High-speed trains wind through a sea of blooms when traveling in Beijing's Yanqing suburb. (Photo: Pan Zhiwang/China Daily)
A photographer's hot shots of a train bursting through blossoms are sizzling on social media and have compelled crowds to get on board to take the trip themselves.
Photos of a high-speed train blasting through blazes of apricot flowers at Beijing's Juyongguan Pass have ignited a firestorm online.
Beijing Times photographer Pan Zhiwang snapped a few shots of a high-speed train that netizens say resemble a dragon winding through a sea of blooms when traveling in Beijing's Yanqing suburb during the Tomb-Sweeping Day holiday.
Netizens affectionately nicknamed it "a train approaching spring".
Pan explains he knew there would be flowers because he reported on the district's 2022 Winter Olympic Games bid.
"Pink apricot blossoms filled the lowlands," Pan says.
He and his wife parked at the foot of the mountain and then hiked. Luck struck when the train happened to rush through the blooms.
The photographer was amazed when his photos rapidly received more than 50,000 responses after he uploaded them to his micro-blog and WeChat messaging accounts.
Pan traveled there to avoid holiday crowds. He later caused them.
Day-trippers flooded the area after seeing the photos. Many told Pan they enjoyed picnics with wine.
"They enjoyed viewing the blossoms while hearing the train," Pan says.
Tourists can see the blooms on the municipality's S2 rail line that connects Beijing North Railway Station to Yanqing.
Train tickets cost 6 yuan ($1).
The site is in the middle of the Nankou and Badaling stations, Pan says.
Passengers can view the blooms for five to 10 minutes, Pan explains.
Many told Pan they made it a point to get window seats.
Roughly half of Chinese tourists spent the three-day holiday among blossoms this year, a report by the online travel agency Ctrip says. It was based on data from hundreds of thousands of group and individual travelers.
Japan and the Republic of Korea's Jeju Island were China's most popular foreign destinations to enjoy flowers, the report says.
Time limitations are the deciding factor for most tourists.
Jiangxi province's Wuyuan, Hubei's provincial capital Wuhan and Henan province's Luoyang were major bloom sites. Each traveler spent an average of 1,420 yuan, the report says.
Pan points out, among calls for tourists' civility, the blooms that peak around Tomb-Sweeping Festival fall soon after.
IF YOU GO
Take the Beijing-Tibet expressway to the toll station of the Juyongguan Pass, turn around and go 500 meters downhill to the railway bridge.
