Tourists trickle back to Gubei Water Town

Back on trek: Tourists hiking up the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China on Labour Day. — Reuters

GUBEI WATER TOWN: The mock Qing dynasty village nestled below the Great Wall would normally be teeming with tourists on Labour Day, but the thin crowds this time showed that while China’s coronavirus epidemic has subsided, people’s fears could take longer to fade.

During holidays, some 100,000 visitors a day would traipse round the quaint stone-paved streets of Gubei Water Town, 110km northeast of Beijing.