The Golden Week or Have you booked your ticket yet?

This week is what is called the Golden Week holiday in China. October 1^st is China’s national day when China celebrates the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949. Accompanying the national day is a week-long national holiday. It is one of two major one-week national holidays in China, with the second one happening around Chinese New Year. There are other national holidays that also give Chinese people a couple of days off, but Chinese New Year and National Day on October 1^st are the longest official holidays.

The fact that these two public holiday periods are the longest means that during these holidays, China is on the move. During the New Year or spring festival holidays, people are travelling home to spend the holidays with their families. This week’s National Day holiday will also see large travel movements both domestically and overseas as people are profiting from the time off.

This means that all forms of travel arrangements around this time of year are difficult to make. Both train and plane tickets for traveling during the Golden Week are notoriously difficult to get and often sold out weeks in advance. From personal experience, I can testify to the challenges of getting a train ticket, particularly after I had decided relatively late that I wanted to travel over the October holiday. The same is true for accommodation. If it is not booked in good time, it can also be difficult to get a hotel during the Golden Week. And finally, all major tourist hotspots are also very busy as well. It is indeed no exaggeration to say that most of China is on the move during either of the two week-long national holidays and once again, a large in-country touristic migration will take place during this week’s national holiday week.