After Ethiopian air crash, China is the first country to announce grounding the Boeing 737 Max 8 planes for suspected safety defects. At present, more than 50 countries halt the planes and more damages may be caused to the air industry.

In 2018, China’s railway network expanded for 4,683 km (2,910 mi), including 4,100 km (2,550 mi) of high speed railways. The total railways in China have reached around 131,000 km (81,400 mi). The newly opened railways including Hangzhou - Huangshan, Harbin - Mudanjiang, Jinan - Qingdao contribute a lot to the 2019 Spring Festival Travel Rush. Also, there are some new railways to open in 2019.

On December 31, 2018, a wonderful performance in Xi’an was displayed to celebrate the New Year’s coming. In other cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, thousands of people gathered in popular places to welcome the New Year together.

From December, 2018 on, the tax refund policy has been implemented in three cities in Guangxi Province include Nanning, Guilin and Fangchenggang. There are 33 designated tax free shops covering 21 categories of products including clothing, cosmetics, jewelry, watches and electrical appliances.

Xiamen, Wuhan, Qingdao, Chengdu and Kunming will implement the 144-hour free-visa transit policy since January 1, 2019 and people who come from the 53 countries can transit in any of these cities for at most 144 hours without a visa. Both airports and sea ports, if the city has one, will be available for the transit.

Recently, one of the Yungang Grottoes has been copied successfully through the 3D printing technology. It is not the first time that the technology is applied to the relics’ restoration and it has been widely used in the world before. However, it also causes a worry that this may become a tool to make counterfeits.

Around 1,000 China’s scenic spots cut the ticket price and some are even open to the public for free from this October on. Theses scenic areas include some famous sites such as Jiuzhaigou Valley National Park and Mt. Huashan in Xi’an. The extensive price cut will bring tangible benefits to tourists and help to attract more travelers than before.

The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high speed train will open since September 23, 2018 and the tickets have been on sale from September 10 on, 2018. It will connect Hong Kong with more than 40 mainland stations and shorten the travel time between mainland and Hong Kong.

After the peak travel season coming, the hot scenic spot Chaka Salt Lake in Qinghai Province faces a big challenge about garbage. In the peak period, about 12 tons of rubbishes are left in the scenic area in a single day and the beautiful lake is becoming a garbage dump. Many other scenic spots in China such as the Great Wall, Mogao Caves and Crescent Lake are also disappearing as a result of human activities. People should take the time to protect them and enjoy the scenery before they completely disappear.

With the coming of midsummer, China gradually enters the rainy season. Due to the intensive rainfall, some attractions, especially those in mountainous regions, have or had been closed temporarily for safety concern, including the Jiuzhaigou Valley National Park, Laohuzui Scenic Area in Yuanyang Rice Terraces, and Mount Laoshan in Qingdao. To prevent your China trip from being ruined by the intensive rainfall during the rainy season, here we listed some packing and travelling tips.