Cities across China have adorned major landmarks with national flags and vibrant floral displays to usher in the National Day holiday, transforming capital thoroughfares, historic squares, and scenic spots into festive showcases.
China’s National Day, observed on October 1, commemorates the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, with this year marking its 77th anniversary.
A total of 10 three-dimensional flower beds have been arranged along Chang’an Avenue, a major thoroughfare in Beijing that traditionally serves as the venue for national celebrations. Their themes range from revolutionary history and emerging industries to green development, urban renewal, and garden-city development.
A National Day-themed floral landscape unveiled at Nanchang’s historic Bayi Square in east China’s Jiangxi Province features a traditional Chinese knot at its core, symbolizing unity and national prosperity.
“Surrounded by blooming flowers, it is just like our lives today — flourishing and harmonious,” said resident Xiong Yan.
At the Lushan Mountain scenic area in Jiangxi, a large drone bearing a massive national flag flew over Guling Town, drawing crowds of tourists to take photos against the vibrant red display.
In Hohhot, capital of north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, thousands of Chinese national flags line major thoroughfares and city landmarks, transforming the urban landscape into a sea of red.
Meanwhile, Yuzhong District of southwest China’s Chongqing City is displaying over 2,000 flags alongside carefully arranged floral landscapes covering main roads, commercial hubs, and bridges.
In Taizhou, east China’s Jiangsu Province, the national flags have been placed on lamp posts along the city’s Yingchun Bridge. As night falls, the bright lights cast a glow on the flags, making their red color appear more vivid.
Cities across China unveil festive decorations ahead of National Day holiday
While floodwaters began to recede across parts of Bangkok on Wednesday, thousands of residents in the capital’s low-lying suburbs remained marooned, grappling with severe disruptions to electricity, clean water, and essential services in neighborhoods accessible only by boat.
A severe nationwide flooding swept through 42 Thai provinces between Sept 16 and 28, impacting 1.8 million people and leaving at least 8 people dead, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.
Officials reported that 28 provinces, primarily across Thailand’s central, northern, eastern, and northeastern regions, remain affected by the disaster.
In the Lat Krabang district on Bangkok’s eastern edge, just kilometers from the Suvarnabhumi Airport, streets remain submerged deep enough to swallow cars.
For the tens of thousands of people living there, the danger is not the rising water, but the grueling daily struggle to survive.
“It’s devastating. Nobody can make a living. I have no money right now; all I have left is myself,” said Mu Boonpitaksorn, a local resident.
With roads submerged and utility lines cut, small boats have become the communities’ only connection to the outside world, delivering food, drinking water and medicine while serving as a crucial lifeline for evacuations.
“They are losing hope. That’s what I think. This is one of the largest disaster area for the moment. People with disability, elderly people, family with younger children, it’s much difficult for them to stay on into the community as they used to,” said Weerasak Kowsurat, secretary general of the Friends in Need (of “PA”) Volunteers Foundation.
Although temporary shelters have been established across the capital to offer safety, food, and dry ground to the displaced, evacuees face the reality of walking away from everything they could not carry.
“It’s all gone. I have nothing left. Absolutely nothing. Fridge, washing machine, fan, air conditioner… nothing left at all. Inside my home is all mud. It’s too much, it’s beyond despair,” said Sumontha Huanarvorn, an evacuee.
Even as Bangkok gradually dries out, the floodwaters continue to separate families from their homes, belongings, and routines, leaving residents waiting desperately for roads to reappear, and hoping they will eventually lead back to the life they knew before the deluge.
Bangkok suburbs endure daily struggle as floodwaters linger
