A total of 126 famous scenic spots across China received over 1.64 million tourists on Saturday, the first day of week-long National Day holiday period, or "Golden Week".

The ticket income of the scenic spots totaled 53.3 million yuan (US$6.58 million), according to a report released by the National Holiday Office.

In Beijing, about 56,100 people visited the Forbidden City on Saturday, exceeding its maximum capacity by 12 percent. Other famous scenic spots like Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, Beihai Park each received over 30,000 tourists a day.

Nearly 1 million domestic and foreign tourists visited Beijing's parks and scenic spots on Saturday, according to statistics from Beijing Municipal Bureau of Parks (BMBP).

Beijing subway trains had to skip the stops of Tian'anmen Square from Saturday noon as the square was too crowded to take any more visitors.

"Past experience tells that the first peak of tourists will fall on Oct. 2 and 3 and the second on Oct. 4 and 5," said an official with BMBP.

(Xinhua News Agency October 3, 2005)