Shanghai Airport Mysteriously Shut Down
Friday, I lifted my father's suitcase into a beaten up Shanghai taxi, gave him a kiss, shut the door and waved as the car pulled away.  After a week in Shanghai, he was headed to Pudong International Airport to catch a flight back home.  Pudong Airport, on Shanghai's east bank, is the biggest and only international airport in China's biggest city.  His flight to Chicago was scheduled to leave at 5pm, and being the disciplined flyer that he is, he left for the airport 4 hours before his time of departure.  Little did my father know that an hour after he left, and just as he would arrive at Pudong, the government would shut down the entire airport for the afternoon.  According to a Reuters story Friday, all outbound flights from Pudong were delayed and all inbound flights were rerouted to other Chinese airports.  No announcement or warning was given ahead of time and none of Saturday's Chinese papers reported the story.  Even a Japanese passenger flight headed for Pudong was unaware of the closure and was forced to turn around mid-flight.  An official of Pudong airport said anonymously Friday that the Pudong airspace  was ordered closed by the Central Military Commission.  When asked why, the official replied, "It's a state secret."  Later, it was confirmed through Reuters and a Hong Kong news outlet that the closure was due to secretive military exercises being conducted in Hangzhou Bay, south of Shanghai.  Still, no Chinese officials or media have confirmed any of this.  Normally, when an airport is closed for military purposes, all airports are notified in advance.  Friday, this was not the case.  Pudong Airport was reopened at around 5pm though my father's flight had already been canceled due to "poor weather conditions in Chicago."  He got on a flight to Los Angeles instead.  Outside of China, the secret shut down of a country's busiest airport would have been a huge news story.  Here, it goes unreported.  And for all those concerned, my father made it home.

•Reuters: China Mysteriously Shuts Shanghai Airport

 

 

 

 

 China
 Shanghai Daily
 China Daily
 Xinhua
 People's Daily
 South China Morning Post
 News From China
 Shanghai Expat
 That's Shanghai
 City Weekend
 Danwei
 The Peking Duck
 Sinosplice
 Truth About China
 Chinese Pod


 U.S. News
 New York Times
 New York Post
 New York Daily News
 Boston Globe
 Chicago Tribune
 Detroit Free Press 
 Los Angeles Times
 Miami Herald
 Michigan Daily
 USA Today
 Washington Post
 CNN
 MSNBC
 Google News
 Yahoo! News
 TIME
 Newsweek

 World News
 BBC
  U.K
 Bangkok Post
 Thailand
 CBC
 Canada
 Guardian
  U.K.
 Haaretz
 Israel
 Intl. Herald Tribune
 World
 Pravda
 Russia
 Sydney Morning Herald
 Australia
 Telegraph
  U.K.
 Sydney Morning Herald
 Australia
 Taipei Times
 Taiwan
 

 Sports
 ESPN
 CBS Sportsline
 Major League Baseball
 NBA
 NFL
 Sports Illustrated
 NYGMen
 Deadspin
 Bronx Banter
 MGoBlue
 Michigan Sports Center
 Yardbarker


 Entertainment
 People
 Rolling Stone
 Internet Movie Database
 Spin
 TMZ
 Perez Hilton
 The Wowz
 Pollstar
 Maxim
 J-L Cauvin

 

 Blogs
 Huffington Post
 Media Bistro
 Gorilla Mask
 Wonkette
 Crooks and Liars
 Gawker
 The Largest Minority
 Truthdig
 

---

 News
 BBC
 News/U.K
 NPR
 News/U.S.
 WCBS
 News/New York
 WINS
 News/New York
 WBBM
 News/Chicago
 WWJ
 News/Detroit
 KFWB
 News/Los Angeles
 KCBS
 News/San Francisco
 Air America
 Talk/U.S.
 
 Sports
 WFAN
 Sports/New York
 WSCR
 Sports/Chicago
 WXYT
 Sports/Detroit
 WIP
 Sports/Philadelphia