Passenger trips surge on Day 2 of Qingming holiday as sightseeing, tomb-sweeping gain traction

China's transport authorities have stepped up services to ensure safe and smooth trips as travel flows are rising on Sunday, the second day of the three-day Qingming Festival holiday, engaging mainly in sightseeing and tomb-sweeping.

The Qingming Festival, or Tomb-Sweeping Day, falls on April 5 this year. It is a traditional Chinese festival for people to pay tribute to the dead and worship their ancestors. The holiday also provides a short break for people to engage in spring outings.

China's railway system is projected to transport 14.7 million passengers on Sunday, with 768 additional trains scheduled to handle the increased flow.

Many stations across the country have set up designated amusing areas for children, added free charging facilities, and increased the frequency of bus and taxi connections to facilitate passengers.

The highway network is expected to see about 54.8 million vehicles hit the road on the second day of the holiday, including around 14 million new energy vehicles (NEVs).

Short-distance trips dominate the trend, with heavy congestions seen near parks, suburban scenic spots, and cemeteries.

The Yangtze River Delta in east China, the Chengdu-Chongqing region in the southwest, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in the south and other key regions have deployed additional staff at service areas to ease traffic and increased mobile charging stations.

Waterway travel is also expected to peak on Sunday, with passenger trips expected to exceed 1.36 million, up 4.3 percent year on year. Visitors for urban sightseeing cruises, island tours and other water-based leisure activities are likely to increase noticeably.

Passenger trips surge on Day 2 of Qingming holiday as sightseeing, tomb-sweeping gain traction

Passenger trips surge on Day 2 of Qingming holiday as sightseeing, tomb-sweeping gain traction

Passenger trips surge on Day 2 of Qingming holiday as sightseeing, tomb-sweeping gain traction

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Thursday presided over a State Council executive meeting that studied work on building a unified national market and reviewed and approved a plan for the development of a modern emergency response system during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).

Noting that building a unified national market is essential to advancing high-quality development, the meeting called for deepening institutional frameworks in areas such as property rights protection, market access, fair competition, social credit and market exit mechanisms.

The meeting also urged efforts to advance high-standard connectivity of market infrastructure to facilitate smooth economic circulation and effectively reduce logistics costs across society.

Emergency management is critical to protecting people's lives and property, the meeting said. It called for accelerating the development of a modern emergency response system, deepening reform and innovation in emergency management, and improving coordinated response mechanisms.

Efforts should be made to strengthen risk prevention at the source, enhance monitoring, forecasting and early warning, and accelerate a shift in governance toward proactive prevention, according to the meeting.

A draft revision of the Law on the People's Bank of China was also discussed and approved in principle at the meeting, which decided to submit the draft to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation.

Chinese premier chairs State Council executive meeting