We Love the City

China ’s “Golden Week” holidays have turned into logistical nightmares as millions of people take off at the same time – leading to calls for change from a growing number of economists.

中國的「黃金週」假期已成交通噩夢，有鑑於數百萬人同時上路引發問題，經濟學家紛紛呼籲改弦更張。

Abolishing the holidays might be politically unfeasible but staggering them and allowing people to go away on vacation at different times of the year could be possible, they say.

經濟學家說，取消黃金週在政治上恐怕行不通，但錯開黃金週的時間，讓人們在每年不同時段休長假，也許可行。

“Golden Weeks have both positive and negative effects,” said Ning Xiangdong, an economist from Beijing ’s Tsinghua University .

北京清華大學經濟學家寧向東說：「黃金週有利也有弊」。

“People go traveling all over China , and that’s great for the economy, but it also creates traffic problem, and the facilities are not geared to handling so many tourists,” he said.

他說：「人潮在全國各地旅行對經濟大有助益，但同時也造成交通問題，交通設施無法應付這麼多的旅客。」

This year, a total of 150 million Chinese are expected to get on trains, buses and planes, as they use the opportunity of seven days off work, beginning Tuesday, to escape the daily grind.

今年(2006)五一黃金週將從週二開始，預計有1億5千萬中國人搭乘火車、巴士和飛機，利用七天長假的機會調劑日復一日的工作。

Trains are so crowed they look like Guinness record attempts, even no-star hotels are fully booked.

火車擁擠到簡直像在嘗試打破金氏世界紀錄，甚至「無星」旅館也告客滿。
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想要...流浪在冰天雪地之間。