China’s National Holiday Chaos: 300 Million Trapped, Highways Ablaze or Hit by Snowstorms

Oct 05, 2025 - 09:49

This year's National Day Golden Week coincides with both the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, giving people an 8-day break. On October 1st, the first day of the holiday, highways leading out of major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Chongqing faced severe traffic jams. At 3 a.m., the lights from cars stalled on the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway created a sea of still stars. The long traffic line, stretching for dozens of kilometers, resembled a frozen, colorful light strip, slowly crawling forward. 68 million cars flooded the roads, with a peak traffic flow of 70 million—2.1 times the usual amount. This isn't a doomsday scene from a sci-fi movie, but a live recording of the traffic jam.