With the National Day holiday fast approaching, cities and towns all over China are busy getting ready to mark the occasion, with holiday decorations being put up everywhere.

In Beijing, more than 300 parks and tourist attractions will open up to welcome tourists during the "Golden Week" holiday period which starts on October 1st. Some of them, like the Yuan Capital Site Park, are newly restored areas opening up to the public for the first time. Apart from these, the Zhongshan Park, the Beijing Botanical Garden, the Sculpture Park, Fragrant Hills, and many other parks are holding various activities to celebrate the holiday.

In the streets of Chongqing, Xi'an, Zhengzhou, and Changsha; in the parks of Shijiazhuang, Jilin, and Nanchang, millions of potted flowers are blossoming, bursting in an array of shapes and colors.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong and Macao regions, people are expecting a influx of tourists from the mainland now that central government's facilitated individual travel policy on Hong Kong and Macao bound tours is in place.

Tourists arriving in Macao on Saturday with lucky numbers were welcomed with a sweet surprise. They were presented with souvenirs by the regional government's tourist officials waiting at land, ferry and airport entry-points.

A three-hour-long tourist promotional campaign, including lion dances, a cocktail party, Mexican folk music and dances, was held in front of the Macao Tower on Saturday afternoon. The celebration culminated in a luck-draw with the first prize -- a luxury Mercedes worth about 125,000 US dollars -- claimed by a tourist from Hong Kong.

(CCTV.com September 28, 2003)