Educational tours surge in China as spring break coincide Qingming holiday

As China's spring break for primary and secondary schools coincided with the Qingming Festival holiday this year, many schoolchildren and their parents embraced a five-day getaway from Friday to Tuesday, sparking a surge in educational travel.

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

The extended break has allowed parents to take their children on immersive journeys across the country, transforming textbook knowledge into tangible, memorable experiences.

In the iconic Baidicheng-Qutang Gorge Scenic Area in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, young travelers trekked historic trails alongside their parents.

Inside the Tuogu Hall, children listened to captivating tales from the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 AD), bringing history lessons to life.

"With the spring break and Qingming Festival holiday aligning, we want to bring our child to experience the cultural depth of this historic city," said Yu Chuan, a tourist.

"It's been wonderful and joyful. We're helping our child learn about history and culture while appreciating the magnificent landscapes of our motherland," said Qiu Yu, another tourist.

To welcome Chongqing's inaugural spring break, the scenic area launched a signature educational route, featuring poetry check-in spots and dedicated cultural interpretation zones to enhance engagement and interactivity.

Meanwhile, in Yiwu City, east China's Zhejiang Province, home to the world's largest small-commodity market, a new wave of immersive "business-themed educational tours" has captured the interest of students and parents alike.

During the holiday, children from across China participated in hands-on lessons covering product sourcing, price comparison, and sales strategies, turning the bustling international trade market into a dynamic classroom for real-world commerce.

"In Yiwu, the students get to experience the entire process, from purchasing products to selling them. Each child starts with 50 yuan (about 7.29 U.S. dollars) in seed funding, and how much they earn tomorrow really depends on their own creativity and efforts," said Liu Houzhao, a teacher leading an educational group from Yangzhou City in east China's Jiangsu Province.

Fifth-grader Chen Yinhao demonstrated sharp business instincts. Upon learning that a particular pendant cost 3 yuan wholesale, he immediately pooled resources with a friend to buy in bulk.

"It's 3 yuan each, so we decided to invest together. We plan to sell them for 4 yuan each," said Chen.

Through product selection, price comparison, and independent decision-making in Yiwu's global marketplace, the children were gradually developing financial literacy and rational consumption habits.

Educational tours surge in China as spring break coincide Qingming holiday

The World Health Organization (WHO) is providing vigorous support for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in its response to an outbreak of Ebola caused by the Bundibugyo species of the virus.

On Thursday, a UN plane carrying supplies from the WHO arrived in Bunia, one of the affected areas in the country's northeast. Among the provisions were medicines and protective equipment for health workers, as well as tents that were set up outside a local referral hospital to facilitate triage of up to 60 incoming patients.

The response is also aiming to strengthen disease surveillance, contact tracing, clinical preparedness and management, and community engagement.

Urgency is mounting as the the Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda spreads rapidly, with more than 900 suspected cases and over 200 suspected deaths, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the WHO warned on Monday.

Addressing a high-level virtual ministerial meeting, Africa CDC Director General Jean Kaseya said that since the DRC declared its 17th Ebola outbreak on May 15, a total of 906 suspected cases and 204 probable deaths have been recorded.

A total of 106 cases have been laboratory-confirmed across the two affected countries, including five in Uganda, all linked to imported cases from the DRC, he said.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned over the rapid spread of the outbreak, underscoring the WHO's decision on Friday to upgrade its risk assessment from high to very high at the national level in the DRC.

The Ebola virus is highly contagious and can cause symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhea, generalized pain or malaise, and in severe cases, internal and external bleeding. According to the WHO, Ebola fatality rates vary depending on the viral subtype.

WHO provides support for DRC response to Ebola outbreak