Patriotic tourists rush to old hot spots

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-09 11:37

Record numbers of visitors poured through Tian'anmen Square, the Summer Palace and the Forbidden City over the past seven days revealing a new trend in all things old.

The 60th anniversary National Day holiday pulled many visitors away from the modern Olympic venues to the more traditionally valued sites in Beijing.

Tian'anmen Square alone attracted 8.2 million trips, more than the total number of inbound tourists into the city during the national day holiday last year according to statistics from Beijing's municipal tourism bureau.

Meanwhile, more than 500,000 trips were registered at the Summer Palace, the summer resort built for Empress Cixi during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

The area in northwest of the city still remains one of the most popular destinations in Beijing during the holiday.

The Summer Palace was even more popular thanks to the opening of the new Line 4 subway.

In contrast, the Bird's Nest stadium, the main venue of the Olympic Games in August, 2008, had only 220,000 trips coming in during the eight-day holiday, much less than the corresponding period of last year, according to the spokesman from the stadium.

Last October, however, more than 50,000 trips were registered on the first day of its opening to the public, making it the single most popular destination in Beijing during the last National Day holiday.

"As the passion for the Olympics gradually subsided with the passage of time, it's quite normal to see fewer people there," said Wang Qing, director of the promotion department of the tourism bureau.

"But historical sites like the Forbidden City and Great Wall could obviously sustain their popularity much longer," he added.

"Traditional historical sites can bring about our national pride in a way not to be paralleled by modern constructions, which are relatively newer and do not have much bearing on history," said Linda Song, a bank employee in Beijing, who toured Tian'anmen Square and Yonghegong Lama Temple a few days ago to "fully experience the festive atmosphere in Beijing."

"So I skipped the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube for a more authentic experience of history," she said.

"I think most Chinese, like myself, have stronger emotional attachment to Tian'anmen and other historical icons in Beijing.

"Visiting them during the 60th anniversary fulfills our national pride to the greatest degree."

Official figures also showed about 13 million trips were made to Beijing's parks and gardens during the holiday.

Because of the sudden surge in tourists, Beijing Public Transport Holdings ran more buses to the Summer Palace and the Fragrant Hills over the past two days of the holiday to alleviate the traffic pressure.

The No 4 bus from Xiyuan to Fragrant Hill and No 481 bus from Bagou village to Summer Palace were set up to cater to the public needs.