After the start of the Golden Week holiday in mainland China, the topic of “the first group of people stuck in traffic like mandarin ducks in a pot” became a hot search trend. With holiday travel concentrated, traffic jams have become the norm. A family from Hangzhou drove for 18 hours to reach Bozhou, Anhui, with their children exhausted to the point of “exploding with emotions.”
Some netizens mentioned that every year during the National Day holiday, traffic jams are inevitable. Yet, there are always some who think they can find a way to avoid the congestion, only to realize they were naive.
During the holiday period, many people set off early, resulting in a massive inflow of vehicles onto highways starting from September 30, causing huge traffic jams. Aerial images show dense traffic flow with one side of the road lined with white headlights and the other side with endless red taillights, a scene dubbed by netizens as a “mandarin ducks in a pot.”
“Hangzhou Daily” reported on October 1 that this year during the National Day holiday, a family of six from Hangzhou, led by Mr. Zhao driving, embarked on a trip to Bozhou, Anhui. They started from Yuhang on the evening of September 30, and finally exited the highway in Wuyangdong at noon the next day.
Mrs. Li said that the two children went from excited to exhausted and then to “emotionally explosive” along the way. After driving for 15 hours, the family finally saw the “Hefei” sign.
The normal travel time from Hangzhou to Bozhou is 6.5 hours, but this time the actual journey took 18 hours as shown by the navigation system.
Mrs. Li recalled that even though the family could eat and drink at service areas along the way, it was still too congested on the road during the night, with some service areas even closed due to traffic. Initially, Mr. Zhao was confident to drive the entire journey, but eventually had to ask his father to take over.
Another Hangzhou resident, Mr. Yang, and his friends planned to drive to Xining, Qinghai during the holiday. They set off from Wulinmen around 2 pm on September 30 and arrived in Hefei after 14 hours of driving, by dawn on October 1.
He mentioned, “Accidents were frequent from Anji to Nanjing, mainly rear-end collisions.”
During national holidays, various traffic congestion issues in mainland China are frequently exposed, with people most concerned about the severity of the congestion.
As reported by Chao News, Mr. Yang set off at 1 pm on September 30 from Hangzhou to drive back to Taian, Shandong. The usual 9-hour journey turned into a 12-hour drive due to traffic jams in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces. He expected to arrive after a total of 21 hours on the road.
This year during the National Day holiday, Mr. Liu from Shenzhen was concerned about encountering traffic jams. He departed from Longgang in Shenzhen around 3 pm on September 30 towards Yangtian Lake Scenic Area in Chenzhou, Hunan. What was normally a five to six-hour journey turned into over 12 hours, with arrival past 3 am on October 1.
Mr. Liu mentioned that around 8 pm on the 30th, the Jinggangao Expressway in Qingyuan City was jammed. He used a drone carried with him to capture the road conditions. The scene showed a seemingly endless line of traffic jam.
Mr. An, another driver from Shenzhen, left Fuyong in Baoan, Shenzhen at noon on September 30 to return to Shaoyang, Hunan. By the early morning of October 1, after 15 hours of driving, he was still in Guangdong. The traffic flow was heavy, along with numerous accidents. The long line of vehicles stretched for tens of kilometers, especially on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway section, causing a long delay.
Mr. An mentioned that he arrived around 9 am on the 1st, after a journey of over 600 kilometers which took 21 hours, while under normal circumstances not during a holiday, it would have taken about 7 hours.
Being on the road demands eating and drinking, making driving exhausting too. With more vehicles stopping at service areas, the probability of traffic jams increases.
According to the forecast by the Chinese Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the total cross-regional flow of people across the country during the National Day holiday might reach 2.36 billion trips, with an estimated 1.87 billion self-driving trips, accounting for nearly 80% of all trips.
Data from the Guangdong transportation department showed that on September 30, the daily traffic volume on the province’s highways reached a historical peak of 10.01 million vehicles, exceeding the “ten million vehicles” mark for the first time.