Chinese New Year

I ended up staying in Shanghai for the Spring Festival.

And I’m among the few. The streets are mostly empty. The shops are mostly shuttered. Only a few laowai restaurants are open. Today, I walked through the old quarter toward Yu Garden. I’d go blocks without encountering another human. They say every year, the Spring Festival marks a great migration. All of the young workers in the cities board trains to return to their families in the rural areas. Wandering the streets today, I find it’s true. This bustling metropolis has become a ghost town. And it’s kind of wonderful.