It really should be considered a national or regional holiday: the day public heating 暖气 is "turned on" in Beijing or November 15th.

Just think of the glee you experience when suddenly you step inside your once icy lair to discover the temperature seems abnormally tolerable. Or, what about the giddiness that swells up inside you as those first trickles of water or "magic" burst to life inside the radiator. Why, for the little ones we could create a whole set characters along the lines of Christmas to explain and celebrate the miracle of heat. "If you don't behave, Ol' Master Wang won't turn your heat on and you'll freeze to death", says a freezing, but upbeat mother. Those that are really good, could have their heat miraculously turn on earlier than others. We could meet for dinner to celebrate Heat's Eve - Nov. 14th, even staying up late to experience the first waves of warm joy.

There's an enormous amount of anxiety accompanied with this holiday. Conversations inevitably gravitate towards confirmations that your heat is also not "on" or that you too can hear the heat beginning to radiate. Oh, how exciting! Of course, there are those unlucky souls who long to reach out and touch their radiators, if only to feel some holiday warmth this winter. Alas, will it ever come? Ask Ol' Master Wang.

So when does your heat turn on? Who thinks it true that certain districts have staggered dates for public heating?

Reportedly, foreign residential compounds have their heat turned on by Oct. 15th. This is an unconfirmed report stemming from several accusations from upset Chinese on several local forums. We live in hutongs, our office and Sun City like everyone else and have no way to confirm such outrageous accusations.

Fun fact to bewilder your freezing house guests: supposedly, the date to turn on the heat, Nov. 15th, was set more than 50 years ago. Again, we rely on the Google machine to confirm everything for us.