The iconic Tian'anmen Square in central Beijing is usually filled with flowers, pot plants and topiary, but on Thursday there were some new installations: hundreds of toilets. There are now 445 portable toilets in eight locations in the square, and 132 assistants are on hand to point visitors in the right direction.

"We expect a huge number of tourists during Golden Week, so we have brought in these extra toilets," said Zhang Zhiqiang from the Beijing Environment Sanitation Engineering Group.

The week-long National Day holiday began on Thursday. More than 532 million domestic trips are expected to be made from Oct 1 to 7, according to the China Tourism Academy, and a range of measures are being rolled out to ensure happy vacations.