Treyfish
Moderator
BEIJING - Millions of Chinese kicked off their week-long May Day holiday Tuesday, many of them going away by air, just as new stricter rules on airline security took effect, state media reported.
A total of 150 million Chinese were expected to go away, of whom at least one million were predicted to pass through Beijing's International Airport, the China Daily said.
Just as passenger throughput was soaring because of the holidays, the civil aviation authorities introduced new anti-terrorism rules demanding passengers carry no more than one liter of liquid in their hand luggage.
"Security checks now may take longer than usual," admitted Liu Haifeng, an airport security official, as lines that would have been long anyway became even longer.
As an extra precaution, passengers on international flights were told to carry the liquids -- including facial cream and perfume -- in bags with a capacity of no more than 100 ml each, according to the paper.
The May Day holiday counts as one of China's three big "Golden Weeks," along with the October 1 National Day and the Spring Festival in January or February.
The government introduced the holidays in 1999 in hopes of triggering more consumption, and judging from the large numbers of people hitting department stores, movie theatres and restaurants, it seems to be working.
However, when millions of people rub shoulders, there are hygienic issues involved, and the authorities seemed better prepared than ever.
State television carried a spot warning people to monitor what they were eating while dining out, and buses and taxis carried small "spit bags" for passengers with a need to clear their throats.
Precious little was said in the local media about the actual purpose of celebrating Labor Day, apart from an editorial in the People's Daily paying lip service to the egalitarian principles on which communist China was built.
"In our country, all working people are respectable regardless of what industry they are in and what job they do," it said.
However, an estimated 160,000 people turned out to watch the Chinese flag being hoisted on Tiananmen Square at dawn. AFP:tiphat: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=75614
A total of 150 million Chinese were expected to go away, of whom at least one million were predicted to pass through Beijing's International Airport, the China Daily said.
Just as passenger throughput was soaring because of the holidays, the civil aviation authorities introduced new anti-terrorism rules demanding passengers carry no more than one liter of liquid in their hand luggage.
"Security checks now may take longer than usual," admitted Liu Haifeng, an airport security official, as lines that would have been long anyway became even longer.
As an extra precaution, passengers on international flights were told to carry the liquids -- including facial cream and perfume -- in bags with a capacity of no more than 100 ml each, according to the paper.
The May Day holiday counts as one of China's three big "Golden Weeks," along with the October 1 National Day and the Spring Festival in January or February.
The government introduced the holidays in 1999 in hopes of triggering more consumption, and judging from the large numbers of people hitting department stores, movie theatres and restaurants, it seems to be working.
However, when millions of people rub shoulders, there are hygienic issues involved, and the authorities seemed better prepared than ever.
State television carried a spot warning people to monitor what they were eating while dining out, and buses and taxis carried small "spit bags" for passengers with a need to clear their throats.
Precious little was said in the local media about the actual purpose of celebrating Labor Day, apart from an editorial in the People's Daily paying lip service to the egalitarian principles on which communist China was built.
"In our country, all working people are respectable regardless of what industry they are in and what job they do," it said.
However, an estimated 160,000 people turned out to watch the Chinese flag being hoisted on Tiananmen Square at dawn. AFP:tiphat: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=75614