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Four Climates, One Suitcase: How to Dress for the Mid-Autumn and National Day Break
The train pulls into Dunhuang in the early morning. A young woman steps off in a T-shirt and lifts her face to the sun. By nightfall she has put on every thin layer she brought and is still cold. Her four thick sweaters lie folded and untouched in the suitcase back at her hotel.
Hers is the oldest mistake in vacation packing: she dressed for the weather on the day she left home. This year the Mid-Autumn Festival lands on September 25. National Day follows on October 1 and runs for a week. Hundreds of millions will cross the country, and many will pack for the wrong sky.
Old hands in the mountains have a trick, and Chinese weather services have a name for it: the onion. Three thin layers do more than one thick coat. Begin with something soft and breathable against the skin. Add a light sweater or a fleece. Finish with a shell that stops the wind. Warm at noon? Off comes the middle. When the pass turns cold, you put it back on. You end up wearing every layer, and nothing in the case is dead weight.
The numbers explain why. In Beijing, the morning starts near ten degrees, and by afternoon the temperature climbs into the mid-twenties. The water towns south of the Yangtze stay mild, but their damp air steals the warmth from your bones. On the Qinghai-Gansu loop you can go from two degrees at a windy pass to twenty-five in the desert before dinner. On the western Sichuan plateau, night temperatures come close to freezing.
Then there are the feet. Take the shoes you have already walked a hundred kilometers in, not the new pair that looks better in photographs. Save the heels for another trip; old cobblestones and temple steps want nothing to do with them. For color, borrow from the landscape ahead: oatmeal, stone, sand, olive. One bright scarf is enough. When the wind rises, that scarf becomes a jacket.
One 24-inch case carries you through a week if every top goes with every pair of pants. Three base layers, two mid-layers, one shell, three pairs of socks — one on your feet, one drying, one in the bag. Pack a few Band-Aids and a tube of lip balm; long walks and dry northern air are hard on the skin.
Packing well takes a little self-knowledge: you picture a cold evening before you have felt it. The best outfit is the one you forget you are wearing.
