6 . China’s National Day holiday, otherwise known as National Day golden week, is an annual seven-day public holiday, the longest public holiday other than Chinese New Year, which typically falls around February.

Beijing is the biggest city to host celebrations, particularly at Tiananmen Square, which features a special flag-raising ceremony around sunrise. Other common nationwide activities include flag raisings, song and dance performances, and firework displays.

People typically like to travel domestically during the October holiday, with many visiting their hometown. During the holiday period, offices, embassies, factories and restaurants will likely close for at least a day or two—making it the perfect occasion to catch up with family and friends.

Falling in autumn, the weather during the holiday is generally pleasant and sunny, with a cool breeze and low humidity—creating perfect travel conditions. 

In 2019, as a Briton living in China, I faced the same dilemma local citizens did—with pretty much everyone in the country wanting to enjoy a week off work and wondering, “where can I go to enjoy myself without getting stuck in crowds?” I did plenty of research to find a hidden gem in China, somewhere I could avoid the flocks of tourists. It seems there were plenty of options, but I left it to the last moment and discovered flight and train tickets were all sold out, so I decided to just spend some time in the city I was living in: Shanghai. After my first National Day holiday as a foreigner in China, I learned what not to do over this period, that is, try to avoid traveling to popular destinations during the golden week.

Allow me to recall my trip to The Bund in 2017. I first took the metro to East Nanjing Road; I was floored as the queue for the security check was almost 100 people long. On my normal commute to work, I went straight through, scanning my bag in less than 10 seconds, so naturally, I was shocked. Once I finally reached the metro, the doors opened and people swarmed off in the hundreds, while just as many piled on. Once I exited the metro, what would normally be a 10-minute walk took around an hour, as I slowly walked down East Nanjing Road, shoulder to shoulder with other tourists all looking to catch a glimpse as the impressive Bund lit up at night.

Being from a small town in England, I had never before seen so many people gather in one space. I found it fascinating to hear all the different dialects, accents, and people seemingly unphased by so much noise and such a large crowd.

Once I finally reached the front of The Bund, I managed to squeeze through the selfie sticks and tour group flags to gaze in amazement at the buildings that appeared to touch the sky.

9 . Happy Campers Summer Retreat

As a parent, your child’s health and happiness are the most important things to you, which can be difficult to achieve. The Happy Campers Summer Retreat was developed to help parents with this challenge.

Founded in 1998 by Michael Gibson, our summer camp is open to children during the holidays, from May to September. We look after lots of children every single year. Our camp is based in the Colorado Mountains, and it offers a lot of different activities for children.

Our program helps improve:

• Physical fitness

• Problem-solving skills

• Social skills

• Sports ability and experience

The Happy Campers Summer Retreat can benefit all children. Some children are good at school, but rarely active. Our program will help encourage an interest in sports. Other children are mainly interested in sports. These children will not only play sports, but will also learn new skills, such as teamwork skills, social skills, and communication skills. Children will also have the chance to try new activities. Our program is designed to help develop a complete and fully active child.

At very affordable prices, our program is available to any family in America. Your child’s stay can be as short as a week or as long as six weeks.

Why not call us today or click here to join our camp? Take action now and give your child this great chance!

All around the world, families celebrate special days together. Traditions for these days     1    (be) very different. Some of them may surprise you.

Families in most countries have a special day to celebrate mothers. In Serbia, this day is on     2     second Sunday before Christmas. On that day, children sneak（溜）into their     3    (mother) bedroom and tie her feet with ribbon（丝带）so that she can’t get out of bed. Then they shout, “Mother’s Day, Mother’s Day! What will you pay     4    (get) away?” Then the mother gives them small     5    (treat) and presents as payment so that the kids “free” her.

In China, they say that babies are one year old when they are born. After that, all children celebrate their birthday on New Year’s Day because that’s when they grow a year     6    (old). Actual birthdays     7    (celebrate) with a big family meal. The tradition is that the “birthday boy” or “birthday girl” should fill their mouth     8     as many long noodles as they can     9     then eat them. This is     10     in Chinese culture, long noodles are a symbol that people will live long.