China Prepares For the Largest Annual Human Migration
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China is preparing itself, and its rail system, for the largest annual human migration, as people return to their families and hometowns in celebration of the Spring Festival. The 7-day “Golden Week” holidays is expected to make almost 5.9 million trips per day across China.
The Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, is the time when millions of Chinese travel via planes, buses and trains back to their hometowns for one of the biggest Chinese holidays of the year.
China is preparing itself, and its rail system, for the largest annual human migration, as people return to their families and hometowns in celebration of the Spring Festival. The 7-day “Golden Week” holidays is expected to make almost 5.9 million trips per day across China.
The Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, is the time when millions of Chinese travel via planes, buses and trains back to their hometowns for one of the biggest Chinese holidays of the year.
According to Chinese authorities, the annual internal migration is expected to make 3 billion trips over the 40 day festive period – which equates to approximately two trips for every single person in China.
For most Chinese, it may well be the only time they get to see their families. But news agencies are reporting that rail tickets have already sold out, especially for trains departing from major urban cities like Beijing and Shanghai where migrant populations are high.
CNN reported:
[quote] After more than a week of visiting the train station to wait in line for tickets and leaving empty-handed, Qin Yun has given up.
He and his wife, both migrant workers in Beijing, hoped to buy tickets that would take them more than 2,000 km home to the southwestern province of Sichuan to spend the annual Spring Festival with their parents and teenage kids.
On Monday, Qin managed to buy a train ticket for himself – a standing-only ticket on a cramped train for more than 40 hours. It’s been a year since the two of them have gone home. [/quote]
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But the problem is not unique. Every year, millions of Chinese move to urban coastal cities in search of better employment opportunities. Every year, long queues and disappointment are part of the New Year rituals for many.
To ease the annual crush, Chinese authorities implemented ticket booking via the Internet, though it has drawn fierce criticism from the public for its slow speed and intermittent malfunctions. According to the Ministry of Railway, the rail ticket web office received more than 1.4 billion clicks on Monday alone, and over one million tickets sold per day.
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