Millions of Chinese visit newly reopened tourist sites in China

Couples wearing face masks visit the promenade on the Bund along the Huangpu River during a holiday on May Day. — AFP

With optimism and a heavy dose of caution, millions of Chinese hit the road or visited newly re-opened tourist sites recently for an extended national holiday in a post-coronavirus confidence test.

Officials have cast the five-day Labour Day observance as an opportunity to ease pent-up travel demand in the country where the pandemic emerged and which was first to impose stifling mass quarantines and other travel curbs.

Caution reigned at sites like the Forbidden City imperial palace in the heart of Beijing, which reopened for the first time in three months.