random holiday & city closure

The other day, I received an internal email saying that the company was given an option of letting everyone take Wed & Thurs as a holiday...but after further assessment, Intel decided not to take the opportunity. At first, I wondered why the sudden windfall of a random holiday? And then I thought it was a bit of a bummer that we weren't actually taking the holiday.

First off, the "holiday" is in an effort to reduce traffic during an upcoming political conference that is happening in Shanghai this week. Personally, I think it's also to keep the number of people within the city to a minimum. Apparently "the Russians are coming" and everyone needs to stay out of their way. I've even heard rumors that bulidings in the surrounding area of the conference are not allowed to have their windows open, for fear of snipers. Good thing summer hasn't quite reached it's peak...

As for the "bummer" part of the deal? Any companies that offered the holiday were requiring their employees to work the Saturday before and after... eew. =P


Here's a map of the city-wide road and transportation closures that will be happening this week.







Also, here's a link to the China Daily article about the summit: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-06/09/content_612316.htm. "The upcoming Shanghai Co-operation Organization (SCO) summit is being greeted with extra warmth by residents of Shanghai, as many will be given five days holiday during the event." Actually, it's somewhat of a forced holiday... :) But, hey, that's just semantics.