Here is a rare chance to see what China is undoubtedly most famous for: its enormous population. While other tourist highlights such as Tian'an Men Square are usually devoid of life, here is a large public square that perpetually teems with humanity. Certainly one of the best opportunities to visualize what a population of 1.6 billion really looks like. At Chinese New Year, this square is awash with more than 100,000 people a day, and ticket queues stretch kilometers away into the suburbs. Even at the non peak times, being in this area is like being outside the stadium doors as a rock concert finishes and the audience pours out. The area has a bad reputation for crime but this is rather undeserved, especially compared to the new East Station and the central business district of Tian He, where gangs of pickpockets roam openly and arrogant motorists make the simple act of crossing the road one of the most high-risk events of your entire holiday. Here at the old station are at least 18 kinds of uniformed security as well as patrol cars ranging from converted golf carts to oversize SUVs. Business people from all over the province and much of the rest of the country converge here at the vast wholesale clothing markets nearby. Just opposite is Bai Ma, probably one of the largest ladies' clothing wholesale markets in the world; and close by around the corner from the Provincial Bus Station is the fake-watch market, the source of all those shady, conspiratorial vendors that whisper "Copy Rolex, sir?" Simply find a vantage point and look on in awe, as immense flows of human traffic surge endlessly by.
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