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The Waiting Hall Before Dawn

The Song official Wang Yucheng wrote an essay on the dailou yuan (待漏院), the hall where the chancellor waited before the morning audience. “The northern gate faces the dawn, and the east is not yet light. The chancellor sets out.” The golden gate is still shut, and the water clock still drips. He steps down from his carriage and rests in the hall.

The essay explains why the hall was built: “to show diligence in government.” Even ministers, it says, rise early and sleep late “to serve one man.” The text was later included in the Guwen guanzhi, the classic anthology of prose.

Summoned to Mao’s Study

Richard Nixon arrived in Beijing on February 21, 1972. That afternoon, Zhou Enlai came to the Diaoyutai guesthouse, where Nixon and Henry Kissinger were staying. He said directly that Chairman Mao wanted to see the president. The president, he said, needed to go at once.

Nixon and Kissinger left quickly, without telling Secretary of State William Rogers. The meeting in Mao’s study at Zhongnanhai began at 2:40 p.m. and ran longer than planned.

When the Leader Leaves

In June 2016, a Guangming Daily commentary by Chen Fang noted that one reason for overtime had again set off heated discussion online: lingdao mei zou shei gan xian zou, “the leader has not left, so who dares to leave first?”

In March 2025, Zhao Lei, a vice president of the appliance maker Midea, described the same scene to the business paper Yicai. “After work, the leader does not leave, so the employees do not leave. But the employees sit there with nothing to do.” Midea said it had issued no notice barring overtime after 6:20 p.m. It said it encourages staff to leave on time.

The Duke of Zhou’s Meal

In the Records of the Grand Historian, the Duke of Zhou warns his son before the son leaves to rule the state of Lu. “I am the son of King Wen, the brother of King Wu and the uncle of King Cheng. In the realm I am not of low rank. Yet in one bath I hold up my hair three times, and in one meal I spit out my food three times, to rise and receive worthy men. Even so, I fear losing the able men of the realm.”

Centuries later, Cao Cao’s poem Short Song includes the line: “The Duke of Zhou spat out his food, and the realm turned its heart to him.”

Juniors Go First

At the Lunar New Year, the visits follow a fixed direction. A Spring Festival guide in The Paper states the rule: “When paying New Year calls, the younger generation must first pay New Year calls to their elders and wish them long life and good health.” The elders may then give the younger ones yasuiqian, the lucky money prepared in advance.

An Emperor Who Stayed Away

The History of Ming records the late years of the Wanli Emperor. In the fourth month of 1612, the censors of Nanjing wrote to the throne: “The ministries are empty, and all affairs are in decay. The emperor has lived in seclusion for more than twenty years and has not once received his high officials.” The entry ends with two words: bu bao, “no reply.”

In 1619, as war in Liaodong went badly, the officials knelt at the palace gate and begged him to hold court and govern. Again the record says: “No reply.”

Late Means Death

In the seventh month of the first year of the Second Emperor of Qin, nine hundred conscripts were sent to garrison Yuyang. They camped at Dazexiang. The Records of the Grand Historian says: “It rained heavily, and the roads were impassable. They judged that they had already missed the deadline. For missing the deadline, the law was beheading for all.”

Chen Sheng and Wu Guang reasoned: “To flee now is death. To rise up is also death. Since death is the same, why not die for a state?” They killed the officers in charge and told the men: “You met the rain, and you have all missed the deadline. Missing the deadline means beheading.” The men followed them into revolt.

Qin legal texts excavated at Shuihudi set much lighter penalties for late labor service: a reprimand for three to five days, a fine for longer delays. In a 2014 article for The Paper, Guo Jian argued that Chen Sheng’s claim was most likely invented to rouse the men to revolt.

Forty-Three Hours

At 11 p.m. on November 13, 2015, crews in Beijing began to replace the Sanyuan Bridge. The old bridge, weighing 1,350 tonnes, was removed and replaced in one piece by a single machine that carries and lays bridge sections.

The work ended at 6 p.m. on November 15, after 43 hours. Reports said the workers had not closed their eyes for three days and two nights.

Ten Months for the Great Hall

Construction of the Great Hall of the People began in October 1958. It was one of the Ten Great Buildings in the capital for the tenth anniversary of the People’s Republic, on October 1, 1959.

The hall was completed on September 24, 1959. The work took just over ten months, from the design drawings to the decoration and the installation and testing of all equipment. Accounts of the project mention the workers’ overtime and materials gathered from across the country.