Thousands of motorists stranded on fifty lane Chinese motorway during long weekend traffic jam

THOUSANDS of motorists were stranded after a week-long celebration after 750 million people went on holidays at once.

When half of China takes holidays

AERIAL footage of a congested highway reveals what happens when several hundred million people return from a week-long national holiday at the same time.

An incredible 750 million people, or half of China’s total population, went on holiday during Golden Week, the seven-day holiday marking the country’s National Day on October 1.

Photos of the G4 Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway show hundreds of thousands of drivers starting to make their way home on the penultimate day of the holidays.

Video clips of the massive traffic jam that could be seen converging on tollbooths on the 2,273-kilometre expressway were widely shared online.

Holiday hell ... This is what it looks like after a long weekend in China. Picture: CEN/Australscope

The route serves as the main route for cross-country travellers in the populous eastern part of China, where most of the country’s population resides.

But the scenes were also repeated on many expressways across the country.

China’s National Tourism Administration confirmed that this year’s Golden Week tourism figures have shown an incredible year-on-year increase of 6.1 per cent, with record-breaking numbers of travellers on highways.

The administration said the tourist numbers have also exceeded those recorded during this year’s Chinese New Year-Spring Festival travel season which occurred in February.