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The Chinese Lunar New Year holidays saw 3.13 million people pass through Shenzhen-Hong Kong checkpoints.
'Of the five checkpoints, Luohu handled the largest number of people, 2.05 million,' said Huang, a spokesman for the Shenzhen entry and exit authorities. Huanggang was the second busiest handling more than 890,000.
It has long been a custom for many Hong Kong people to spend the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays with relatives on the mainland, mostly in Guangdong.
'More Hong Kong people were coming to Shenzhen just for the Lunar New Year's Eve dinner, because it was much less expensive than in Hong Kong,' said Huang.
He also said that Hong Kong people also spent the holidays visiting various attractions in Guangdong or going to other cities on the mainland.
Huang said more mainlanders visited Hong Kong during the holidays.
'From Feb. 9 to 15, more than 2,000 tour groups involving more than 30,000 people went through the checkpoints to Hong Kong or Macao, while another 190,000 people went on an individual basis,' he said.
Border police expedited travel document checking. It took five seconds to check a Hong Kong resident with a smart card pass and less than 40 seconds for passport holders, Huang said.
2005/02/17
Source: Shenzhen Daily
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