The scene at the Great Wall of China this past week would have been unthinkable just months ago.
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(CNN) — The scene at the Great Wall of China this past week would have been unthinkable just months ago.
Photos of the tourist attraction in Beijing last weekend show massive crowds crammed along the winding wall, pressed together in close quarters and squeezing past each other through narrow doorways. Most are wearing face masks — but a number of people, including young children, pulled their masks down to their chin, and a few seem to have foregone masks entirely.
It’s Golden Week — an eight-day national holiday, one of China’s busiest annual travel periods, and a major test for the country as it emerges from the coronavirus pandemic.
China’s official reported virus numbers have stayed low since the spring. There have been a few flare-ups, including a cluster in Beijing in June, but these were met with immediate lockdown measures and mass testing, and the outbreaks were contained within a few weeks.
With close to zero local transmissions, people flocked to bus stations, airports and transit hubs to travel around the country for the holiday, which kicked off on October 1. Local authorities competed to attract tourists, with provincial and municipal governments issuing travel vouchers and tourist attractions offering free or discounted tickets.
The Great Wall has geared up for the rush of tourists as well. The most popular section of the wall — the Badaling section — reopened at the end of March, albeit with new restrictions like requiring visitors to reserve tickets in advance.
Chinese tourists crowd in a doorway on a section of the Great Wall on October 4.
