The main street where I live in Changsha is ordinarily bustling with restaurants of every (Chinese) description. For lunch every day, we choose between Lanzhou noodles, Sichuan dishes, Dongbei dumplings and countless other variations of Chinese food. I’ve never had to worry about where to find my next meal — until this week!
When I first got back to Changsha after the 24-hour bus from Laos, it was 1 a.m., so I didn’t notice the changes that had befallen my neighborhood. Venturing forth for lunch the next day, however, was shocking. Virtually every single restaurant was shuttered, including my favorite spot for delicate Fujian-style dumplings. With the students gone home for winter break, the neighborhood’s restaurant workers had no reason to stick around. Most of them are probably back in faraway hometowns to celebrate Chinese New Year, which begins Sunday. Some of them will surely not return.
Eventually my friend and I found three open restaurants — a noodle place, a Xinjiang restaurant, and a lousy fast-food joint — which could fill our bellies for our 36 hours in Changsha. But we were certainly happy to leave the next day for Shanghai, where even Chinese New Year can’t stop business.
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