On September 30, the day before the National Day holiday, Mr. Liu, worried about traffic jams, set off early at 3 pm, driving from Longgang, Shenzhen, to the Yangtian Lake Scenic Area in Chenzhou, Hunan.

However, as the holiday travel peak arrived, around 8 pm Liu was still stuck in traffic on the Qingyuan section of the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway.

Using a drone he had brought along, Liu captured aerial footage of the traffic jam. The video shows a dark night illuminated by a “colourful ribbon of lights” formed by the long line of vehicles, stretching as far as the eye can see.

Liu said that due to the traffic, it wasn’t until after 3 am on October 1 that he finally arrived. A journey that normally takes five to six hours ended up taking more than 12 hours.