Photos: Holiday Highlights

                                  Record 34m cram China's top tourist sites 

The country's 119 major scenic spots attracted 34.2 million visitors during the eight-day holiday, up 20.9 percent from last year and setting a new record.

Income from tourism surged by nearly a quarter from 2011 to 1.77 billion yuan ($278.39 million), the National Tourism Administration said.

The administration said many scenic spots, including the Forbidden City, attracted record volumes of visitors during the longest-ever "Golden Week" bridging the Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day holiday.

On Tuesday, 186,000 people visited the Forbidden City, or the Palace Museum at the heart of Beijing - the largest single-day number of visitors ever.

But the holiday tour spree also gave rise to complaints among the public about unpleasantly crowded scenic spots and restaurants as well as traffic congestion. [more]

Road to nowhere 

Traffic congested at major expressway toll gates across China during the holiday after the government launched a pilot scheme to lift road tolls for passenger cars using highways. 

Long queues of vehicles move slowly on an expressway in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, Sept 30, 2012.

People get out of their vehicles and take photos of the traffic jam on a highway in Tianjin on Sept 30, 2012.

China's railways also enjoyed bumper traffic, carrying a record 9.14 million passengers on the first day of the eight-day holiday, the country's Ministry of Railways announced on Tuesday.

A boy looks out through a window of a train at Nanchang train station, Jiangxi province, Sept 29, 2012.

 
Passengers walk through the exit channel at the Beijing West Railway Station in Beijing, capital of China, Oct 7, 2012.  [more]

Tens of thousands of people gathered at the Tian'anmen Square to watch the flag-raising ceremony at dawn on Monday, in celebration of the 63rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.   

The Chinese national flag is raised at the Tian'anmen Square on Monday morning, China's National Day.   

The festival is one of the most important festivals in China.It is an evening celebration when families gather together to light lanterns, eat moon cakes and appreciate the round moon.This day is also considered as a harvest festival since fruits, vegetables and grain had been harvested by this time and food was abundant.

Mooncake is a traditional Chinese food served on the Mid-Autumn Festival (the 15th day of the eigth month in lunar calendar), which falls on Sept 30 this year. It symbolizes the reunion of family and friends.