China is expecting to see a daily average of 2.15 million cross-border trips during the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday starting from Saturday, an increase of around 12 percent compared with last year's holiday period, according to a recent estimation by the National Immigration Administration.
Also known as the Duanwu Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month in the Chinese lunar calendar.
The holiday is featured by traditional celebrations including dragon boat races and eating zongzi, a glutinous rice dumpling wrapped in reed leaves.
Ahead of the festival, ports across China are expecting to handle a growing number of inbound and outbound trips.
The Horgos Port in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region anticipates about 4,000 inbound and outbound trips every day during the holiday, marking noticeable growth.
In south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, ports are expecting peaks in cross-border trips as well, with the region's border inspection station estimating that the port of its capital city Nanning and the two ports bordering Vietnam will handle over 97,000 inbound and outbound trips in total.
According to Shenzhen's Office of Port and Entry and Exit, during the holiday, the major city in south China's Guangdong Province will handle about 2.49 million cross-border trips.
Land ports in Shenzhen and nearby Hong Kong will see significant rises in passenger trips, said the office. The increase is expected due to several grand celebrations, including dragon boat races held across Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Macao, as well as International Children's Day, which is typically marked by growth in family travel.
The trend is particularly evident at the West Kowloon Port, an international railway passenger port located in Hong Kong with two separate port outlets administered by Hong Kong and the mainland.
"The West Kowloon Port is expecting to see over 300,000 inbound and outbound trips during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, a daily average of about 106,000," said Huang Chun, a deputy captain on duty at the port's border inspection station.
Airports in north China's Qingdao City, Shandong Province, which are expecting some 27,000 passenger trips during the holiday, will be handing out special gifts and auspicious bracelets to travelers in celebration.
China expects double-digit growth in daily cross-border trips during Dragon Boat Festival holiday
Thousands of protesters flooded the streets of London on Saturday, marching from Westminster to the U.S. embassy to deliver a clear message to the United States and Israel -- stop the war in Iran.
Chanting slogans and carrying banners reading "Stop bombing Iran" and "No war on Iran", demonstrators condemned what they described as unlawful military aggression that they say threatens regional stability and civilian lives.
"What Trump is doing from his base in America -- trying to rule the world. And I think it's disgusting and it's dangerous. It's killing. It's going to kill tens of thousands of people across the Middle East, and it'll have huge ramifications across the world," said a protester in an interview with China Global Television Network.
"I think that Trump and Netanyahu's obvious attempts to push regime change are unacceptable. And it's ultimately the Iranian people and people across the Middle East, normal people, who are going to suffer the most in this war," said another.
The United States and Israel launched coordinated attacks against Iran on Feb. 28, which resulted in the deaths of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, several of his family members and multiple senior Iranian military commanders.
Iran said on Friday evening that since the fighting began, at least 1,332 civilians have been killed, with thousands of others injured.
"A completely immoral, groundless act of aggression, another war crime against Iran," said a third protester.
"They are going in, they're bombing people indiscriminately. Over 160 school children have been killed for no good reason," another protester said, referring to the U.S.-Israeli airstrike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' elementary school in Minab, southern Iran.
Initially, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the United States couldn't use any British bases for military actions in the Middle East. But he later rolled back on his words, saying that the U.S. can use certain bases as long as it is for defensive actions only.
The protesters don't think he has gone far enough. They said that this is an illegal action and should be stopped immediately.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a live broadcast statement on Saturday that Israel's attack on Iran will continue with "full force and uncompromising momentum."
Israel has a well-prepared plan with many surprises to undermine "Iranian regime" and "enable change," Netanyahu said.
Thousands march in London to demand halt to US-Israeli strikes on Iran
Thousands march in London to demand halt to US-Israeli strikes on Iran
