Crowds turned out across China on Thursday to celebrate the 77th anniversary of the founding of the country, marked by official flag-raising ceremonies in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Macao alongside the start of a week-long national holiday.
At Tiananmen Square, more than 100,000 people gathered before dawn to watch the raising of the national flag and sing the national anthem. The square featured an 18-meter-tall floral basket decorated with 15 floral designs and five varieties of fruit, symbolizing the launch of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030). In Hong Kong, Chief Executive John Lee and senior officials attended a flag-raising ceremony at Golden Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai, complete with performances by the Police Band, an aerial fly-past, and a ceremonial parade by disciplined services vessels. In Macao, Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai, central government representatives, the PLA Macao Garrison, and local legislative and judicial officials attended the commemorative ceremony.
The celebrations launched the October 1–7 National Day holiday, coming directly after the Mid-Autumn Festival break observed from September 25 to 27. When bridged with additional leave, the dual holidays extend into a 13-day recess favoring long-haul and leisure travel. Chinese booking platforms report that itineraries lasting 10 days or longer accounted for 26% of reservations, with international flight bookings up by over 20% compared to last year. Long-haul domestic flights exceeding 2,000 km surpassed 1.74 million—a 14% increase—according to civil aviation data platform Umetrip.
The Ministry of Transport projects total domestic trips during the holiday window to reach 2.13 billion, averaging roughly 300 million daily trips, or approximately 1.7 times standard volume. October 1 alone is forecast to hit an unprecedented 340 million trips. Road journeys, including self-driving trips, are expected to constitute over 90% of all passenger movements, supported by toll-free expressway passage for vehicles with seven seats or fewer through October 7.
Rail transport has scaled operations accordingly. China Railway Beijing Group projects handling 22.32 million passenger journeys over the 16-day holiday rush running from September 23 to October 8, with October 1 marking the single-day peak at 1.79 million passengers.
Complementing infrastructure readiness, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism rolled out a nationwide consumption campaign running through late October, with local authorities deploying over 20,000 cultural events and more than 310 million yuan ($45.9 million) in consumer vouchers and subsidies.