3,700 visitors lost in crowds on Tian'anmen square

Some 3,700 people reported lost friends or relatives in the crowds on Tian'anmen Square during the first three days of the week-long National Day holiday, local police records show.

On the Oct. 1, China's National Day, 2,300 people were separated from friends or relatives as long queues formed in front of the broadcast booth that would send messages to tell people where to meet.

Five-year-old Xiao Hao's mother was in tears after she was separated from her son in the throngs of people, many of whom were out-of-town visitors. Police broadcast a message over the square and officers on patrol used their walkie-talkies to search for the child. The desperate mother was re-united with her son within a few minutes.

Police provided broadcast and telephone services at the square for people looking for lost friends or relatives. They also told visitors which bus they should take when they couldn't find their companions on the square.

About 1,000 people were reported lost on Oct. 2 and 400 on Oct.3.

About 220,000 tourists watched the flag-raising ceremony on the square at six a.m. on Oct.1. Crowds of visitors swarmed to giant floral displays on the square from early morning to late at night, taking pictures of each other.

Visitors left 113.8 tons of rubbish on the square in the first three days of the holiday, 20 times the usual daily amount, according to the Beijing News.

About 350 sanitation workers cleared rubbish, swept roads and cleaned temporary toilets around the square, the paper said.

Tian'anmen Square is the number one destination for people from all over the country during the week-long National Day holiday. It's where Chairman Mao Zedong announced the formation of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and where many revolution heroes are memorialized.

The largest city square in the world, Tian'anmen Square is 440,000 square meters, about the size of 63 football fields.

Source: Xinhua