Border Crossings Overwhelmed by Holiday Crowds
Overstuffed suitcases fill an MTR train, more than capable of holding them all.
Meanwhile, streamers of long queues snake through immigration halls, along with full-length platforms filled with lines of people.
Thousands of passengers crossed the borders between Hong Kong and Shenzhen over the Ching Ming Festival and Easter period, with a total of approximately 6.44 million people entering and leaving Hong Kong.
At border crossings, congested lines forced passengers to wait for a very long time. Some had to wait for several trains before boarding.
“I’ve been queuing for nearly two hours, and it’s barely moving,” said Ms. Yeung, a Hong Kong resident traveling to Shenzhen. “It’s much more crowded than I expected.”
To Honor Ancestors During Ching Ming
As a wisp of smoke drifts off the mountain there are groups of relatives steadily ascending the hill with incense, flowers, food and other offerings in hand.
When they arrive at the site, they begin to set up their altar, light the incense and arrange the food and flowers before beginning the process of paying their respects, honouring their ancestors and deceased family members.
Since many families in Hong Kong have ancestry from the mainland, tomb-sweeping (visiting the graves) of their forebears has been firmly entrenched as a yearly ritual.
During this time of year, there are many cross-border journeys made by Hong Kongers returning to the mainland to pay respect to their ancestors.
“My family goes back to Zhongshan (a city of Guangdong) every year during Ching Ming to visit our relatives and ancestors,” said Ms. Yeung, who crossed the border at LoWu with her family. “It’s something we feel we should do… it’s a tradition.”
This is a custom that goes back thousands of years in the culture and is a way for people to come together to be with their family, honour their feelings of obligation to their forefathers and express their heartfelt remembrance.
Holidaymakers Flock Across the Border During Easter
At the border, expect to see many visitors with packs and luggage travelling to Shenzhen.
Many residents visit Shenzhen for quick getaways because it is a reasonable distance away, easy to reach, and less expensive than Hong Kong. There are many shopping malls, themed cafes, and places to go out for a night of fun that have attracted young individuals, families, and groups of friends who want some time off from their hectic lives in Hong Kong.
“We came for a short trip to relax and shop,” said Sophia Cheng, a student from the University of Hong Kong heading to Shenzhen. “It’s cheaper than staying in Hong Kong, and it’s very convenient.”
The convenience of being able to travel quickly has contributed greatly to this trend. Frequent train services and multiple border crossings between these two cities have enabled quick and easy movement of people back and forth with increasing numbers of same-day round trips occurring regularly. Therefore, holidays that fall on or around a weekend, such as Easter, generate significant spikes in cross-border travel activity.
Additionally, there has been a considerable increase in cross-border shopping activity over the last few years, since the end of COVID-19 restrictions there have been significant numbers of Hong Kong residents traveling across the border for leisure purposes on holidays and weekends.
Economic Boost Amid Transport Strain
Recent growth in the visitor numbers has also created a wide range of business opportunities within the same region as well as quickly upward trending economic growth for Hong Kong.
Many popular shopping centres, restaurants and places of interest were filled to capacity with tourists as they dined out, shopped, and enjoyed recreational activities during their visit. Shopping areas and local eateries were extremely crowded. Even the university campus has had more tourists than usual, whether they were dining in restaurants or cafes or standing outside of the buildings taking pictures and checking in all over the place.
“There have been so many tourists at the restaurant lately that sometimes I can’t even find a seat,” said a student from the University of Hong Kong.
As cross-border travel become more frequent, as well as a part of everyday life, the government will need to develop effective ways to manage crowd control during peak holiday seasons.