Hong Kong residents arrive in the mainland through Luohu port in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province on February 6, 2023. From: The Paper.

 

The iron gates at the land port of Luohu were finally pulled up at 6:30 am on Monday to welcome long awaited Hong Kong travelers arriving in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, marking the end of a three-year border restriction between the mainland and Hong Kong.

Starting from Monday, China has fully opened the mainland's border with Hong Kong and Macao, reopening the three land ports in Shenzhen - Luohu, Liantang and Huanggang, cancelling limitations capping the number of cross border travelers while also ending COVID-19 testing requirements for those without travel history in overseas areas within seven days. 

According to Shenzhen's Port of Entry and Exit Office, trails for border reopening had been held in the three ports to test the equipment. Sufficient staff and travel channels were also arranged to ensure safe and quick passage.

As the most commonly-used land port for Hong Kong residents, the Luohu port has set up 15 manual inspection channels and 25 quick channels in the entry hall while opening 19 manual inspection channels and 38 quick ones in the departure hall, a border inspection official confirmed.

Hong Kong's security chief Chris Tang Ping-keun said a total of 83,000 passengers have traveled between Shenzhen and Hong Kong via border ports as of Monday noon since reopening.

A man surnamed Luo took the first cross border train at 5:55 am from Sheung Shui station in Hong Kong to Luohu port. Luo said he hadn't been back to the mainland to see his wife for two years. "I've got used to crossing the border through Luohu port. For me, the transportation in Luohu is more convenient than other ports such as Lok Ma Chau."

"Despite of the three-year suspension, the border entry at Luohu is even more convenient than before. I spent less than 10 minutes passing the whole process," said Edward Lau Kwok-fan, a member of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), who was among the first group of travelers at Luohu port.

There were also large numbers of students passing through the port for their face-to-face classes in Hong Kong due to pandemic restrictions since 2020. 

As the only land port in Shenzhen opening for 24 hours all day, Huanggang port has already opened its all 40 entry channels including 10 manual inspection lanes and 30 quick pass lanes on Sunday evening as the earliest cross border bus of All China Express Limited departed from Mong Kok at 23:45 pm on Sunday. 

The port used an interim traveler inspection building for the border reopening, which allows for 30,000 passengers and 3,000 vehicles to pass each day. 

Liantang port is the seventh land port between Shenzhen and Hong Kong and was the first put into use on Monday. It has 5G network coverage and the newest automatic channel gates that allow 30,000 travelers to pass on each day.
  
Together with the already opertational land ports, there are currently about 58,000 people crossing the border between the mainland and Hong Kong every day, facilitating the flow of logistics, capital and trade.