Beijing News You Might Have Missed this Week, Nov 27

  Beijing is a happening city! Don't miss a thing with our weekend roundup of the latest news.

Shanghai COVID Case Visited Multiple Beijing Nightlife Spots: A recently confirmed COVID-19 case from Shanghai, a woman in her 30s, was in Beijing with two friends and visited a number of centrally-located nightlife venues from Nov 12-15, according to Beijing Daily.

While staying at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in Haidian, the individuals in question dined at Nuoyan in Beixinqiao on Nov 12 from 5.23-11.29pm, Haijingge in Haidian on Nov 13 from 12.33-1.26pm, Solitude Lonely Guest House from 5.37-7.40pm, and M Natural (in lead image) in Sanlitun on Nov 14 from 5.13-8.20pm. As of yesterday, all places we called were open for business as usual, and have reported no cases among staff. But as a precaution, if you or someone you know visited the aforementioned venues around the same time period, it's best to contact your place of work or residential community and let them know.

Olympic Park, Other Venues See Closures: A number of parks and sections of scenic spots have been closed or partly closed around the city. The central area of Beijing Olympic Park was closed to the public on Nov 25 and will reopen on Mar 20, 2022, keeping the area clear for the duration of the Winter Olympics. Sections of the Summer Palace – including areas to the east and west of 17 Hole Bridge and Nanhu Island – will be closed until Dec 31 in accordance with epidemic control measures. Tiananmen Square has been partly closed to the public until Dec 15, and will only accept guests who have made reservations ahead of their visit.

WeChat, Alipay Payment Collection Functions to See Changes in 2022: The People’s Bank of China announced new measures on Oct 13 for the supervision of digital payment acceptance terminals for businesses and individuals, Beijing Evening News reports. Among these new measures were regulations for QR code payment options that will go into effect on Mar 1 of next year. The new regulation will require all businesses to apply for a special QR code to receive money from transactions instead of utilizing QR codes for personal transactions (like the yellow WeChat code above). This requirement is currently in place for large companies, but the new measures will expand it to small businesses as well.

Beijing Gives Go-Ahead for Baidu’s Robotaxi Business: The municipal government has given the OK for Baidu’s Apollo robotaxi service to charge customers. The move will allow the business to collect ride fares from people using one of 67 self-driving vehicles operating in the city’s southeast Yizhuang district. The company has been offering free robotaxi rides in the district from Oct 2020, but they haven’t yet disclosed the fare price for rides moving forward.

Capital Sets Air Quality Record in Oct: This past month’s reading for PM2.5 particles fell to an average of 25 micrograms per cubic meter in Beijing, the lowest for autumn and winter since data on the pollutant was first recorded in the city, authorities said on Nov 22. The average concentration for PM2.5 this year has been 32 micrograms per cubic meter for the first 10 months of the year, according to data from the city’s ecology and environment bureau. This follows measures taken to tackle air pollution in the capital, including special treatment of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and new standards and policies for mobile sources.

READ: Beijing News You Might Have Missed this Week, Nov 20

Images: Dianping, ViaMichelin, chinatours.net, The Beijingers, Global Times, Associated Press