Shanghai St. Patrick's Day parade cancelled

If you were planning on grabbing your green beer to go to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, you’ll have to find somewhere else to march with it as Shanghai authorities deem the annual St. Patrick's Day parade “too threatening to political stability,” according to a report at IrishCentral.com.

Activities across the city are being limited due to events in Shanghai and Beijing over the last two weekends, and the planned celebration of all things Irish is just the latest casualty.

Some 2,000 locals and foreigners were expected to attend the Shanghai St. Patrick’s Day parade on March 12 near the Bund and central cinema, a hot spot of recent "possible events" reported in the news.

Last year more than 1,500 Shanghai city residents, including Jiang Xiaolong, Vice-Governor of Luwan District, joined the local Irish community in China's largest ever St. Patrick's parade.

The Irish Consul General in Shanghai, Conor O’Riordan, told the media that concerns over the parade came to a boil on Monday. Chinese officials had agreed to allow the parade if it followed a “more modest” route, but the consulate was unable to come up with an alternative plan at such short notice.

Although other large events in the city have been put on ice recently, people should be able to celebrate Shanghai St. Patrick’s Day at the official, invite-only parties, or at smaller pub-based get-togethers that pop up around the city.