It’s a party! Any one will do as long as it’s not the communist one.
In communist China, alternate routes have YOU.
BBC TV just reported the traffic jam has cleared! Not sure how, but that’s amazing considering it was expected to go on for so many more weeks. Almost as amazing as BBC feeling the need to announce it to the world.
Are there a lot of fresh mass graves at the side of the highway?
Update here. No mention of graves, but I’m a bit suspicious. Could they have simply declared the jam over and chased away the reporters?
Earlier CNN report here. Not much different from the link in the OP but sounds like it may indeed have been the same people stuck for 9 days.
The Chinese government certainly could have. They aren’t known for their scrupulous honesty.
Holy crap. I don’t think I’ll ever complain about traffic again (yeah, I probably will).
Same.
No, it turns out there was just one guy standing in front, blocking traffic. Once they got him out of the way, everything’s fine.
You’d think one reporter would be smart enough to ask some drivers how long they were stuck in this jam, e.g., “I went from town x to town y, only 100 miles apart, and it took me 8 hours.” Without this info, we have no idea how bad this traffic jam is.
Update here, in which a team of Agence France-Presse reporters drove the route.
Excerpt: **"‘The situation has gotten much better recently. I don’t know why,’ a female gas station attendant in Huailai county, roughly halfway from the capital to Xinghe county in Inner Mongolia, told AFP.
"Officials at the Beijing traffic management bureau were not immediately available for comment.
“The state-run Global Times said Monday the jam had spawned a mini-economy, with local merchants capitalising on the stranded drivers’ predicament by selling them water and food at inflated prices.”**
Was it the same guy from Tiananmen Square?
The beast is back! The traffic jam has returned. Story here.
Same section of road. This time, it’s 75 miles long. More than 10,000 vehicles.
I welcome our capitalist brothers by the roadside, hehehe. 
(I wonder if they’re causing it on purpose somehow.)