Halloween in Beijing

Yes, I know, it's December. Yes, I know Halloween is in October. I'm... bad at months, I guess? Anyway...

So... Halloween in Beijing. What to say, what to say? The night was interesting enough, I suppose, but since the Chinese in general don't really subscribe to the holiday, the city was missing the usual excited energy that accompanies Halloween. Also, we weren't even celebrating on October 31st, but rather October 30th as it was a Saturday. A forgivable discrepancy considering the circumstances, I think.

Our little Yale contingent was out in full force, though. Thinking back, I realize I actually devoted the whole of Saturday to Halloween preparation and execution. First, woke up to go shopping for last-minute supplies, including a giant container of glitter. The night before, I had ventured to Yashou Clothing Market in the Sanlitun area to find inspiration. I found it in a black wig, a black pair of angel's wings, and some black shiny boots. Saturday was for last touches.


After acquiring some glitter, I hopped on the subway to go meet up with my new high school Chinese friend (subject of an upcoming post). We chatted and shopped for a couple hours, meeting up with Liz at Xidan market for more last-minute supplies. Then, Liz and I went off to get primped and polished for the evening. The final result.... Team Yale-in-Beijing.

(Yes, my eyes are unfortunately closed, 

but see my wing between me and Cynthia's heads?)

The night started with a Yale-PKU Halloween party, where I desperately tried to carve a baby pumpkin with a swiss army knife. That went... terribly. I ended up making two little divots in the skin for eyes and scraping a curvy line for the mouth. Pumpkin-carving tools are unfortunately not hot-ticket items in Beijing. But it was nice for the program to pay for the attempt.

We were then off to the joint Ivy League-Stanford-Michigan-UChicago Halloween mixer at a bar in Sanlitun (where the above picture was taken) and got to meet up with other Yalies who were in Beijing. From there it was a jaunt down Sanlitun Bar Street (lots of Westerners in costume!) and then into a cab to go to Beijing's biggest Halloween party. 

The Halloween party, Yen, was held in a giant warehouse in the 798 Arts District of Beijing. When we finally found it and entered the complex, we saw literally hundreds of costumes. It was insane. One thing I have learned while in Beijing is that Westerners love flocking together to party for any excuse whatsoever, and Halloween is the biggest excuse of them all.

We wrapped up with an early breakfast at Bridge Café (of course), at which point everyone was just about Halloween-ed out. The night ended rather uneventfully, but it was still a memorable evening overall and an incredibly unique experience having a college Halloween in Beijing.

So that was Halloween in Beijing!