Tragedy puts end to public events
Print Edition
SEVERAL public events scheduled for the coming days and weeks have been canceled as a result of the New Year’s Eve tragedy on the Bund.
At Guyi Garden in Jiading District, the annual Lantern Festival celebrations, which were set to take place in March, have been shelved for “safety reasons,” officials said yesterday.
Built during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), the garden attracted nearly 30,000 people for the festival last year, and more than 40,000 the year before.
There were no reports of crowd control issues on either occasion, however.
In another knee-jerk reaction, the Hongkou District government ordered the cancelation of all public activities scheduled in the district between the New Year and Spring Festival holidays.
This year’s Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, falls on February 19, while the Lantern Festival, which marks the end of the Lunar New Year celebrations, will be on March 5.
One of the first casualties of the ban was an event set to run from Thursday through yesterday at Shanghai Music Valley.
Authorities in the Xujiahui commercial district and the Pudong New Area were also quick to “do something” in the aftermath of the Bund tragedy.
Department stores in the former have been ordered not to host any “themed activities,” while in the latter, new barriers have been erected to control traffic in the Lujiazui area, which is home to several tourist attractions.
In Minhang District, authorities said they have introduced crowd control measures at the entrance to Qibao Old Street, and are “closely monitoring” Zhaojialou Water Town and Hongmei Road Entertainment Street, which frequently attract large numbers of visitors.
In Putuo District, authorities canceled a Shanghai dialect competition scheduled for yesterday at the Global Harbor Shopping Mall, while in Huangpu District — whose jurisdiction includes the Bund where Wednesday’s tragedy occurred — officials said they have enhanced security measures at large department stores and shopping malls.
Police are investigating the cause of the crush, which is the second of its kind in the city.
In 1987, 66 people were killed and more than 20 were injured as people rushed to get on a ferry delayed by heavy fog in the Lujiazui area.
At that time, most companies in the city fined employees who were late for work regardless of the reason.
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