700 million Chinese on the move for golden week holidays

China is on the move this weekend — about 700 million people will be travelling for holdays.

Tiananmen Square this week.

China — half the population — is on the move this weekend.

About 700 million people will be travelling — with many flying overseas, including to Australia — during the eight day “golden week” that starts tomorrow.

The week starts with China’s National Day, marking the ­October 1, 1949 event in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, when Mao Zedong presided over celebrations for the founding of the ­People’s Republic of China, after winning the civil war against the Kuomintang.

It continues through the Mid-Autumn Festival on Wednesday that prolongs the holiday this year.

The timing works well for China’s government, which is in a frenzy of preparation for the 19th five-yearly national communist party congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, that starts on October 18 — which is by far the biggest event in the country’s calendar for 2017.

The long public holiday provides a welcome pause from normal business, during which the country effectively winds down, and the organisers can put in place last-minute plans for the congress without distractions.

All the 89 million party members are being required to complete, during the holiday period if they have not done so already, intense group study of “Xi Jinping Thought” in the immediate run-up to President Xi’s philosophical contributions to national development being enshrined in the party’s constitution during the congress.

China’s domestic tourists are expected to be preparing to spend more than $100 billion during these eight days of vacation. One of the most popular destinations is proving to be the coastal city of Xiamen in Fujian province. This is because it heavily featured in the media as the host of the summit of leaders of the BRICS nations — Brazil, Russia, India and South ­Africa as well as Mr Xi.

About one in five tourists are planning to visit slightly exotic places — Taiwan as well as Hong Kong and Macau — while 6 million are preparing to fly further overseas, including to Australia.

Whereas in earlier periods most would travel in groups, either domestically or internationally, now most are planning their own programs. People’s Daily has highlighted Tourism Australia’s efforts to use WeChat to promote visits.

Unlike other countries that seek to foster patriotism through events such as parades on their national days, the Chinese government, nervous of large gatherings, prefers people to celebrate quietly with their families, or to watch TV.

The Mid-Autumn Festival, held on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, is the second most important event in the traditional Chinese calendar, after New Year.

It is also known as the Moon Festival, because the moon is believed to appear at its closest and brightest at this season. Lanterns are a feature of the festival, as people congregate in the evenings for moon-watching. This also inspires the consumption of huge quantities of mooncakes, also round-shaped, symbolising completeness as families hold reunions. Today their fillings range well beyond the traditional lotus seed or red bean paste, to exotica such as lime margarita truffle.