Millions to Celebrate Golden Week Holiday in China

BEIJING, May 1, 2007 — -- China kicked off its Labor Day holiday with an outburst of travelers flocking to train stations, bus stations and airports all over the country.

About 150 million Chinese are expected to take advantage of the week-long holiday, setting a new record in the country for Golden Week travel.

At the main railway station in the capital, thousands of people waited in line at all the 38 counters where train tickets were sold.

"I had to wait for about 30 minutes before I got my ticket," Min Fei said. Fei, a 30-year-old employee in a construction materials company, said he was willing to stand in line because he wanted to take the train back to his hometown in central China's Henan Province to visit relatives.

Shen Nan, a 40-year-old mother, and her teenage son waited for more than 40 minutes before they finally bought their train tickets to Shenzhen in southern China. "I am not sure if we still want to take this train," she said, "but it was not easy to get these tickets, and this is part of holiday travel these days."

The train station was a beehive of activity. As thousands rushed to catch their trains, thousands more from other provinces rushed out of the train station to look for buses and taxis to take them to their destinations in the capital.

The scene at the Beijing Airport this afternoon was somewhat similar, if slightly more organized, as Chinese tour groups, identifiable by the color of the caps worn by their members and by guides carrying their respective banners, arrived and departed in quick succession.

Zhang Dechan, a 30-year-old tourist guide, held a blue banner with the name of his travel agency as he fidgeted while waiting nervously for his tour group to come out of the arrival area. Zhang said he was expecting a group of 35 tourists from the city of Nanning in southwest China. "I have worked in Beijing for five years now, accompanying Chinese tourists," Zhang said. "And there are more and more groups coming from all over the country."