Chinese Celebrate a Special International Labor Day

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, May 02, 2003

Chinese Celebrate a Special International Labor Day

Although many parts of China are suffering under the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic, Chinese people still managed to enjoy International Labor Day. Rambling bicycles and colorful kites instead of overloaded trains and planes hurrying to popular scenic spots and relaxing family banquets instead of overcrowded shopping malls.

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Residents Calm in Face of SARS

Rambling bicycles and colorful kites instead of overloaded trains and planes hurrying to popular scenic spots and relaxing family banquets instead of overcrowded shopping malls.

Chinese citizens eschewed the traditional holiday rush for a relaxed May Day, the first day of a five-day holiday blighted by the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

In a bid to prevent the spread of the epidemic, the usual seven-day holiday was cut to five days and many Chinese decided to stay home or stroll around their communities.

A resident in the Chongwen District of the Chinese capital of Beijing said he and his cousin in Haikou, capital of China's southeast island province, chose the same way to spend the holiday:"We stayed home, reading, surfing on the internet, walked around with family members and cooked delicious meals to celebrate the holiday."

Children Play on Labor Day

Miss Wang, who works for a company in Beijing's hi-tech Zhongguancun area, spent the whole day in Yuanmingyuan Park enjoying the fresh air. "We used to bargain and do some window-shopping in the department stores in the holidays," Wang said, "but I think that relaxing with nature is also fun."

"People's common sense and their trust give me confidence we can win the war against the SARS epidemic," said acting Beijing Mayor Wang Qishan.

He said the government would do its utmost to control the disease in the seriously affected municipality as soon as possible.

Many Chinese people living in other cities also enjoyed the holiday locally.

Digital Video Camera in Zhejiang

Mr. Xiang, a staff member of a travel agency in Suzhou, a scenic city in east China, devoted the day to playing an Internet web game.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, prices of major farm products in large-scale wholesale markets over north China were stable and even decreased a little, good news for Mrs. Zhang in Taiyuan, capital of north China's Shanxi province.

"We will not travel during this holiday so I don't need to buy more food for the family," Zhang said, surprised by the variety and lower prices in the market.

But many people have to work over the holiday.

Drivers and conductors running nearly 20,000 buses in Beijing and medical workers fighting SARS in the city will get no holiday this year.

"Take care and I'm waiting for you to come back home," said Wu You to her father, a busy doctor in the You'an Hospital, during an interview.

She hoped the television would carry her best wishes, and those of all Chinese people, to health-care workers over the country.

Teachers and students at Beijing University's medical institute stood in front of the national flag at the campus center early this morning to review their solemn oath. They made a pledge promising to devote themselves to eliminate suffering, promote health and maintain the sanctity of the art of healing.

Sun Pengming, a postgraduate student, said: "Every Chinese should bear his responsibility at this critical time. As long as the Chinese people work with one mind and one heart, we will defeat SARS."

Website servers, such as http://www.hiholiday.com and http://www.100t.com/index.asp, in Hainan Province, presented an entertaining online show for Internet surfers.

Wang Pengcheng, general manager of the Hainan Chunjiu Travel Service, said the number of surfers visiting his company's website had tripled. Netizens compared notes on tourism and exchanged postcards.

Residents of Nanchang, capital of east China's Jiangxi Province,enjoyed themselves at the People's Park boating and feeding the birds.

A group of people in Shenzhen climbed Lotus mountain after they were told their scheduled tour to Vietnam had been canceled.

Students of the Class of 2000 at Sichuan University got up early as usual and took their morning exercise on the sports field,either playing ball games or running.

Residents of southwest China's Yunnan Province, where no SARS cases have been reported, took in some sightseeing within the province instead of going abroad or on long-distance tours. Young people went out exploring or walking in small groups.

Commercial departments in Tianjin, the leading port city in north China, have shipped 400,000 kg of vegetables and 500,000 kg of fruit from other parts of the country for Labor Day. Local supermarkets were ordered to undergo disinfection, maintain good ventilation and were banned from making indiscriminate price rises.

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