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The flood of holidaymakers in Beijing has forced pandas to work overtime during the weeklong "golden holiday".

Giant pandas at the Beijing Zoo can only get some peace and quiet after 6:30 PM, 30 minutes later than usual, because on average 100,000 people pour in each day, said Wang Baoqiang, vice general manager of the zoo.

The Beijing Zoo has 11 giant pandas and is one of the few Chinese zoos to raise the rare species in captivity.

The zoo has extended its opening hours during the first week of May.

"There's been a surge of tourists since Monday, most of whom are from outside Beijing," said Wang. "But it's crucial to keep the animals healthy and make sure their biological clock is not disturbed."

More than 200 zoo workers are on duty each day to take care of the animals and people. "This is four times as many as on normal working days because we need to make sure the visiting crowds are safe, too," said Wang.

Nearly all Beijing tourist destinations have taken on extra security staff for safety considerations.

Sightseeing in Beijing is anything but comfortable these days with jostling crowds and sizzling temperature that have topped 30 degrees Celsius, the highest in the past 40 years.

The Summer Palace, a former imperial garden and Beijing's largest park, received 280,000 visitors in the four days between May 1 and 4.

The Forbidden City received a record 114,800 people on May 2 but the number nearly halved on Friday to 63,600.

The Quanjude Group, a restaurant known for Beijing roast ducks and a key stop-off for first-time visitors to Beijing, sold nearly 20,000 ducks in the first three days of the golden week.

More than 60,000 diners ate at its restaurants between May 1 and 3, the company told Xinhua.

Yet some dangerous roads and tourist destinations are taking a toll on travelers.

A string of accidents in the past days have killed three people in Beijing alone, including a 64-year-old retiree who died of a heart attack while climbing a mountain at night.

In the deadliest road accident so far, 16 people died and 45 were injured in Lincang, a city in the southwestern Yunnan Province on Friday.

The National Holiday Office, a government agency established for Golden Week holiday operations, has warned local governments, travel services, holiday resorts and tourists to be prudent.

One in four Chinese chooses to travel during the golden week holidays, celebrated during the Chinese Lunar New Year in January or February and the first weeks of May and October, according to figures released by the office.

It says the Chinese made 357 million golden week trips last year, nearly 13 times the 28 million reported in 1999, when China first extended the three most important holidays to seven days from the previous three.

(Xinhua News Agency May 6, 2007)