National Holidays

We don't get Christmas and New Year's off, but we do get a week off to celebrate National Day (October 1st). That day in 1949, in front of 300,000 people during a ceremony in Tian'anmen Square, Chairman Mao declared the founding of the People's Republic and waved the first five-star PRC flag. Grace and I are celebrating by going to Shanghai to see my sister Betsy and her family... travel books generally have this to say about the idea:

"Traveling during National Holidays" With a week off, many Chinese travel domestically and internationally. Travel fares double and triple and advance bookings must be made weeks, even months ahead for international travel. Hoards of tour groups flock to the major tourist destinations of China, so you can forget having a quiet moment to ponder how the Great Wall was built. If you can avoid it, it's advisable not to travel domestically during the week around October 1st. The latest statistics released publicly are from 2000 but according to these, 59.82 million people traveled during National Day holidays that year.

We're new here and still willing to see for ourselves... and we won't need a hotel room!