As people around the world celebrated New Year’s Eve on December 31, 2025 to welcome 2026, many cities in China deployed large numbers of police and security guards to patrol the streets to prevent people from gathering to usher in the new year. In days leading up to the New Year’s Eve, cities such as Xi’an, Tianjin, Shanghai, and others had already notified the public of the cancellation of light shows, countdown ceremonies, and fireworks displays.
On the evening of December 31, 2025, near the Bell Tower in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, security measures were tight. Videos and photos circulated online showed the Bell Tower darkened, roads leading to it blocked off, and a significant police presence. With the cancellation of the New Year’s Eve activities and the rainy-snowy weather that evening, there were no crowds seen gathering for the New Year celebration. According to reports from the media, including Xi’an traffic police, multiple departments were stationed at the Bell Tower on New Year’s Eve, ready for any potential situations. Local netizens sarcastically commented, “No one this year.” “What’s the point?”
In the central square of Xinjiekou in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, police formed two human walls to block people from approaching the statue of the founding father Sun Yat-sen for flower tributes. An independent commentator, Xiang, commented on this situation, saying, “Such intense stability maintenance indicates a change in public sentiment, and the authority of the CCP is crumbling.”
In Qingdao, Shandong Province, a large number of armed police and special forces were deployed on the streets, setting up multiple human walls, adding a sense of fear to the already desolate streets.
According to several netizens posting videos, on the night of December 31, Hangzhou’s Hubin Yintai in77 held a New Year’s Eve event. The roads leading to the venue were filled with more police and security guards than citizens, and the entrances to Hubin were blocked off. As a result, a crowd of people waited for hours, shouted the countdown of 3-2-1, only to end up feeling disappointed as no balloons were released, and many attendees left feeling let down.
In Zibo, Shandong Province, tens of thousands of people waited for hours at the New Year’s Eve event venue, only to be informed last minute that the event was canceled and were asked to leave promptly. A netizen lamented, “Ah! Can Zibo just let me be? For fear of unfortunate incidents, even the countdown was canceled.”
A female netizen from Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, posted a video expressing that all the New Year’s Eve activities in major shopping malls in Taiyuan were also canceled. The netizen couldn’t help but express disappointment, saying, “After getting all dressed up and ready to go out all pretty, only to find out all activities were canceled. Can someone tell me why all the events were canceled? So frustrated, where do I go now?”