Today is Chinese National Day (国庆节 Guóqìng Jié), the 73rd founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China!As one of the longest holidays during the year and the best season for travelling, 国庆节 is also known as "Golden Week" (黄金周 Huángjīn Zhōu) in China.In this post we will introduce something about Chinese National Day and Golden Week that you might not have known before!
Why is October 1st the Chinese National Day?
October 1st is the memorial day
for the founding of the People's Republic of China. PRC was actually founded on September 21st in 1949. The
grand ceremony held in Beijing on October 1st in 1949 was to
celebrate the founding of the Central People's Government of the brand
new country.(On October 1st in 1949, Mao Zedong declared the founding of the People's Republic of China and its central government)On
October 2nd in 1949, the new government passed the "Resolution on the
National Day of the PRC" and declared that October 1st of each year
shall be 国庆节. Ever since 1950, every October 1st has been grandly
celebrated by Chinese people. In addition, there is a National Day
Parade to witness in Beijing every 5 years. (A mass parade is underway to mark the 70th founding anniversary of
the People's Republic of China in central Beijing on October 1, 2019)![]()
The origin of "Golden Week" (黄金周 Huángjīn Zhōu)
The name of "黄金周" appeared much later than 国庆节. The first "黄金周" - 7 days' holiday - was
actually in 1999. Chinese government tried to use this week to encourage
tourism thus to boost domestic
economy.When
the first "黄金周" came in 1999, the number of travelers nationwide
reached 28 million in 7 days and the comprehensive income of tourism
reached ¥14.1 billion. After 20 years, in 2019, there were 782 million domestic
tourists travelling during "黄金周", achieving domestic tourism revenue of ¥649.71 billion. ![]()
(2020's mass of tourists in Golden Week after Covid-19 Pandemic)
Based
on 抖音Douyin (Chinese version of TikTok)'s Big Data Report of National Day in 2021, Chongqing was the most popular traveling
destination, followed by Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Shenzhen.
Are you also going to be one of the mass of tourists? 😀![]()
The Chinese National Flag
"The Five Starred Red Flag" (五星红旗 Wǔ Xīng Hóng Qí)
You can see numbers of 五星红旗 everywhere during the National Day Holiday. Do you know why was this pattern selected to be the National Flag?
In
this flag, red is the symbol of revolution and yellow represents the
light of revolution. The five stars and their relationships to each
other represent the unity of Chinese people under the leadership of the
Chinese Communist Party.(五星红旗 is flown during a rock-and-roll festival to
mark Chinese National Day on October 2, 2005, in Beijing, China)
The
designer of 五星红旗 is a normal financial worker in Shanghai called 曾联松 (Zēng Liánsōng). In July 1949,
a call for Chinese National Flag design was issued. Out of 2992
submitted flag designs, Zeng's design was selected in the end.
At the Founding Ceremony on October 1st 1949, 毛泽东 (Máo Zédōng) pressed the button and raised the first 五星红旗 in central Beijing.![]()
10 interesting facts about China1. One in every five people in the world is Chinese.2. China is the world's most populous country and the second-largest country by land area.3. One-third of the population of China can't speak mandarin.4. China is the largest consumer of red wine in the world.5. Fortune cookie is not really a Chinese custom. It was invented in USA.6. Toilet paper was invented in China in the late 1300s. It was for emperors only.7. Put all of China's railway lines together, it can loop around the earth two times!(One of the greatest achievements of China's infrastructure building of last 10 years👆)
8. Chopsticks were originally used for cooking instead of eating.9. Ice cream was invented in China about 4000 years ago. It combines rice, milk and snow.10. Ancient Chinese people created the world's first soccer ball made of leather. It was called "蹴鞠" (cùjū).That's all for today. We hope this post can help you know a bit more about China and make your stay here more enjoyable!All in all, enjoy this beautiful Golden Week! Happy Golden Week! 黄金周快乐! Huángjīn Zhōu Kuàilè!
(All the pictures are from the Internet)
If you are planning to travel during this coming Golden Week, I would like to give you some recommendations:
