Frustration and shabby behaviour mark travellers' experience three days into 'golden week'

Major tourist spots across the nation were swamped with holidaymakers in the first three days of "golden week", leaving many sights in chaos and prompting internet users to mock the annual rush as a "national celebration - Chinese style".

Managers of Jiuzhaigou national park apologised to more than 4,000 travellers who were left stranded for up to 10 hours and forced to walk several kilometres in the dark to catch buses out of the world-famous valley in Sichuan province.

The park - known for its pristine ravines, lakes and beautiful forests - was accused of selling far more tickets to visitors than it could accommodate. The management said in a statement that a small group of people had tried to stop buses driving away after they failed to get on one, causing a succession of problems.

Photos posted on microblogs showed thousands of angry visitors gathered near the ticket office demanding refunds on Wednesday night.

A 64-page rulebook recently issued by the government on proper tourist etiquette seemed to have had little effect, as further cases of "uncivilised" behaviour were posted by Web users during the week-long holiday to celebrate National Day that started on Tuesday.

"Happy National Day holidays, everybody. This is the time of year when the big nationwide party is thrown in different parts of our country," a blogger wrote.