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October 9, 2013

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Home » Opinion » Chinese Views

Golden week becomes golden mess of ‘people mountain, people sea’

Source: Xinhua | October 9, 2013, Wednesday | Print Edition

Highways turned into free parking lots, high-speed trains struggled to take the strain, armed police helped evacuate stranded crowds.

These are not scenes from the Hollywood blockbuster “2012” but rather a reality show taking place in China, where 1.3 billion people are on their 14th week-long National Day holiday.

Since the holiday kicked off on October 1, relatively good weather nationwide, toll-free highways, admission ticket discounts, and lower gas prices have combined to make this so-called Golden Week the best time for traveling.

At least that was the theory.

But when millions of minds think alike about travel, the result is epic crowds and sometimes chaos.

The expression “people mountain, people sea,” (renshan renhai) describes the situation and Internet users declared that Golden Week was a “golden mess.”

Facts and figures

98,000 — The number of visitors at the Summer Palace in Beijing last Wednesday as crowds tried to catch a glimpse of a giant rubber duck installed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman.

The temporary exhibit, which has caused quite a buzz, was transferred to the former royal garden and residence prior to the Golden Week.

The park administration had to urge residents with monthly or annual tickets to avoid viewing the duck between 9am and 4pm, for the convenience of tourists from outside Beijing.

110 — A record 110 pairs of high-speed trains shuttled between Beijing and Tianjin every National Day since 2008, transporting more than 100,000 passengers daily. The trip between the two municipalities takes 33 minutes.

Major scenic spots in Tianjin, a coastal municipality neighboring Beijing, received 804,000 visitors on the first day of the holiday.

40,000 — Jiuzhaigou Valley in Sichuan Province, a World Heritage site famous for its colorful water pools, snowy mountains, deep valleys and forests, was unable to cope with a rush of 40,000 tourists. Its shuttle buses couldn’t handle the crowds.

More than 4,000 people were stranded in the valley and were able to leave until 10pm last Wednesday. The whole traffic system was paralyzed after some angry visitors lost their patience and tried to stop buses and board, according to the valley administration, which apologized for inadequate transport.

12 —The number of hours it took a Xinhua correspondent to drive 540 kilometers (336 miles) from Harbin, capital city of Heilongjiang Province, to Shenyang, capital city of Liaoning Province, in northeast China, on October 1.

There have been many attempts to ease the problems. Under China’s first Tourism Law, which came into effect on October 1, scenic spots are not allowed to receive tourists exceeding their capacities, and these numbers should be made public.

Solutions

Early warning (of overcrowding) mechanisms and group visitor reservations have been broadly introduced to make the best use of travel resources.

For instance, the administration of Mount Huangshan, another World Heritage site in east China’s Anhui Province, has a policy that bars groups without reservations from entering as peak capacity approaches.

As people travel from far and wide to visit scenic spots, it is hard to refuse their often unyielding demand for admission. This demand is a key problem in the “Golden Week syndrome.”

Possible cures, or at least palliatives, have been identified. Paid annual leave is one of them.

In February the State Council, China’s cabinet, announced a program promoting domestic tourism. It said that a paid annual leave system will have been basically implemented by 2020, meaning all employers will be encouraged to subscribe to it by then.

Both the program and the Tourism Law emphasize tourism and leisure welfare for ordinary people.

However, the reality is that employees who can take paid vacations are mainly from government organizations and state-owned enterprises. Most people working for labor-intensive and private firms face practical difficulties in enjoying the vacation. Their employers can simply decline their request.

Highway tolls

Even if they are allowed time off, they could be risking their jobs and promotion in a fiercely competitive jobs market.

It is not rare to hear of employers in some way penalizing their staff for enjoying paid vacations. The week-long National Day holiday therefore becomes a “legal” time for these people to travel.

Travel is not only about time but also money. To encourage more people to travel, China last October introduced a policy of eliminating highway tolls for the first time during the holidays.

One year on, private car drivers have been exempted 14.3 billion yuan (US$2.3 billion) during four holidays, with 20 days free of charge. Traffic has increased by 51.6 percent compared with previous toll-charged holidays.

Some people have avoided the road rush by leaving early and paying the tolls, saying the rush was much worse than the toll.

 

Chinese Views


 

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