Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
APRIL
Qingming Festival
April 4 & 5. This festival, Tomb Sweeping Day, is the time to visit the
graves of ancestors, leave offerings of food, and burn ghost money - fake paper currency -
in honour of the departed.
Beijing International Film Festival
Mid- to late April
bjiff.com/en
.
BJIFF, the city's
main cinematic event, is increasingly giving Asia's larger festivals - Hong Kong, Singapore
and Busan - a run for their money.
MidiandStrawberry
Late April/early May. Quite why the city's two biggest rock festivals
have to take place on the same weekend is a mystery, but on the plus side, at least you have
a choice. Midi (
www.midifestival.com
)
is larger and more commercial, while Strawberry
tends to branch out into wider musical genres.
MAY
Labour Day
May 1. Labour Day is a national holiday, during which all tourist sites are ex-
tremely busy.
Youth Day
May 4. Commemorates the student demonstrators in Tian'anmen Square in
1919, which gave rise to the nationalist “May Fourth” Movement. It's marked in Beijing
with flower displays in Tian'anmen Square.
JUNE
Children'sDay
June 1. Most school pupils are taken on excursions at this time, so if you're
visiting a popular tourist site be prepared for mobs of kids in yellow baseball caps.
Dragon Festival
The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is a one-day public holiday. Tradi-
tionally, this is a time to watch dragon-boat racing and eat treats wrapped in leaves.
JULY
Genghis Khan Extreme Grassland Marathon and Mountain Bike Adventure
genghiskhanmtbadventure.com
.
The Genghis Khan team organizes two major events in
July: first comes a marathon that, while standard length, runs through the Mongolian grass-
lands; later in the month comes a 206km bike ride.
Beijing Dance Festival
beijingdancefestival.com
.
A delightful mix of dance - mostly
contemporary, with a few traditional and Chinese ethnic minority strands thrown in. Events
held at various venues across a couple of weeks.
AUGUST
Beijing International Beer Festival
A great time to sample the wares of Beijing's ever-in-
creasing number of microbreweries, plus a few from elsewhere in China. Venue varies.
