From March 1st, residents in the municipalities of Tianjin and Chongqing will be able to apply for individual travel to Hong Kong and Macao.

People in these two cities will only be required to provide resident cards and identification cards when applying for passports to Hong Kong and Macao. The process is much simpler than before, when people had to submit materials to prove the purpose of their trips.

Currently, people living in those regions that haven't yet launched the new policy can only arrange their trips through travel agencies.

Since July 2003, many regions of China have launched the policy, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and some cities in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces.

(CCTV.com February 18, 2005)