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Travel

Costumed 'NPCs' Are Becoming the Main Attraction at China's Scenic Areas

Costumed 'NPCs' Are Becoming the Main Attraction at China's Scenic Areas

2 days ago

Chinese tourist sites increasingly hire costumed actors — 'NPCs', a term borrowed from video games — to roam reconstructed historical streets and pull visitors into the story, from poetry duels with 'Li Bai' in Xi'an to a 30-million-yuan hiring spree in Shanxi. A Caixin report this week examines why young Chinese are paying for the actors rather than the scenery.

After 50 Billion Yuan, China's Man-Made Ancient Towns Are Sitting Empty

China has spent more than 50 billion yuan over eight years building replica historic streets, and many are now cold and half-empty. CCTV's Focus Interview profiled the most instructive failure: a 2.4-billion-yuan 'ancient town' in Zhangjiajie that has lost 1.08 billion yuan in four years.

A 21-Year-Old Died Trekking Off-Limits at Yading, and the Internet First Turned on His Family

A young trekker who entered Sichuan's Yading reserve by an unauthorised route died of altitude sickness during his rescue. Officials confirmed his mother paid the rescue costs, contradicting viral rumours — the latest tragedy in China's wild-trekking boom.

China's Railways Add an X Prefix for Trains Faster Than 350 km/h

China's Railways Add an X Prefix for Trains Faster Than 350 km/h

From late November, China's national railway starts issuing train numbers with a new letter — X, for 'xin', new — reserved for Fuxing bullet trains that will run faster than today's 350 km/h flagship services.

A 400-Yuan Photo Shoot in Macau Ended in Arrest for Two Mainland Students

A 400-Yuan Photo Shoot in Macau Ended in Arrest for Two Mainland Students

A mainland student hired a photographer she found on a social platform for a Golden Week shoot in Macau, at 400 yuan an hour. A police patrol caught the handover of cash; one woman now faces prosecutors and the other the labour bureau, and Macau is drafting rules that would reserve tourist-site photo work for local residents.

A Record Golden Week on the Rails — and a Box Office Stuck in 2014

A Record Golden Week on the Rails — and a Box Office Stuck in 2014

China's October holiday moved a record 2.14 billion cross-regional trips, with rail traffic up nearly 13 percent, even as the box office fell to a thirteen-year low and premium spending sagged — a record of motion and a ledger of caution.

During Golden Week, children at Mount Tai used magnet-tipped charging cables to fish coins from the scenic area's wishing pool. Staff confiscated the cables, and the videos set off a wider argument about where play ends and public property begins.

Children With Magnetic Cables Are Fishing Coins Out of Mount Tai's Wishing Pool

6 Oct 2026

粤J2888T became China's most joked-about license plate in 2024, when its driver led dozens of cars down a highway dead end. During Golden Week, the scenic area at Chongdugou fenced off a special parking space for the returning car — while the country hit its holiday return-peak traffic.

The Audi Plate China Cannot Forget Gets Its Own Fenced-Off Parking Spot

6 Oct 2026

A climber ticked off China's five great mountains — five provinces, five days — and posted her spoils: five enamel badges, a medal and a numbered silver-tier certificate. The internet answered with awe and amputation jokes.

Five Sacred Peaks in Five Days: Inside Golden Week's Special-Forces Pilgrimage

5 Oct 2026

A photo ritual that greets visitors to Chongqing — stunt poses on fast motorcycles — has grown into a commercial operation CCTV found weaving through live traffic, uninsured, while residents along the route beg for it to stop.

Chongqing's 'Landing-Visa' Motorcycle Photo Trend Is Drawing State-TV Warnings

5 Oct 2026

Golden Week crowds met the same goods at every scenic area in China — the hand cream, the fridge magnet, the photogenic ice cream that melts before it is eaten. A survey published with Southern Weekly's trend piece found cost, not variety, is what finally broke the habit: 59 percent of respondents call the souvenirs overpriced.

Hand Cream, Fridge Magnets, Ice Cream: Young Chinese Tourists Are Done With the Souvenir 'Sucker's Trio'

4 Oct 2026

Qilian county in Qinghai — population about 50,000 — received over 100,000 visitors in a single Golden Week day. With every hotel full and night temperatures at minus four, the local culture and tourism bureau housed nearly 500 people in school dormitories for free, and its staff answered more than 400 calls in seven hours.

100,000 Visitors, 50,000 Residents: a County Opens Its School Dormitories to Stranded Tourists

4 Oct 2026

Actress's Paris Camera Theft Draws Chinese Embassy Response and French Mockery

3 Oct 2026

Why Chinese Hotels No Longer Check Your Room at Check-Out

3 Oct 2026

Foreign arrivals keep climbing under China's widened visa-free regime, and this Golden Week the visitors are conspicuously not just sightseeing: they are shopping with tax refunds, checking into cruise ships, and paying to pick tea in Guangxi.

Visa-Free China: Foreign Tourists Now Come to Shop, and to Work the Fields

2 Oct 2026

Tuniu's Golden Week data shows Japan missing from China's ten most-booked overseas destinations after leading it last year, as Chinese visits to Japan fall by more than half amid the diplomatic freeze — with Australia, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia absorbing the spend.

Japan Falls Out of China's Top Ten Holiday Destinations a Year After Topping the List

1 Oct 2026

China began its eight-day National Day break with the transport ministry projecting 2.13 billion trips — roughly 300 million people on the move each day — and single-day rail records fell before noon. The twist is where travelers are trying not to go: swept up by the 'county-rushing' (奔县) meme, millions are steering around the famous sites and into small county towns, only to find everyone else had the same idea.

How 'County-Rushing' Became China's Golden Week Escape From Its Own Crowds

1 Oct 2026

Hong Kong actress Kara Wai says her team's car was broken into on the highway into Paris — the third celebrity theft reported from France in two days — just as the Golden Week holiday sends millions of Chinese travelers abroad.

Chinese Celebrities Report a String of Paris Thefts as Golden Week Travel Begins

30 Sep 2026