For most people, returning home after a long holiday means a few hours of traffic, some honking, and maybe a little frustration. But for millions of Chinese citizens traveling after the eight-day Golden Week holiday, what awaited them was beyond imagination — a sea of vehicles stretching as far as the eye could see. What began as the usual post-holiday rush transformed into a once-in-a-lifetime traffic catastrophe, one that drones later captured in footage so surreal it’s now gone viral around the world.
The massive jam occurred on October 9 along one of China’s most crucial and busiest expressways — the G4 Beijing–Hong Kong–Macau Expressway, also known as the Jinggang’ao Expressway. This colossal road, which spans more than 2,200 kilometers and includes sections up to 36 lanes wide, was brought to a complete standstill. According to reports, the gridlock stretched for kilometers, trapping millions of drivers in place for over 24 hours.
The cause? The end of China’s Golden Week — one of the country’s longest national holidays — when hundreds of millions travel across provinces to visit family, sightsee, or return home. This year, over 750 million people were on the move, almost half of China’s population. With so many vehicles flooding the highways simultaneously, chaos was inevitable.
Millions of travelers in China were left stranded in a massive 24 hr traffic jam, following their Golden Week holiday. pic.twitter.com/d5QFZrES46
— Girl patriot (@Girlpatriot1974) October 10, 2025
A Drone’s-Eye View of Gridlock
Footage circulating on social media shows a sight that looks more like a painting than real life. The camera pans across row after row of motionless cars, all trapped in an ocean of metal under hazy skies. The massive toll plaza at Wuzhuang, in the central part of the G4 Expressway, is where the nightmare truly began.
Despite the road’s 36 lanes, the jam worsened as they merged into far fewer lanes ahead — a logistical bottleneck that quickly spiraled out of control. Traffic experts later described it as a “perfect storm” of human behavior, poor timing, and infrastructure limits.
For those inside the vehicles, however, there was no poetry — just frustration, exhaustion, and desperation. Travelers stuck in the jam described the experience as “a scene from a disaster movie.” Many ran out of fuel, food, and water. Parents struggled to calm crying children, and some passengers even got out to stretch their legs or nap beside the highway.
Voices from the Internet
The viral footage sparked an avalanche of reactions online. One stunned viewer asked the question on everyone’s mind:
“So where did everybody go to the bathroom?”
Another remarked wryly:
“Chaos looks beautiful — when you’re not in it.”
Others empathized with the trapped drivers:
“You’d better have a great bladder for this traffic.”
Meanwhile, one user humorously pointed out the obvious:
“When 32 lanes merge into 6, what do you expect?”
Some saw the irony in the situation.
“I’d send this video to my boss to explain why I’m late,” wrote one commenter, “and they’d still think there’s another way to get to work.”
A few others painted a grimmer picture:
“No food, no water for 24 hours. Imagine being low on fuel — what then?”
Not the First Time
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time China has experienced such monumental gridlock. While the Golden Week rush is notorious for heavy traffic, this year’s situation was particularly intense due to a surge in domestic tourism and an increase in private car ownership.
During the start of the same holiday on October 1, highways were already overwhelmed as travelers embarked on trips across the country. Reports indicated that congestion levels were even worse than those seen during Chinese New Year, a period already famous for packed transportation routes.
Yet, as extreme as the recent jam seemed, it still doesn’t surpass one of China’s most infamous traffic incidents — the 2010 “Great Traffic Jam”. That gridlock stretched over 74 miles between Beijing and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, trapping drivers for an almost unbelievable 12 days. Back then, vendors appeared on the roadside selling overpriced noodles and water to stranded travelers. The event became a symbol of China’s rapid urban growth and its infrastructure struggles.
🇨🇳 The Chinese are stuck in massive traffic jams as the country kicks off a long holiday
Millions of people set out on trips to mark the start of the extended break for China’s National Day and the “Golden Week” holiday, running from October 1 to 8, 2025.
😩 Drivers say the… pic.twitter.com/reYgtT8YUk
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) October 2, 2025
A Nation on the Move
China’s Golden Week is both a blessing and a logistical nightmare. It’s one of only two long national holidays in the country, when citizens have enough time to travel long distances. Tourist spots fill up, trains overflow, and highways turn into parking lots.
The government promotes domestic tourism during these holidays, and millions take advantage of toll-free highway policies. However, these same incentives contribute to overwhelming traffic, especially when everyone leaves — and returns — at once.
Experts argue that China’s infrastructure, while impressive, still faces challenges in managing simultaneous mass travel. The G4 Expressway alone stretches from Beijing to Shenzhen and connects several major cities, carrying a tremendous portion of the country’s traffic. At toll points like Wuzhuang, even a small delay can ripple outward, affecting thousands of vehicles.
Lessons from the Jam
In the aftermath, authorities have reportedly begun reviewing traffic management protocols to prevent similar events in future holidays. Suggestions include staggering travel schedules, opening more toll booths, and improving communication with drivers during heavy congestion.
But beyond logistics, this event served as a reminder of the sheer scale of China’s population and the growing pains of modernization. What’s fascinating — and somewhat sobering — is how a modern 36-lane expressway, one of the world’s widest, can still buckle under the weight of human movement.
For those who experienced it firsthand, the memory will likely last a lifetime. One traveler shared that he spent the night in his car with the engine off, relying on his phone flashlight and rationing snacks meant for a few hours into a 24-hour ordeal. Another said that drivers began sharing food and chatting between vehicles — a kind of impromptu community born out of frustration.
The Viral Legacy
Now that the drone footage has spread worldwide, it’s sparked both awe and disbelief. The sight of one of the planet’s largest highways brought to a standstill by sheer human volume feels almost symbolic — a breathtaking display of scale, chaos, and resilience.
As one netizen summed it up:
“Only in China could traffic itself look this magnificent and terrifying at the same time.”
In the end, the jam cleared — slowly, painfully, but inevitably. Yet the images remain, frozen in time, a reminder that even in a world of high-speed trains and mega highways, sometimes humanity still moves… at the pace of a crawl.
