Beijing Culture: Beijing Halloween

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Let's Get Ghoulish: Beijing's Halloween countdown

Daniel Allen

From gruesome e-cards and glowing pumpkins to fancy dress parties and sanguine cocktails, Halloween is celebrated in Beijing with ever-growing enthusiasm. As an excuse to paint the town red and indulge fetishes for masks, wigs and all manner of gory paraphernalia, the annual horrorfest is obviously great value. However, despite the symbols, rituals and stories, few of the revelers, be they Chinese or expat, truly understand what and why they're celebrating.

Halloween, perhaps one of the world's strangest yearly festivals, is even stranger than it seems. Unlike Independence Day in the US, Guy Fawke's Night in the UK, or Bastille Day in France, Halloween is neither nationalistic nor historical, yet it is celebrated across the globe. Unlike Christmas, Easter or Passover, Halloween is not associated with a specific religion, yet it conjures up thoughts and images of spirituality, death and religious beliefs in our imagination.

The origins of Halloween are both complex and uncertain. Many people believe that Halloween is a pre-European-Christian holiday with Celtic roots. A common and slightly more developed version of this concept holds that Halloween is derived from the Celtic Samhain festival, which, on November 1, commemorated both the Celtic New Year and the day during which dead souls were believed to roam the Earth.

Trick-or-treating, a term which was coined fairly recently, was one of my favorite Halloween rituals in years gone by, and is likewise linked to Irish Samhain traditions. It became popular about the time that large numbers of Irish immigrants arrived in the US. During Samhain, people opened their doors and left food for the wandering dead - eventually people started dressing like wandering dead souls and demanding food for their efforts. If they received nothing then the homeowner would obviously end up on the wrong end of a prank or "trick".

Despite the growing popularity of Halloween in Beijing and across China , the country already has its own version of the festival, called the Hungry Ghost Festival (Zhong Yuan Jie), which falls in mid-August. In a striking parallel with Western Halloween, Chinese legend states that on this day starving ghosts travel the earth in search of food and money, which is why people in southern China traditionally put meat, vegetables, rice, tea and fruit on their doorsteps that day.

With all these ravenous ghosts flying around, it might be safer to stay indoors this Halloween season, though the urge to party will undoubtedly be stronger in some than others. Personally speaking I won't be harassing my neighbors for candy in broken Mandarin, although there's a fair chance the glowing devil horns will get their yearly workout.

Best Beijing Halloween Bashes

•  Yen Fetish Party

The most outrageously costumed of Beijing's Halloween parties features music by Dio, Mickey Zhang, Yangbing, Usami and Blackie.

Price: RMB 150 (RMB 80 in advance).

Date: October 31st

Start: 9pm

Venue: Star Live
Tel: 010 6425 5677

•  Spooked by Acupuncture

Beijing 's crowd-pleasing techno team hit the Halloween decks to bring funk bleeps, addictive loops and dark beats to Dashanzi's 798 art district.

Price: RMB 100 (RMB 70 in advance)

Date: October 31st

Start: 10pm .

Venue: Originally Square (798)

Tel: 138 1034 7555

•  "Myth of Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea" at China Doll

Snappily titled Halloween costume party with prizes for the sexiest/scariest. Free “witches brew” cocktail for all.

Price: RMB 100

Date: October 31st

Start: 9pm

Venue: China Doll

Tel: 010 5136 5872

•  Paddy O'Shea's

(October 31 st – no cover)

•  Alfa

(October 31st – no cover)

Long-time Beijing favorite throwing a Halloween party in combination with its weekly Friday night 80's theme. Lots of really good giveaways and food and drink specials between 8 and 10pm. Costumes optional, though the theme is "Naughty High School Halloween".

Tel: 6413 0086

View more images of China by Daniel Allen

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