Cities across China are decorating landmark sites with national flags and floral displays as National Day is around the corner.
Yuzhong District of southwest China's Chongqing City is displaying over 2,000 flags alongside carefully arranged floral landscapes covering main roads, commercial hubs, and bridges. In Shexian County of east China's Anhui Province, red flags are fluttering amid the Huizhou Ancient City's floral greenery.
At the Wenshan Dongshan Park in southwest China's Yunnan Province, citizens unfurled a giant 24-by-16 meter national flag, singing vibrant songs to express their heartfelt wishes. Cities such as Chengdu in southwest China, Taiyuan in north China, and Yichang in central China are also showcasing the five-star flag to usher in the holiday.
Flower displays bloom throughout streets and parks, with cities of Fuzhou in the east and Daqing in the northeast hosting themed floral exhibitions that brighten public spaces. Markets bustle with activity as fresh produce flows steadily. In Zhongmu, Henan Province in central China, trucks loaded with pomegranate, honey tangerines and kiwi line up early to meet demand. In Urumqi City of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, flower markets bloom with over a thousand varieties meeting diverse consumer preferences.
Ahead of the holiday, Hong Kong's streets have been adorned with bright national and special administrative region (SAR)'s flags alongside large National Day posters. Community groups are holding cultural activities featuring traditional crafts to celebrate the 77th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China.
In Macao, national flags wave at border checkpoints, streets, parks and squares, paired with celebratory banners creating a lively National Day atmosphere.
Cities across China adorned for National Day celebrations
Thousands of evacuees are sheltering in temporary facilities in Bangkok, unable to return home after heavy rain battered the Thai capital over the weekend, leaving widespread flooding across the city.
In Lat Krabang, on the eastern edge of Bangkok, much of the area remains submerged, with floodwaters reaching neck height in some places. The sprawling district includes housing estates, canal-side communities, factories and major roads. It sits a short distance from the Suvarnabhumi Airport.
While some main roads are beginning to reopen, conditions change dramatically in the smaller communities. Among the hardest hit is a housing estate of around 30,000 residents, where people say they have been without electricity, running water, food and drinking water for nearly four days.
"There are no words for it. Everything is just terrible. Just imagine, there are no working toilets, the children can't shower, and there is no food or drinking water. Everything is just piling up. It is an unbearable situation," said Lhin Ong-orn, a resident.
Many residents have moved to a university campus that would normally be filled with students. Its classrooms and other facilities have been repurposed as a refuge for families with nowhere else to go. The campus has become a displacement center sheltering around 2,000 people, one of more than 200 temporary shelters set up across the capital since the flooding began.
Those brought in include elderly residents, people with limited mobility, and others with injuries or health problems. Many have been evacuated from neighborhoods that remain completely cut off, where basic services have been disrupted and essential supplies remain difficult to deliver.
"The water level kept fluctuating, and my father is ill, requiring an oxygen machine around the clock. After the power was cut off on the evening of September 26, the oxygen machine couldn't work. We decided we had to get out, so I contacted rescue foundations to help evacuate my family," said Kittiphong Singhsae, a resident.
Thailand's nationwide flooding since Sept 16 has left eight people dead, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said Monday.
Twenty-eight provinces, including Bangkok, are still affected, mainly in Thailand's central, northern, eastern and northeastern regions. Between Sept 16 and 28, flooding swept through 42 provinces, affecting 1.8 million people, according to the department.
Thousands left without food, power amid severe floods in Bangkok
