What's the difference between 开放 (kāi fàng) and 开门 (kāi mén) which both mean "open"? From dict.cn:


开放 (kāi fàng) = open
开门 (kāi mén) = open (the) door


I use 开门 in phrases such as 还没开门了吗 (háiméi kāiménle ma?), when I want to know if a shop hasn't opened yet, and 你几点开门 (nǐ jīdiǎn kāimén?), which can be used to ask when a shop opens.

I recently encountered 西门开放时间 (xīmén kāifàng shíjiān) on signage, which translates to west gate opening hours, but I don't recall seeing 开放 before this.

Question: What's the difference between 开放 and 开门?
开门 = open the door

开放 = open to public

开放 means if something is open to public and 开门 means if the DOOR is open, this is the key difference.

For example:

公园开放了吗？Park's open to public yet?

公园开门了吗？Park's open yet?

The first sentence will only be used if the park isn't officially open yet and you won't use it to check park's opening time everyday.

Example when you can use 开放 and not 开门:

经济开放。Open economy.

Obviously you can't use 经济开门 which means Economy open the door