Road Cycling Course

The portrait of Mao Zedong at the entrance of the Forbidden City stares down at the scattered clusters of people visiting the usually crowded Tiananmen Square in central Beijing 27 April 2003, on the eve of what would have been the May 1 holidays where thousands of visitors flock to the square. With a bright sky and a warm sun shining, it would seem the kind of day when Beijing's residents come out in force to enjoy spring, but this Sunday SARS had turned the city into a ghost town, with deserted streets and empty plazas reflected the awful fact that of all the people who are reported to have succumbed to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) worldwide, one in six have died in Beijing. AFP PHOTO/GOH CHAI HIN