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For many Chinese, the just-concluded eight-day National Day holidays mean something more than just a vacation. 

Coming off the COVID-19 epidemic, many Chinese people seized the holidays to reunite with family members, who they were supposed to spend time with during the Spring Festival, but were disrupted by the epidemic. Many chose to hit the road and indulge themselves after being confined to their homes for eight months.

Some took the time to do things they were longing to do but couldn't. And there were those who worked for those in need. 

While many parts of the world continue to struggle with the virus, the holidays were a reward for Chinese people who sacrificed during the epidemic. It was their belated Spring Festival to spend time with their loved ones. The holidays also reassured them about China's battle against the virus, as their action spoke louder than statistics and any announcement. And they defeated efforts that smear China's fight against the virus. 

Photo: IC

Fulfilling a pilgrimage

Sichuan born and bred Tibetan Long Xu joined a crowd at one of the most popular tourist spots -Tibet - during the Golden Week.  

But unlike most travelers, Long walked thousands of miles from Sichuan to Tibet for four months to accomplish the pilgrimage he has been longing for years. He started his trek in June from Sichuan, after he had volunteered in Wuhan, the erstwhile hardest-hit Chinese city. 

Long was visiting his family in Wuhan when the city was ordered locked down in late January. Realizing it was impossible to leave, he started volunteering the day the city was sealed off. Long traversed between Leishenshan and Huoshenshan hospitals, and from Fangcang makeshift hospitals to nursing houses. 

Startled by fainting COVID-19 patients, moved by Wuhan elderly people's thanks for his help, and having witnessed death, Long said it was those experiences that inspired him to accomplish this "walking the kora" practice he has been thinking of doing for years.

"After this experience in Wuhan, I thought there was nothing to fear, and that life is too short. So we must seize the day and leave no regrets behind," Long said. 

After four months, Long waded through loneliness, starvation, pouring rain and strong winds, before arriving in Lhasa, capital of Tibet region on Saturday. Seeing the crowds crammed along city streets, bathing under the plateau's scorching sunshine, Long was in a daze.

"It was a rainy May day when I left Wuhan. To me, the future was as misty as the weather as I was walking on the empty street and wondering when the pandemic would be over and life would return to normal," he said.

"I never thought that in less than half a year, I would see so many people, traveling, laughing, and taking pictures in front of the Potala Palace. I guess this is what karma means: We paid the price, now we've been rewarded," Long told the Global Times.

He said he read "sour grapes" reports from some foreign media about China's travel rush during the National Day holidays. "The joy is the reward for 1.4 billion people who prioritized virus-control over other things. Hundreds of thousands risked their lives fighting the virus."

Wuhan, which was hit the hardest during COVID-19 in China, is recovering with surprising speed. Data shows more than 18.82 million tourists visited the city during the Golden Week, which made the Yellow Crane Tower the most popular attraction in the country. 

Wuhan people also seized the opportunity to make up for their Spring Festival, which was disrupted by the epidemic. 

Wang Wei, a 29-year-old social worker in Wuhan, traveled with her husband and in-laws from Wuhan to Shunde, a city in South China's Guangdong Province, during the eight-day holiday. Wang's long-awaited vacation was not just a chance to relax, but also for a delayed family reunion, after she, like hundreds and thousands of social workers in the city, worked relentlessly since January. 

"It was like a delayed Spring Festival," Wang told the Global Times. 

During the Spring Festival from end of January to early February - a moment when Chinese people get back home and enjoy family reunion - Wang experienced the most stressful period in her life. The only thing left in life was work, work and work, Wang said. As community social worker, she worked over 12 hours every day, engaging in resident personal health status registration to purchase of daily necessities for elderly people to routine body temperature check. "I haven't seen my husband who is a police officer for weeks, not to mention parents of both sides," she said.

During the National Day holidays, Wang shared photos on WeChat, such as food and popular tourist sites, where she had to wait in line. "It was a relief, and we got through this," she said, referring to the difficult time when people sacrificed their leisure time to fight the epidemic.

"When I enjoyed this hard-won family trip after COVID-19, I looked back to those days when we fought this battle very hard. It seemed like a long time ago, but I always remember it," she said.

Photo: IC

Looking ahead

Unlike many who spent the holiday touring and enjoying family time, Chen Jingyu watched over hospital beds.

As a well-known lung expert and deputy head of the Wuxi People's Hospital, Chen told the Global Times he performed six lung transplants during the eight-day holiday. "There's no vacation for doctors. We will be wherever patients need us," he joked.

Chen was awarded in September for his outstanding contributions to the lung transplants of COVID-19 patients. But he said there's much more for him to do.

"I was touched by the medical employees' efforts and contributions in fighting the virus when I was in Wuhan. But the virus made me realize that there's still a vast void for us doctors and scientists to fill, especially in intensive care and respiratory science," Chen said. 

Bahgul Tolheng enjoyed the holiday with her family in Urumqi, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. "I really had a good time during the holiday after twice encountering the epidemic," Bahgul said.

Bahgul went to support Wuhan in February at a makeshift hospital, and she became prominent after a video showing her leading patients in a dance went viral. When the sudden spike of COVID-19 cases surfaced in Urumqi in July, she worked as a volunteer in the residential community to help deliver vegetables and other necessities to quarantined residents. 

Her experience has also become a regular topic in her family, and her son wanted to know every detail of the two battles his mother joined. "He likes to tell his friends that his mother is brave, and said he wants to become a doctor like respiratory expert Zhong Nanshan," Bahgul said. 

Bahgul said it is nice to see that life in Urumqi has returned to normal. Living in a downtown residential community, she saw many buses taking tourists from around the country to the city. 

"I sent messages and postcards to my patients in Wuhan, and invited them to Xinjiang. We have become more aware that the peaceful life and happiness of a person is closely related to our country," Bahgul said.  

Long said after the Tibet tour, he will return to Sichuan to support his family. "I feel I lived my life to the fullest this year, I contributed my fair share to help Wuhan, and accomplished my wish of making a pilgrimage to Tibet on foot. It's time to return to normal life."

Although the pandemic has upended life, he said he is not worried about his future. "We are not living in the best of times, but living in the best country, with wonderful people. Those are what we need to fight for."