Record 34m cram China's top tourist sites 

 
 

The country's 119 major scenic spots attracted 34.2 million visitors during the eight-day holiday, up 20.9 percent from last year and setting a new record.

Income from tourism surged by nearly a quarter from 2011 to 1.77 billion yuan ($278.39 million), the National Tourism Administration said.

The administration said many scenic spots, including the Forbidden City, attracted record volumes of visitors during the longest-ever "Golden Week" bridging the Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day holiday.

On Tuesday, 186,000 people visited the Forbidden City, or the Palace Museum at the heart of Beijing - the largest single-day number of visitors ever.

But the holiday tour spree also gave rise to complaints among the public about unpleasantly crowded scenic spots and restaurants as well as traffic congestion. [more]

 

Road to nowhere 

Traffic congested at major expressway toll gates across China during the holiday after the government launched a pilot scheme to lift road tolls for passenger cars using highways. 

Photos: Holiday Highlights
Long queues of vehicles move slowly on an expressway in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, Sept 30, 2012.

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People get out of their vehicles and take photos of the traffic jam on a highway in Tianjin on Sept 30, 2012.

China's railways also enjoyed bumper traffic, carrying a record 9.14 million passengers on the first day of the eight-day holiday, the country's Ministry of Railways announced on Tuesday.

Photos: Holiday Highlights
A boy looks out through a window of a train at Nanchang train station, Jiangxi province, Sept 29, 2012.
  Photos: Holiday Highlights
Passengers walk through the exit channel at the Beijing West Railway Station in Beijing, capital of China, Oct 7, 2012.  [more]

 
Flag-raising ceremony hails National Day

Tens of thousands of people gathered at the Tian'anmen Square to watch the flag-raising ceremony at dawn on Monday, in celebration of the 63rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.   

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Soldiers raise the Chinese national flag at the Tian'anmen Square, Oct 1, 2012.

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People watch the national flag raising ceremony at the Tian'anmen Square.

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The Chinese national flag is raised at the Tian'anmen Square on Monday morning, China's National Day.   

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Chinese national flag escorts march across the Chang'an Avenue to raise the flag at the Tian'anmen Square, Oct 1, 2012.

 
Mid-Autumn Festival 

The festival is one of the most important festivals in China.It is an evening celebration when families gather together to light lanterns, eat moon cakes and appreciate the round moon.This day is also considered as a harvest festival since fruits, vegetables and grain had been harvested by this time and food was abundant.

Photos: Holiday Highlights

Photos: Holiday Highlights

Above: A full moon is seen in the sky above Beijing on Sept 30, 2012, the day of China's Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on the 15th day of August in Chinese calendar.[Wang Jing / Asianewsphoto]

Left: A full moon is seen in the sky above Changchun city, Northeast China’s Jilin province on Sept 30, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

Mooncake is a traditional Chinese food served on the Mid-Autumn Festival (the 15th day of the eigth month in lunar calendar), which falls on Sept 30 this year. It symbolizes the reunion of family and friends.

Photos: Holiday Highlights

Photos: Holiday Highlights
Cooks prepare to serve a one-ton mooncake to people in Hefei, East China's Anhui province, Sept 22, 2012. The mooncake is made by more than 30 chefs and measures 2 meters in diameter. [Photo/CFP]
Spend holiday at China Open 

 
 For some it was no holiday

Photos: Holiday Highlights
A cleaner picks up garbage left by tourists at the Great Wall in Badaling in the Beijing suburbs. [Zhu Xingxin/ China Daily]

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A cleaner drags garbage from the water in a square in Chengdu city, Southwest China's Sichuan province on Oct 4, 2012.

Photos: Holiday Highlights
Workers continue building on a construction site in Chengdu city, Sichuan province on Oct 4, 2012. Many migrant workers missed the long holiday as they had to work.

Photos: Holiday Highlights
A welder continues working in a railway tunnel in Yichang, Central China’s Hubei province on Oct 5, 2012.