,
family reunion and feasting. In the countryside, lanterns are lit
and firecrackers (banned in the cities) are set off. It's always
worth visiting temples on festival days, when the air is thick with
incense, and people queue up to kowtow to altars and play games
that bring good fortune, such as trying to hit the temple bell with
thrown coins. |
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