The first people to arrive expressed relief at not having to undergo the gruelling quarantines that were a fixture of life in zero-Covid China.
The policy had a huge impact on the world's second-biggest economy and generated resentment throughout society that led to nationwide protests just before it was eased. But the expected surge in visitors has led more than a dozen countries to impose mandatory Covid tests on travellers from the world's most populous nation as it battles its worst-ever outbreak.
And Beijing has moved to curb criticism of its chaotic path out of zero-Covid, with its Twitter-like Weibo service saying it had recently banned 1,120 accounts for"offences against experts and scholars".At Beijing airport Sunday, barriers that once kept international and domestic arrivals apart were gone, as were the"big whites" -- staff in hazmat suits long a fixture of life in zero-Covid China.
"I'm quite happy not needing to be in quarantine," another woman being picked up by her boyfriend who declined to give her name told AFP.In China's southern semi-autonomous city of Hong Kong, visitors streamed across the border as travel restrictions with the Chinese mainland were eased.
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