The upcoming Duanwu Festival holiday, running from Saturday to Monday, is expected to see 687 million cross-regional passenger trips across China, up 7.7 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Transport.
The Duanwu Festival, also known as the Dragon Boat Festival, falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. It will be celebrated on Saturday (May 31) this year.
The ministry said that self-driving travelers will represent a large proportion of all travelers during the holiday, with the expressways to serve a daily average of 40.7 million vehicles, 98 percent of which are passenger cars.
The road network will be busier and busier from 16:00 Friday and enter the pre-holiday rush hours from 19:00 to 21:00.
For the railway travel rush from Friday to Tuesday, trains across China are expected to serve 80.5 million passenger trips. The railways will see a peak of 18.3 million passenger trips on Saturday.
As the Duanwu Festival holiday this year overlaps the Children's Day, it heralds a significant increase of short-distance self-driving tours and family trips. Meanwhile, dragon boat races and other intangible cultural heritage activities will bring an influx of travelers to popular tourist cities and their surrounding areas.
"It is expected that the four major city clusters, namely the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and, the Chengdu-Chongqing region, will become popular with travelers. Cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu will see vigorous tourism, which will drive the growth of tourist consumption, form a short-term holiday consumption boom and highlight the new vitality of the holiday economy," said Xin Minglun, deputy director of the Transport Service Department of the Ministry of Transport.
Duanwu Festival holiday expected to see 687 million passenger trips across China
The three astronauts of China's recently-returned Shenzhou-20 mission on Friday shared the experiences of their dramatic 204-day space mission, including detailing the emergency procedures which were implemented to bring them safely home after their return capsule was struck by space debris.
The trio -- Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui, and Wang Jie -- met with the press in Beijing on Friday afternoon, marking their first public appearance since returning to Earth in November.
When detailing the emergency response mechanisms which were enacted prior to their scheduled return, the astronauts explained that upon discovering a triangular crack on the spacecraft's viewport window, they immediately took photos for documentation and transmitted them to the ground team, who swiftly activated an emergency plan to get the trio home safely.
Experienced mission commander Chen Dong explained how the crew had complete faith in their colleagues on the ground to find a solution to these unforeseen circumstances which led to their return being delayed.
"First, we must trust the ground team, who would anticipate everything and develop the safest return plan for us. Second, we must believe in ourselves; as well-trained astronauts, we have the ability to manage various unexpected failures. I believe that with the collaboration of astronauts and researchers on the ground, our space home will surely go farther, more steadily, and for a longer time," he said.
Following their extended stay in space as a result of the debris incident, the Shenzhou-20 crew spent a total 204 days in orbit, setting a new record for the longest duration by a single group of Chinese astronauts.
During their mission, they completed multiple payload operations, conducted extensive scientific experiments, and carried out four extravehicular activities.
"Our crew worked together with the ground team in unity and coordination, completing four extravehicular activities, several payload entry and exit tasks, and a large number of scientific experiments. It was a fulfilling yet challenging mission. The path to exploring the heavens is long and arduous, but I firmly believe that China's space missions will succeed," said Chen Zhongrui, a former air force pilot who was making his first spaceflight during the mission.
"From the ground to space, from learning to application, I have deeply felt the solid progress of Chinese space endeavors and the quiet dedication of countless personnel behind the scenes. In the future, I will accomplish each mission with full commitment, living up to the trust of the motherland and the people," said fellow astronaut Wang Jie, who was also making his debut spaceflight.
After returning to Earth on Nov 14, the trio successfully completed their isolation recovery and rehabilitation and will now resume normal training following health assessments.
The crew's return, originally scheduled for Nov 5, was postponed due to safety concerns, with the astronauts later using the return capsule belonging to their successor crew of the Shenzhou-21 mission to get back to Earth. China later launched the unmanned Shenzhou-22 spacecraft which will serve the future return of the crew now aboard the Tiangong Space Station.
Shenzhou-20 astronauts share experiences after safely returning from debris incident
