Central Beijing turns into ghost town, as shops and hotels shut ahead of military parade

Central Beijing will turn into a ghost town from Wednesday night until Thursday afternoon.

Large parts of the city centre will be shutting down, with many roads off-limits to traffic because of the huge military parade commemorating the end of the second world war. 

“Don’t come to Beijing during this holiday,” the owner of a souvenir shop on Wangfujing's snack street said, referring to the one-off public holiday that Beijing is calling “The 70th anniversary of Chinese people’s anti-Japanese war and the world anti-fascist war victory commemoration day”.

“Hotels and small guest houses are closed. The snack stalls were shut several days ago. Tourists can try shopping and go out to eat probably outside the 4th Ring Road.”

Many of the affected restaurants and shops have posted notices saying business will resume after Friday.

One Beijing woman who went shopping in Wangfujing said she was a bit disappointed snack street “has no snacks at all”. But the inconvenience was not too much, given it was only for a few days, she said.