The 2018 CNY Holiday Guide

What’s open, what’s going on, what to see, do, eat, drink in Shanghai for CNY.
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Last updated: 2018-02-14

Here's what's still happening in Shanghai when it's dead!

(Okay, there is still some fun to be had...)

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Clubbing: Mansion, C's, Repeat

Shanghai"

Silence from the underground. If you’re traveling into Shanghai to sample some of the homegrown scene, this is a super bad time. These places are all closed for CNY: Arkham, Dada, All, Elevator (closed until February 20), Daliah (closed until February 20, opening back up for a Snap! party).

Le Baron is closed but their fancy pink cocktails room Beverly is open.

The Shanghai after-hours scene is still kicking: Hollywood is celebrating CNY with a weekend-long party; Celia is open for the break with their usual crew of tech house DJs, and Reel to Reel is also staying open for the duration.

The Mansion. Open. You can't keep the kids down. They're actually kicking things up a notch with a three-day Spring Music Festival on February 15, February 16, and February 17. If you're in town visiting from elsewhere, you should check that one out for your Shanghai experience. Let's just say... there's not a place like it in the world.

Bund life: Bar Rouge always hosts big CNY parties, attracting lots of tourists from out of town. M1NT is closed. The Captain is open if you want to experience the view in a more sedate environment. Unico is closed February 16 to February 19, opening again for the last night of CNY on February 20. Club 3 1/3 is closed until February. (Although they'd like to invite you to welcome back cocktails on February 23 and February 24.)

All the major “Chinese clubs” are open. Taxx, Linx, Myst. Models and bottles as always. Diva is shuttered though.

Last but not least: C's. C’s has your back. Dependable C’s. They've got their slew of regular parties ongoing throughout the week. Jessie doesn't know what a day off looks like! Hip hop night, reggae night, tech house night, all that stuff.

We'll be updating the events listings sporadically throughout the break. Have a safe one, y'all.

Live Music and Comedy: Hope You Like Jazz

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Super sparse. Sparser than usual in Shanghai. Basically, all the Shanghai live music bars are closed for CNY or are hosting reduced hours and no bands. Yuyintang is closed entirely until February 22. (The latest on their expansion, Yuyintang Park, incidentally, is that they’re looking at a May 1 opening date). Harley’s is open but not hosting any bands. They’re closing nightly at midnight. Mao Livehouse is closed.

Something a little saucier? Burlesque? Not for the next week or so. Candor has a show February 14 and is closed until February 22. The Pearl is open but is turning their stage over to their 8-meter screen to show the Winter Olympics.

On the jammier and jazzier side of things, Shake and Heyday are closed February 15 to 19, and back open on February 20. The Wooden Box is closed until February 22. The JZ Club, however, will be open every day and hosting in local jazz musicians. Skiddldeleel-dap-dip-dop-dip-DAP!

Kungfu Komedy is open as usual. Comedy UN is open this Saturday night with this show.

CNY Dining: A Few Recommended Brunches

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For everything we've got listed in terms of CNY dinners — mainly for big groups of family and friends — click here. There're at least 50 there in varying price brackets and international cuisines. In general, before heading out, make sure your restaurant destination is open. Scroll to the bottom of this article for a big list of what's open and closed.

Brunch? Here're two recommended. Pop American Brasserie is doing a daily brunch on the Bund all throughout CNY, and across town at their Jing'an location EQ is a great option for daily brunch, along with a sweet deal on booze: free-flow of Estrella beer, Prosecco, and Bloody Mary’s for just 99rmb. Nice.

Looking to catch up on some of the restaurant openings? Here're three that we thought might be worth a visit and, crucially, remain open over CNY.

Atelier by Taste Buds is Daniel An's newest cocktail shrine, tucked inside More Than Eat, doing mature, heady and botanically-minded drinks in a dark intimate environment.

LAGO is the Bellagio's headliner restaurant. It looks amazing, the food's modern, sharable Italian food and the view over the Suzhou Creek's pretty snazzy too.

The Peacock Room is a very swanky looking nouveau Sichuan restaurant that does new and fascinating things with Chinese food.

Art Exhibitions: Three Recommended Shows

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A few of the major museums are closing for CNY — Long Museum, Yuz Museum, alongside all the West Bund — which is a shame for out-of-town visitors. Here're three art spaces, however, that are worth checking out over the holidays.

The Power Station of Art PSA has three exhibitions ongoing. Each focuses on design, architecture and art curators. "Bijoux en jeu" showcases over 300 pieces of Swiss jewelry design by 35 creators since the 1960s; "Superstudio 50" is the eponymous exhibition of the critically acclaimed Italian architecture, which brings together more than 200 artworks in different mediums; the "4th PSA Emerging Curators Project" highlights Chinese young curators whose winning proposals were turned into tangible exhibitions under the supports of PSA.

Over at China Art Museum the former Expo China pavilion has six exhibitions to offer during CNY, which includes a group show displaying 300+ artworks from 160 Shanghai-based artists across styles and in different formats. That's some quantity. But the more interesting program currently ongoing is a range of exhibitions focused on "One Belt, One Road", which feature modern Vietnamese lacquer paintings and silk paintings, contemporary Serbian art and Mongolian art. You can see all their current events here (in Chinese).

Lastly, Pearl Art Museum, designed by Japanese master architect Tadao Ando, is open every day during CNY. We've briefly covered its current exhibition Tadao Ando Retrospective – 'Leading' in our new museum guide. Check that out and see if you want to experience it in person.

Gym Deals: A Few CNY-Specific Offers

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CNY, a great time for working out…right? From Friday to Wednesday (Feb 16-21), Elizabeth Schieffelin’s wellness center, Zenergy is offering a package on unlimited meditation and yoga classes for 600rmb, or you can do two classes for 200rmb. Full schedule available here. If you want to use the break to try out the new fancy gyms F45 (Jing’an) will be open everyday of the holiday and Pilates ProWorks has an adjusted CNY schedule you can find on their WeChat: Pilatesproworks. Not as shiny, but still a good CNY work out option, Spinback Fitness is offering classes throughout the holiday, check WeChat: spinbackfitness. Physical, will also be open (just closed on New Year’s Day) and they’re making a last call for a pretty sweet deal: 1,200rmb for 20 months for all their locations, should be available till the end of the week.

FitFam sweat sessions will be running daily through the new year at Jiaotong University Monday to Friday and Sunday 7am, and at Luwan Stadium Monday to Saturday, 8am. Check their WeChat: FitFamShanghai for the full CNY schedule.

Getting Out of the House: A Few Suggestions

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If the weather continues to be amazing, you may want to use all that CNY downtime to get your jogging routes ready for spring #newyeargoals. Here’s a list of the best jogging routes according to RunnerHai’s Martin Nexo. If you get really into it you can still sign up for their Thursday Marathon Series, the first one kick off March 29. Check their WeChat: RunnersHai for more details.

And if working out's not really your thing here’re some good ol' fashioned day activities to fill your days, like a day trip to water town Qibao, which you can get to by taking Line 9 (so you don't have to fuss with train tickets). It will be quiet to dead, since most vendors will have gone home but it could be nice for a few hours in the afternoon. If you want to stick around Shanghai, the Friday Muslim Market will be running over the holiday; Yu Garden’s been dolled up for a lamp festival since February 2 and will remain so until March 5 (will likely be extremely crowded) and the Plum Festival at Century Park is still going strong. Or skip all that and go for the real cultural gold mine, a CNY celebration at Disney. If you want to learn something, tomorrow there'll be a 3D printing workshop at Xinfab (check their site for details) and another workshop at Precious Plastic on Feb 17 from 2-4pm, more details here.

In Brief (hah!): Open and Closed Venues

Open All CNY

Kaiba Craft (Soho), Kaiba Craft (Joy City), Bar Rouge, The Mansion, Myst, The Pearl, Celia by Pulse, C's, Hollywood, Lynx, TAXX, JZ Club, The Spot, Kartel, Revolucion, Highline, The Cut, Cut Rooftop, The Rooster, The Captain, Pocho Social Club

Modified Hours

Closed

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Happy holidays, Shanghai!

TELL EVERYONE

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