Originally Posted by
Cathay Boy
It is a published fact known around the world that China's Air Force controls the airspaces in China and they only release about 20-30% of airspace to commercial traffic. It has nothing to do with how high they can fly, or how low they can fly, it's about whether they have the green light to fly at all.
Also, China's Air Force is known to hold last minute "drills" and will close down an air space at a second's notice. Many of my colleagues have told me their flights were turned back MID-FLIGHT because the air space is closed off for military exercises.
The PLA usually refrains from doing "drills" in Beijing or Shanghai, but they sneak them in on occasion. About 5 years ago, they managed to shut down both Shanghai airports for the better part of a day.