Evening in Qianmen Street, Aug. 16, 2008 [China News Service]

Since it reopened on August 7, 1.84 million people have visited Beijing's refurbished Qianmen Street. On August 16 alone, there were 310,000 visitors. To ensure visitor safety in the popular traditional shopping center, electronic meters have been installed at entrances and exits, to monitor the number of visitors. If visitor numbers exceed a safe level, police will restrict access to the street.

The street is only 19 meters wide on average, and no more than 18,000 people can be safely accommodated at any one time. If visitor numbers exceed 12,000, the monitoring system will trigger an orange alert, police will open 5 additional exits, and restrict entrance to the street.

All bags carried into the street are searched by police using electronic detectors to check for weapons and explosives. There are also three fire crews stationed in the street.

Police say peak times for visitors are 10:00-11:30, 14:30-17:00 and 19:00-22:00. They have appealed to the public to avoid these times if possible

(China.org.cn by Hou Xiaoying, August 18, 2008)