Major Chinese cities embraces National Day holiday travel rush

Many major Chinese cities experienced a nationwide travel rush on Wednesday, the first day of the eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, with transportation authorities taking various steps to ensure the safety and smooth travel of holidaymakers.

On Wednesday morning, Beijing South Railway Station was packed with passengers. The station handled an average of 15,000 passenger trips per hour, more than double the number seen on a regular day.

The city's two airports, Beijing Capital International Airport and Daxing International Airport, also experienced heavy passenger flows. From Tuesday to Wednesday, the two airports handled more than 2,260 flights per day, with approximately 380,000 passenger trips in and out of the capital.

Among the passengers was an American tourist who had come to China for leisure travel.

"We were here for two weeks. We went to Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Zhangjiajie, and back to Beijing. (And now I'm heading) back to America. It was great," she said.

Shanghai also experienced a surge in outbound traffic, with total vehicle flow throughout the day estimated to have reached around 160,000.

The peak in outbound traffic from the city is expected to continue until Friday, the third day of the holiday.

Shanghai police have deployed a coordinated "air-ground" response, utilizing drones together with ground personnel to promptly detect and respond to any emergencies.

Meanwhile, the railway system of Shenzhen, the tech hub in south China's Guangzhou Province, also saw a significant increase in passenger volume, with more than 1 million passenger trips on Wednesday.

Data from the customs authority indicated that on the first day of the holiday, over 100 inbound and outbound passenger flights were scheduled at Shenzhen Airport, with flights to and from Southeast Asian countries accounting for more than 62 percent of the total.

"We estimate that Shenzhen Airport will handle an average of about 19,000 inbound and outbound passenger trips per day during the National Day holiday," said border inspection officer Li Di.

Major Chinese cities embraces National Day holiday travel rush

A Japanese lawmaker has raised concerns over Japan's push to expand its military and its nuclear policy.

Responding to some politicians' dangerous tendency towards possessing nuclear weapons, Takara Sachika, a member of Japan's House of Councilors, said that Japan's push to strengthen its military, combined with what she called a misguided nuclear policy, not only heightens regional tensions but also directly threatens regional security.

"I think this is completely unacceptable. Japan is a country that has suffered atomic bombings and is one of the nations most aware of the threat posed by nuclear weapons. Yet such a country is openly discussing the issue of possessing nuclear weapons and even attempting to revise the principle of not allowing the introduction of nuclear weapons, one of the Three Non-Nuclear Principles. This is an extremely serious problem," Takara said.

Takara said the Japanese government's tendency to expand its military capabilities is completely contrary to the Constitution.

"From the perspective of Japan's Constitution, Japan should never have adopted a policy of ensuring security by strengthening military capabilities. Yet today, enormous effort is being poured into military expansion, and that in itself is a serious problem," said the lawmaker.

At a Diet meeting in early November 2025, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said that what she described as the Chinese central authorities' "use of force on Taiwan" could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, and suggested the possibility of armed intervention in the Taiwan Strait, drawing strong criticism worldwide.

Takara urged Takaichi to retract her erroneous remarks as soon as possible.

"I think there is a very big problem with making such remarks that provoke other countries. It is necessary to thoroughly examine the facts as soon as possible and withdraw the relevant remarks," she said.

Japanese lawmaker criticizes nuclear weapons remarks as threat to regional security