Halloween, which always falls on October 31st, is now celebrated in many countries around the world. It is a Western holiday with a long history. Originally celebrated by the Celts to commemorate death, nowadays, Halloween is basically a holiday that attracts attention and entertainment seekers. Many bars, malls, and restaurants will use Halloween as a night theme.
In China, Halloween is not really an event for the Chinese people unless they have some relationship with the expatriate population. If you are in China during Halloween, you might only find this Halloween event in big cities that are more expatriate friendly like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.
If you think of Halloween, you probably think of costumes, tricks, or decorating pumpkins. But do PKU Shenzhen students have a way to celebrate Halloween? The answer is yes!
A Halloween event organized by the Campus Advisor (CA) team was held on November 2. Over 40 students visited Happy Valley Amusement Park for their special Halloween-themed evening. Of course, it wouldn’t be Halloween without costumes; some students looked like ghosts and others dressed up as anime and movie characters. According to Tang Yanyan 3L Law Student, students took a great delight in this spooky event: “The trip was good, I had a lot of fun there. I visited the Ghost houses and ride a rotating car.”
Happy Valley (深圳欢乐谷)
The Halloween celebration at Happy Valley this year had nine themed haunted houses, spooky music shows, live performances, and Halloween-special feasts. This event, called Haunted Halloween, is held every year and people get dressed up and crawl out in the night to celebrate and enjoy the park.
The student group spent a few hours of the night at Happy Valley and had a great time, but could have spent several more hours enjoying the festivities. It was disappointing that many rides closed at 8.30 PM and yes, long lines mean a lot of time is wasted 
waiting. However, everyone was still excited since it was the first time attending this event. Jarar Nazar, HSBC Business School student remarked, “I would say it was amazing and we should arrange this sort of events and outings more often. I tried a couple of ghost house, caves, and Hell Hospital and I wanted to go to a lot more places as well but it was very crowded. And I will visit again for sure, that is a good place to spend an evening.” Some of the most exciting moments come from wandering the park and keeping an eye out for those in the crowd who are paid to dress up and spook you. “They put a lot effort in it and they do a really good job! All the actors stayed in there role and engaged people. Really cool,” said Kevin Piechatzek, an exchange student at HSBC Business School.
Although there were many rides that were not open for the evening, there were still crowds of people who wanted to enjoy the atmosphere of Halloween. There was some food and Halloween accessory stalls, and many park workers wore strange monster character costumes. Ann Tseng, HSBC Business School student said, “I came on this trip for the sole purpose of riding on roller coasters and spinning rides. I love the adrenaline rush. We went on 2 rides.” She also added that it was a chance for students to relax before their upcoming finals, “I have finals on the 12th and 13th, so this was my weekend before the big study week.”
The event included a Halloween Photo Contest organized by the CAs. Students formed teams and submitted photos from a variety of fun categories, from ‘Strange Stranger Photo’ to ‘Deadly Dance Photo’. Congratulations to Celine Mark, Colin Sawatzky, Deniz Yapmis, John Pilon, Luo Jiechunyi, Mei Siyu, and Yaren Kasoglu of the winning team!
Well, the PKU Halloween trip this year was awesome, students got to have fun with each other. They loved to share their Halloween costume pictures on social media. Should we make some sort of events like this in the future? Hope so! Thanks, CAs!
Written by Claudia Fauzi
The Nanyan Observer 