Photo taken on May 18, 2020 shows an exhibit at the Liaoning Provincial Museum in Shenyang, northeast China’s Liaoning Province. May 18 marks the International Museum Day. (Xinhua/Yao Jianfeng)
Source: Xinhua
03/05/2020
35 parks, scenic spots in Beijing adopt online reservations during holiday
BEIJING, May 2 (Xinhua) — A total of 35 parks and scenic spots in Beijing with large passenger flows require online reservations during the May Day holiday, Beijing Gardening and Greening Bureau said Friday.
Besides making reservations on the online platforms of these attractions, visitors can also book the tickets on the official website of Beijing Gardening and Greening Bureau and its official account on WeChat and microblog Sina Weibo.
Parks and scenic spots will embrace a peak of passenger flows during the holiday from May 1 to 5, according to Ye Xiangyang, director of the park management office of the bureau.
Online reservations can help control passenger flow effectively, ensuring the stable order of these popular sites and the health of visitors, Ye said.
Parks in the capital will limit real-time tourist numbers to no more than 30 percent of their maximum tourist capacity during the holiday for the safety of visitors amid the COVID-19 epidemic.
Beijing has lowered its emergency response to the COVID-19 epidemic from the top level to the second level starting Thursday.
Source: Xinhua
03/05/2020
Shanghai receives over 1 mln visitors in first two days of May Day holiday
SHANGHAI, May 2 (Xinhua) — Shanghai’s 130 main tourist attractions have received over 1 million visitors in the first two days of the five-day May Day holiday.
The scenic sites received 456,000 visitors on Friday and 633,000 more on Saturday, marking a growing travel and leisure demand, according to the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism.
The city requires reservations for tours of all tourist attractions to prevent crowding while tourist sites should not exceed 30 percent of their daily or real-time visitor capacity.
Tourists are also required to wear face masks, show their health QR codes and have their body temperatures taken for their safety.
“I feel safe and confident with the new reservation measures,” said Li Zhi, who has booked tours to the Zhujiajiao ancient town and Shanghai Oriental Land.
Under the reservation system, tourist sites are also better prepared to prevent crowding and provide better tour experiences to customers, according to Huang Ying with Shanghai Oriental Land.
Source: Xinhua
01/05/2020
Tourists trickle back to village by China’s Great Wall as virus curbs relaxed
GUBEI WATER TOWN, China (Reuters) – The mock Qing dynasty village nestled below the Great Wall would normally be teeming with tourists on Labour Day, but the thin crowds on Friday showed that while China’s coronavirus epidemic has subsided, people’s fears could take longer to fade.
During holidays, some 100,000 visitors a day would traipse round the quaint stone-paved streets of Gubei Water Town, 110 kilometres (68 miles) northeast of Beijing. Its marketing manager reckoned on getting just a tenth of that number this year.
“People have concerns about the virus and are unwilling to travel long distances,” said Guo Baorong. For a start, there will be no international tourists this time, he said, noting foreigners would normally make up around 15% of visitors.
About 70% of China’s tourist attractions had reopened as of Thursday, according to China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, but all sites have had to cap visitors to 30% of designed capacity.
More sites, including the Forbidden City in Beijing, were set to reopen Friday.
Staff at the entrance to Gubei Water Town checked visitors’ temperatures and health tracking codes. And inside, lines on the ground directed tourists to stand one meter apart and stores used ropes to keep crowds from forming. Like everywhere in China since the lockdowns were imposed to stem the epidemic, everyone wore masks.
Still, in places where tourists squeezed together as the streets narrowed, staff shouted at them to spread out.
Some tourists enjoyed the smaller crowds.
Xiao Chen, a 24-year-old student wearing traditional Chinese garb known as “Hanfu” came to Gubei to take pictures around ancient architecture.
“It’s good to come out of the city. There was barely anyone in Gubei Water Town yesterday, and even today, it’s not crowded,” she said.
The tranquility may not last. Room bookings jumped on Thursday after Beijing and nearby areas began easing coronavirus restrictions, with about 90% of accommodation now reserved.
“We were not expecting that many people to come in,” said Guo.
Source: Reuters
05/04/2020
China’s Huangshan mountains swamped with visitors as country tries to ease coronavirus lockdown
- Pictures of packed trails over the weekend highlight difficulties in maintaining social distancing while trying to get back to normal
- Attraction in Anhui province said it would be forced to close on Sunday after exceeding its 20,000-visitor limits
== PICTURE CAPTURED FROM WEIBIO
Huangshan Mountains in China’s Anhui province was forced to close after tens of thousands of people flocked to the popular mountain range over the weekend, highlighting the difficulties in getting the country’s social life back to normal while keeping the coronavirus outbreak under control. Huangshan, or the Yellow Mountains, located in southern Anhui province in eastern China, said in a notice today that it had to close because the number of visitors had reached its limit of 20,000 for the day. Tourists are advised to visit the site on other days or try travelling to other sites. Since April 4, the Anhui government has been offering free access to 29 tourist sites in the Huangshan region, including the Yellow Mountains, to local residents for 2 weeks, in a bid to drum up more business since its reopening in late February as it seeks to get its economy back to normal. Photo: WEIBIO
A popular mountain range in southeast China was forced to close after tens of thousands of people flocked to its trails over the weekend.
The crowds flocking to the Huangshan, or Yellow Mountains, in Anhui province highlight the difficulties the country may face in future as it tries to get back to normal while keeping Covid-19 under control.
Starting from Saturday, the Anhui provincial government had been offering free entry to 29 sites, including Huangshan, to boost visitor numbers.
Visitors were asked to show their health status on an app, wear surgical masks and their body temperatures had to be checked before entering the site.
But on Sunday the park authorities said it would have to close because the number of visitors had reached its daily limit of 20,000 and urged people to visit other sites or come to the mountains at another time.
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Pictures and video circulated on the social media platform Weibo showing packs of visitors walking up the mountain range over the three-day Ching Ming festival.
“Tourism has been hit hard, and also its related industries,” said one Weibo comment. “But the epidemic isn’t over. If you must open the sites, you have to restrict the flow [of tourists], and those visitors from outside.”
As of Sunday, the number of confirmed cases being treated in the country had fallen to 2,382, according to the National Health Commission, but the total number of imported cases rose to 913.
Police try to hold back visitors to the mountain range. Photo: Weibo
“I think China is keeping a close eye on Covid-19 detections and may need to tune the social distancing measures that are needed to keep Covid-19 contained. For now, it may be OK to relax some measures, but those measures should be tightened if case numbers pick up,” said Benjamin Cowling, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Hong Kong University.
“I would not be surprised if most countries continue to prohibit mass gatherings for the rest of 2020,” said Cowling, adding that temperature checks at entrances would be a good idea, but it might not be sufficient to protect visitors.
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Anhui, which shares its western border with Hubei province, the initial centre of the outbreak, last reported a new infection on Feb 27, according to official figures. The province reported a total of 990 cases of Covid-19, including six deaths.
China’s tourism and cultural sectors are among the worst hit as a result of the outbreak.
A number of Shanghai’s popular tourist spots, including the Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai Jinmao Tower had to close again last week only two weeks after reopening.
Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy, a research institute under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, told a forum in February that he expected domestic tourism would contract as much as 56 per cent in the first quarter and 15.5 per cent for the whole year.
Dai also estimated that annual income loss from tourism could hit 1.2 trillion yuan (US$169 billion) this year.
Source: SCMP
20/10/2019
Discover China: Erlitou Relic Museum opens in central China
A visitor views an exhibit at the Erlitou Relic Museum in Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province, Oct. 19, 2019. The Erlitou Relic Museum, which exhibits the history of ancient China’s first recorded dynasty of Xia (2070-1600 B.C.), opened Saturday in Luoyang. It exhibits over 2,000 items, including bronze wares, pottery wares and jade wares. Covering an area of 32,000 square meters, the museum exhibits the history of the Xia Dynasty, the first dynasty recorded in ancient China. Construction of the museum cost 630 million yuan (about 89 million U.S. dollars). The Erlitou Relics date back to 3,500 to 3,800 years ago in ancient China’s late Xia or early Shang (1600-1046 B.C.) dynasties. (Xinhua/Li An)
ZHENGZHOU, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) — The Erlitou Relic Museum opened Saturday in Luoyang city in central China’s Henan Province, unveiling the history and culture of ancient China’s first recorded dynasty of Xia (2070-1600 B.C.).
Covering an area of 32,000 square meters, the museum exhibits over 2,000 items, including bronze wares, pottery wares and jade wares.
Construction of the museum cost 630 million yuan (about 89 million U.S. dollars).
The Erlitou Relics date back to 3,500 to 3,800 years ago in ancient China’s late Xia or early Shang (1600-1046 B.C.) dynasties.
Discovered in 1959 in Luoyang by historian Xu Xusheng, Erlitou was identified by Chinese archaeologists as the relics of the capital city of the middle and late Xia Dynasty.
Over the past 60 years, archaeologists have excavated over 10,000 items out of a total area of 40,000 square meters from the site.
Zhao Haitao from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) Erlitou archaeological team, said that China’s earliest palace complex, bronze ware workshop and urban road network were all found at the site.
The museum has three display areas where visitors can experience and better understand the archaeological achievements of the Xia Dynasty, and probe into the history and culture of the Xia Dynasty via various kinds of projects, such as virtual reality, embossment and sand tables.
Li Boqian, a professor with the School of Archaeology and Museology of Peking University, said the Erlitou Relic Museum presents daily utensils, manufacturing tools and decorations for visitors to understand the social development, history and culture of the Xia Dynasty.
The museum will help people around the world learn about ancient Chinese history and culture, said Liu Yuzhu, director of China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration, at the opening ceremony.
In addition, the museum will become a demonstration site for the protection, preservation and exhibition of China’s major cultural heritage sites and a research center for the origin of Chinese civilization.
Source: Xinhua
05/10/2019
People enjoy leisure time during National Day holiday in China
Visitors tour the desert on camels at Shapotou Scenic Area in Zhongwei, northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Oct. 3, 2019. Since the start of the National Day holiday, Shapotou Scenic Area has entered its peak season for tourism. (Photo by Yang Zhisen/Xinhua)
Source: Xinhua
17/07/2019
Beijing Zoo promises to improve security after visitors throw stones at giant panda
- Animal lovers angered after viral video shows moment a visitor decided to ‘wake up’ Meng Da
- Keepers say they will reassess physical safety measures and improve inspections
A video shows Beijing Zoo giant panda Meng Da examining a stone thrown at him by a visitor. Photo: Weibo
Beijing Zoo has promised to improve security around its giant panda enclosure after stones were hurled at Meng Da, one of its residents.
A video of the incident on Saturday was posted to Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, where it drew more than 100 million hits.
It shows Meng Da sitting in the enclosure when a stone appears to bounce next to him and stop close by. The startled panda pauses then goes over to examine the object.
Visitors are heard asking, “Who threw the stone?” But no one identifies the stone thrower. Beijing News reported that a bigger stone struck Meng Da about 30 minutes later.
In April last year, a kangaroo died from its injuries at Fuzhou Zoo in Fujian province after visitors threw bricks and concrete at it. Photo: Sina.cn
The report quoted the person who shot the video as saying the culprits threw objects to “wake the panda up”.
On Weibo, Beijing Zoo assured panda lovers that Meng Da was unhurt and unruffled by the stone-throwing. The zoo promised to improve security and inspections at the panda enclosure.
Meanwhile, on social media there were calls for better protection of China’s national symbol in zoos. “How dare they hurt our lovable national treasure?” one Weibo user wrote.
Chinese tourists who threw rocks at panda blacklisted from nature reserve
“The zoo should build a glass wall to protect the panda,” another said. “Those tourists should be blacklisted and punished.”
In July last year, visitors to a reserve in Foping county in Hanzhong, Shaanxi province, were asked to leave and blacklisted after throwing stones at a panda, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Chinese tourists kill kangaroo, hurling bricks to make it hop
That followed an incident in April last year, when a 12-year-old kangaroo in Fuzhou Zoo, Fujian province, was fatally injured after visitors hurled bricks and chunks of concrete at it in an attempt to make it hop.
Threatening or injuring zoo and park animals can result in a fine of 100 yuan (US$15) and offenders may face criminal charges under Beijing municipal law.
Source: SCMP
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