The Chinese wall crowded with people in the middle of a pandemic 0:44
(CNN) -
The scene on the Great Wall of China last week would have been unthinkable just a few months ago.
Photos of the tourist attraction in Beijing last weekend show crowded crowds along the winding wall, huddled in tight spaces and squeezed together through narrow gates.
Most wear face masks.
But several people, including young children, have pulled their masks down to their chins, and some appear to have given up on masks entirely.
It's Golden Week - an eight-day national holiday.
It's one of China's busiest annual travel periods and a major test for the country as it emerges from the pandemic.
Official coronavirus figures reported in China have been low since spring.
There have been a few outbreaks, including a group in Beijing in June, but these were met with immediate lockdown measures and massive testing.
The outbreaks were contained within a few weeks.
With nearly zero local broadcasts, people flocked to bus stations, airports and transit centers to travel across the country during the holidays, which began on October 1.
Local authorities competed to attract tourists, with provincial and municipal governments issuing travel vouchers and tourist attractions that offer free or discounted tickets.
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New restrictions on the Great Wall
The Great Wall has also been prepared for the flood of tourists.
The most popular section of the wall, the Badaling section, reopened in late March.
But it did so with new restrictions, such as requiring visitors to book tickets in advance.
Chinese tourists crowd a gate on the Great Wall on October 4.
Photo: Kevin Frayer / Getty Images
In a notice posted Sept. 29, the Badaling Special Administrative Region Office, a government agency that manages the Great Wall, warned visitors to continue following the restrictions during the Christmas season.
These restrictions include social distancing by maintaining a meter of distance between them.
"Crowding is strictly prohibited," the notice said.
Previous guidelines on the Great Wall website reminded tourists to wear their face masks throughout their visit, urging them to "obey the guidance and management of museum staff."
None of these restrictions seemed to be closely followed this week as bare-faced tourists crowded the wall.
Typically, more than 10 million people visit the Great Wall each year.
The Badaling section, notoriously packed with local and international tourists, is so popular that officials set a limit of 65,000 visitors per day as of June 2019.
When the section reopened in March, new restrictions limited the number of daily visitors to 30% of its usual capacity.
Before the Golden Week celebrations, authorities raised that limit to 75% of normal capacity, which means a daily limit of 48,750 visitors.
On October 3, tickets for the Badaling section were completely sold out early in the morning, according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency.
The Badaling section of the Great Wall.
Golden Week Vacation Trips
The Golden Week holiday, the longest in China alongside the Lunar New Year holiday, has traditionally seen middle-class Chinese travel abroad in large numbers.
But this year, visa restrictions, quarantine requirements, a lack of international flights, and the continuing danger from COVID-19 mean that Chinese travelers are looking to travel in the country.
In just the first four days of the holiday, 425 million domestic tourist trips were made in China.
This generated more than US $ 45,000 million in tourism income, according to data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
“We have seen more tourists this year than in previous years.
The number of daily tourists has doubled since we waived the entrance fee.
So said an employee at the Wuhan Yellow Crane Tower attraction last week, according to state media
Global Times.
Difference from Lunar New Year holidays
This week's relaxed restrictions and non-compliance with social distancing rules are in stark contrast to the anxiety that overshadowed China's last major travel period - the Lunar New Year holiday in late January, when the coronavirus outbreak swept through. Wuhan.
On January 23, two days before Lunar New Year's Day, the Chinese government shut down Wuhan.
But by then, the virus had already spread across the country and beyond, as hundreds of millions of Chinese traveled on vacation.
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As more information about the virus emerged, Chinese transit centers emptied;
those still traveling were dressed in full protective gear, including plastic gloves, ponchos, helmets, face shields, and goggles.
The sense of imminent danger has largely faded now, said Chen Qianmei, a 29-year-old from the southern city of Guangzhou who flew to Shanghai last week for the holidays.
"I think China has (the virus) very well controlled," he told CNN.
“I wear masks and bring alcohol wipes to clean my hands, especially before eating.
Although in Shanghai few people wear masks now.
CNN's Nectar Gan contributed to this report.
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