Have you noticed something different today? Maybe there’s more traffic, maybe your calls keep failing, maybe it’s quieter in Beijing than ever before. Well, it’s gaokao season!

Gaokao, the national Chinese college entrance exam, is regarded as one of the most rigorous tests in the world. It occurs annually in early June, this year beginning on Wednesday June 7 and ending on Saturday June 10.

Gaokao results determine the caliber of universities students are admitted to, with top colleges being exceptionally difficult to get into. Extreme measures are taken to prevent distractions for the 12.91 million grade 12 students (980,000 more than 2022) taking the exams.

Of those 12.91 million people, 65,000 are here in Beijing. This means that 65,000 people will be moving around the city on similar schedules. Most jobs also function on similar timetables, which contributes to the widely unpopular concept known as the morning rush hour. The exams will only amplify that problem.

As the gaokao begins and ends each day, traffic will be immense. Many candidates live in the suburbs, so fair warning for commuters from Shunyi!

The tests follow regular school time and end around late afternoon, so 9-5 workers in the city will need to be prepared for longer stretches on the road.

This Thursday afternoon, there will be traffic management on roads around the exam areas, so be prepared with some set detours that can help you avoid delays.

Here are some specific addresses with testing centers:

If you live, work, or simply pass by these areas, consult your maps each morning and plan your days accordingly!

In addition to controlling traffic, anti-cheating measures designed for students can have an impact on you too.

Telecom companies will be reducing the strength of phone signals close to exam sites to prevent students from searching up or colluding with others to get answers. So, if your calls or data is spotty, double-check your location before assuming the worst.

As the students begin their exams, download some playlists for your commutes, and explore the back roads of Beijing!

Images by Mikechie Esparagoza, Pixabay, Aauyush Srivistava, Joey Guo

Every year for back to school there’s one thing that parents tend to forget to add to the checklist – the notorious Beijing traffic. With the kids heading back to school at the same time in the morning plus their parents going to work, understandably there will be some frustration on the road.

According to the Beijing News, the Beijing traffic police news, this year’s back-to-school traffic is already ahead of schedule but as the week continues, the traffic pressure on the roads around primary and secondary schools will increase in the early morning and afternoon times during drop off and pick up.

Around the National Conventional Center and Shougang Park area, temporary traffic management measures will be taken due to the current 2022 China International Trade in Services Fair from Aug 31 – Sep 5. The roads will be closed off to vehicles and pedestrians in the area until midnight on Sep 5. For those who need to travel through there, officials recommend going by Beichen East Road, Beichen West Road, Hujing East, Kehui South, South 4th Ring Road, Xin’an Lu, and Shijingshan Road.

In Xicheng District, to help with the flow of traffic officials have announced that starting from Sep 1, Xibienmenwai Avenue between Fuxingmen Wai and Zhenwumiao Road will now prohibit U-turns.

Lastly, due to the back-to-school traffic, entrances to parking structures at places such as Joy City, Hopson One, Solana, Sanlitun, Wanda Plata, and other popular shopping centers can expect unusually long queuing.

For the next week, remember to leave more than half an hour earlier than your usual estimated travel time and try to take public transportation as much as possible.

Images: Beijing News, Pexels

The second Belt and Road Forum – also known as BARF – swoops down on Beijing this Thursday through Saturday, Apr 25-27. In order to ensure that the landmark event runs smoothly, which includes the shuttling around important people we’ll never see, various roads around the city will have restricted access during the summit.

Initially launched in 2013, the Belt and Road Forum is China’s government-orchestrated platform for international cooperation under the framework of the country’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The second of its kind, the conference this year will host some 5,000 participants from over 150 countries and 90 international organizations, including heads of state and diplomats from 37 countries, as well as the secretary-general of the United Nations and the managing director of the International Monetary Fund.

Given the amount of top brass in the city, expect congestion and on-and-off access in the affected areas and means of transport mentioned below.

Restricted/affected Beijing traffic areas during Belt and Road Forum 2019

China National Convention Center
Apr 23-26: Between Beichen West Road and Datun Road, Tianchen West Road, Datun North Road, Hujing East Road, National Stadium North Road, Jingguan Avenue, and Huizhong Road.

The Great Hall of the People
Apr 26, 4pm onwards: The west side of Tiananmen Square, and the south and west side of the Great Hall.
Apr 23-29, on and off: Chang’an Street and its affiliated roads.

Airport Expressway
Apr 23-25, on and off: The city-bound portion of the Airport Expressway and East Second Ring Road.
Apr 27-29, on and off: The Beijing Capital International Airport-bound portion of the Airport Expressway and East Second Ring Road.

Yanqi Lake
Apr 22-27, on and off: From the western entrance of Yanqi Lake Road to the western entrance of Yanqi Lake North Road.

Public transport
Besides the traffic restrictions, 15 subway lines will also adjust their timetable, adding a total of 356 rides per day on Apr 25 and 26, as well as a total of 156 additional trains across seven lines, including Line 1, on Apr 27. Additionally, four additional late trains will be added to Line 4 bound for Beijing South Station on April 26 and 30.

The Airport Express will up its total rides to 32 per day (decreasing the wait between trains to eight minutes). There also will be extra 2,600 bus rides per day during the three-day conference.

Beijing Capital International Airport
Though it’s unclear as to whether or not it is directly related to the Belt and Road Forum, Beijing Capital International Airport has released a notice via its official Weibo account suggesting that passengers arrive at the airport at least two to three hours before take off in order to factor in time for the increased security measures.

For a list of the affected areas in Chinese, click here.

Does all this make you want to escape immediately? Escape to These Hotels on Beijing’s Perimeter

Photos: Reuters, China Plus

If you haven’t yet made your escape from Beijing, hunker down: getting in and out of the city will be extremely busy this upcoming Labor Day holiday (Apr 29-May 1) when large crowds and multiple traffic controls are poised to make it the city’s busiest May long weekend in history.

Saturday’s evening rush hour traffic is expected to be Beijing’s busiest of the year. The long weekend will see local traffic volume increase by 10-12 percent to 1.21-1.23 million vehicles as 620,000 cars enter the city to displace the 610,000 cars that are trying to leave.

Meanwhile, with passenger flow expected to jump to 549,000 on the first day of the holiday, an additional 18 trains have been booked for Beijing Railway Station. To help alleviate the crowds, subway service leaving Beijing South Railway Station on Line 4 will be extended 30 minutes to 11.45pm from Saturday, Apr 28 to Tuesday, May 1.

Tian’anmen Square and its daily flag raising ceremony have always been some of Beijing’s most popular tourist attractions during Labor Day, but getting there will be a problem as the city shuts down all local transportation to the area.

From midnight of Apr 28 to midnight May 1, Beijing Metro subway stations Tian’anmen East and Tian’anmen West on Line 1 will be closed to the public as will Qianmen Station on Line 2. During the same time, eight surface bus routes that normally pass through Tian’anmen will be temporarily re-routed while other busses will not make their regular stops in the area. This is because the traffic around Tian’anmen Square will be banned, preventing all vehicles from entering the area.

May holiday or not, this weekend is going to be popular at any rate as temperatures are forecast to hit daytime highs of 30 degrees Celsius. But those wishing to enjoy the great outdoors of Beijing’s many parks are advised that they will be extremely busy: due to popular demand, 11 of Beijing’s parks and horticultural gardens are offering admission tickets for sale online.

Whatever you do this Labor Day holiday, please keep in mind that certain hospitals won’t be open during the break. In Chaoyang District, the cancer ward of the China Medical Science Academy will be closed all three days of the holiday while the Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of the Capital Medical University will be closed on Monday (a full chart of closures can be found here, in Chinese).

If you’re still not sure what to do, just make sure you’re not stuck in any of these following city locations during Saturday’s crazy evening rush hour (highlighted in red):

More stories from this author here.

E-Mail: charlesliu1 (at) qq (dot) com
Twitter: @Sinopath

Images: Weibo

A few weeks ago my family and I were involved in a car crash.

I don’t mean to cause any alarm- we walked away completely unhurt and no more than a little put out. The accident happened, like everything else on Beijing’s roads, with glacial slowness. Indeed, it is in many ways a quintessentially Beijing story, and so I present it as such, without comment.

We were riding in a taxi along the third ring road, and, as so often happens, there were four lanes of traffic where only three were marked on the tarmac. A van was attempting to pull into our lane, which it did by the usual method of edging very gradually across. The van driver clearly expected our cabbie to stop and let him in. Our cabbie, however, refused to give way, and continued driving resolutely, bumper to bumper with the car ahead.

I had noticed this situation developing and watched with some amusement for several minutes as the two vehicles gradually, almost imperceptibly, converged. Somebody must blink, I thought, but no, and eventually the inevitable happened. The taxi’s wing mirror made contact with the side of the van, and gracefully inscribed a thin line into the paintwork.

In England, a collision of this kind would result in a red-faced shouting match, with both men determined to establish their moral superiority. In Beijing, the drama unfolded in eerie quiet, although there was no doubting the seething anger underlying it. Our cabbie and the van driver both immediately took out their cellphones, first to photograph the damage, then to call – who? The police? Insurers? I have no idea how these things work here.

Our cabbie then opened his trunk, set up his warning triangle, and wandered off for a smoke. At this point, we began to wonder what we were supposed to do, and more importantly, whether the meter was still running. My wife tried the door only to discover that we were locked in.

Amusement began to turn to concern. Were we expected to stay and act as witnesses? My kindergarten level Chinese is barely up to ordering a mei shi ka fei, let alone testifying in court. I tapped nervously on the window and bleated “Women xia che ba?”

The driver wordlessly released us, although I had to climb across to the back to get out as my door was wedged up against the van. We paid (I was relieved to see the driver had stopped the meter when he had stopped the car) and wandered off down the highway.

Photo: Michael Coghlan via Flickr

For the first time since new stringent air quality control measures were instituted in March of this year, Beijing has declared a Red Alert, immediately calling for odds/evens traffic restrictions, closures of factories and construction sites, and the shuttering of most schools for the next three days.

Under standards set in March of this year, a Red Alert is declared when the air quality is forecast to be over AQI 200 for three days or more. The city declared an Orange Alert at midnight last night, but upgraded the warning to Red at 6pm this evening, according to the Beijing News.

While Orange and Yellow alerts have been declared multiple times since the measures were enacted in 2013, this is the first time a Red Alert has been declared.

The most immediate effect of the Red Alert is the institution of odds/evens traffic controls on the roads, which will be enforced beginning at 7am tomorrow (Dec 8) and be in effect through noon on Thursday, Dec 10.

In addition to the mandatory restrictions, the measures call for "suggestions" such as the shuttering of preschools, primary schools, middle schools and high schools when red alerts are announced.

The Beijing Municipal Department of Education issued a memorandum this evening indicating that all schools should stop classes Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

They stressed that learning should not cease during the period and educators should reach out to students to give them homework via social media channels and school websites.

However, the department also said that all schools should have staff on hand to take care of children who are unable to stay at home due to parental obligations during the work day.

The education department will be issuing official updates every day at 2pm on its website.

Confusion reigned in early this evening as parents scrambled for news about whether their childrens’ school would be in session Tuesday.

The vast majority of Beijing international schools reached for comment this evening indicated that they would close through the 10th, while a handful said they would remain in session. Those local schools reached for comment said school would be in session but new lessons would not be taught so that parents could keep their children home without fear of them falling behind.

Weather forecasts call for a cold front to roll in Thursday that will help lift the heavy veil of pollution.

Beijing’s current air pollution warning system is an upgrade to a system initially devised in 2013, described in the chart below:

The city government issues the pollution alert via multiple channels, including TV, radio, newspapers, the internet, and text messages.

Red and orange alerts are supposed to be released 24 hours in advance of taking effect.

Photos: thebeijinger.com

Beijing has joined Shanghai and other cities in regulation the use of the self-balancing electric scooters might see these scooters classified as motor vehicles that should be registered with traffic authority according to a report in the China Daily. The scooters will only be private use and are not allowed on the roads and could penalties such as fines. The scooter has been termed as a major threat to orderly traffic and the safety risks it poses to riders as most people don’t use helmets or pads.

The popularity of these scooters had soared as they can reach speed of 20km per hour and the added benefits of the portability, of not having to think about parking fees and where to park, also the fact that all it needed to navigate is to shift the weight to make it turn.

The scooter’s use in shopping malls by security guards are increased as they could cover more ground when on patrol and reach emergency sites faster. The exact penalties to be issued will be structured later on.

Photo:Pixbay