During the “Golden Week” National Day holiday in China, tourists in various scenic areas across the country experienced long hours of standing still, with visitors in places like the Sanqingshan Scenic Area in Jiangxi and the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in Hunan finding it increasingly difficult to move around, prompting frustrated crowds to collectively demand ticket refunds.
In videos circulating online, crowds were seen at the Sanqingshan Scenic Area in Jiangxi on October 3, with hordes of visitors chanting “refund tickets” in unison. Many tourists complained of standing for hours in the cold wind, barely moving, and being stuck on the mountain for several hours with temperatures as low as 14 degrees Celsius, wearing only summer clothing.
On October 4, a visitor Mr. He (alias) who traveled to Sanqingshan told Upstream News that on October 3, his group waited in line for the cable car for 3 hours, waited for the shuttle bus for 2 hours, and didn’t descend from the mountain until 10:30 pm after waiting from 8 pm, reaching the parking lot at midnight, expressing dissatisfaction with the management.
Another visitor, Mr. Liu (alias), mentioned: “We started to descend at 4 pm, but we didn’t reach the bottom until 10:30 pm. We waited for the bus for 3 hours, and many of us caught colds from the mountain wind.”
At 7 pm on October 3, the Sanqingshan Scenic Area announced through its official account that online ticketing for October 4 would be temporarily suspended. In the comments section, many netizens criticized the management, with one saying, “I just came back yesterday, it was torturous and costly, I advise everyone not to go, climbing the mountain for three hours, waiting for cable cars and buses for 10 hours.” The visitors were puzzled by the lack of crowd control in tourist destinations, feeling frustrated as time seemed to stand still with no progress, spending hours in one place until it was dark.
Apart from Sanqingshan, in recent days, at the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in Hunan, many visitors also gathered shouting “refund tickets.” Park staff told Lizhi News that the queues for cable cars and elevators in the park were causing waiting times of about 2-3 hours.
On October 3, social media users shared the crowded situation at the Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou. One visitor mentioned waiting for half an hour at the entrance of Feilai Peak Scenic Area without even getting inside, uncertain if they would be able to visit the temple within the Lingyin Temple area. Statistics showed that on October 2, in the afternoon, the number of visitors to Lingyin Temple reached about 70,000 for the day.
Furthermore, on October 2, tourists at the Baotu Spring Scenic Area in Jinan, Shandong complained of overcrowding, with one stating, “There were more people at Baotu Spring today than fish in the water” and “2 hours of queuing to see the spring for only 2 minutes.” Another netizen shared their experience, saying, “I went to Huashan for sightseeing on October 3, queued for 3 hours going up the mountain and 3 hours going down.”