Today marks the beginning of the National Day Golden Week, a seven-day long national holiday in China. In celebration of the occasion, the government decided to lift the tolls on all of the country’s roads, prompting a flood of eager travellers and some of the worst traffic jams ever seen – by last night there were already 85 million people on the roads, up 13% from the previous year.

This year’s festivities mark the first time that the expensive road tolls were lifted, and China’s population was clearly keen to capitalise on the opportunity. The traffic jams are actually ridiculous, so much so that countless people simply exited their vehicles and began holidaying on the highways – some kept themselves busy playing sports, while others walked pets and others still simply took to doing some exercise to pass the time. Naturally, citizens took to Weibo, one of China’s most popular social networks, to share images of the creative ways bored travellers were killing time. Below is a gallery containing some of the hits.

[Source: China Daily, Tea Leaf Nation, eChinacities.com]