Hundreds of Chinese tourists took part in a camel riding procession on Friday near the Mingsha Shan oasis in Dunhuang Province. The activity is part of a compulsory seven-day holiday -- "National Day Golden Week" -- implemented by the Chinese government in 1999. The holiday, which includes three paid days of leave, was introduced to help expand the domestic tourism market and improve the standard of living in the country. During the first-ever National Day Golden Week in 1999, an estimated 28 million people traveled within China -- by 2007, this number had increased to over 120 million.