Ah, May Holiday - one of China’s shimmering Golden Week vacations. Just a quick little reminder what awaits any laowai silly enough to venture outside and catch up on travel next week.
Spring Festival, May Holiday (Labour Day), and October Holiday (National Day) were turned into three “Golden Weeks” in 1999 as an experiment by the government to boost domestic tourism and allow people living far away from family a chance to return home.
There has been a lot of debate over this “clumping” of national holidays, with detractors arguing that it’s done little to boost the economy and has caused a sharp decline in the quality of service, and the services available - train ticket availability, hotel and plane prices, large crowds, closed business, etc.
The suggestion is to spread the holidays across traditional Chinese days of celebration (Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Tomb Sweeping Day). For 2007, however, the PRC will be maintaining the “Golden Weeks”.
So, stock up on your baijiu, canned goods and fāngbiàn miàn. And to those that venture forth - know that we’ll always remember you fondly.
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April 25, 2007
10:34 am
ok, the holiday starts NOW. Go, go, go. And, now STOP. I said STOP! Get back to work…
April 25, 2007
11:02 am
That’s why wise laowai fly to Thailand
April 25, 2007
5:38 pm
Granted, less Chinese tourists there than in China - but as I found out on my honeymoon in Thailand during Spring Festival… it’s not devoid of them, by any stretch.
April 25, 2007
11:17 pm
[...] 1.3 Billion Reasons Not To Travel During May Holiday: A quick Lost Laowai post showing a few photos from May holiday past. If you’re average picture is worth a thousand words, than these four photos offer you 2,000 reasons to say “stay home!“. Thanks to Dezza for the original photo link. [...]
April 26, 2007
12:19 am
I’ve always found national holidays to be good times to take random trips out to small towns in the countryside that nobody has ever heard of. As long as you stay away from big cities and major tourist attractions, traveling isn’t that bad. If you do go through big cities and major tourist attractions, well, you’ll learn quickly
April 26, 2007
7:52 am
Well, if they admit to 1.3,000,000,000, there are probably closer to 3,000,000,000.
They are running out of everything except former U.S. jobs.
May 16, 2007
12:00 pm
Followed you advice, Ben. No chinese tourists, not even any Dutch.
In back-province Gansu found what until then I thought was a myth: a restaurant that closes for lunch.