Big rush begins for reunions

A woman staggers under the load of carrying a child  and heavy baggage as she tries to reach Nanchang  railway station in Jiangxi province over the weekend. About 2.5 billion trips are expected over 40 days  starting from Saturday.[China Daily/Zhou Ke]

The world's largest annual human movement began in the country over the weekend, with about 2.5 billion trips expected over 40 days, up from 2.32 billion in the comparable period last year.

 

The Ministry of Railways said 4 million people traveled by train across China on Saturday and yesterday as Chinese began the yearly trip to their hometowns to celebrate the Spring Festival with family reunions.

The railway stations in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou were the busiest, mainly packed with migrant workers heading home to central and western China.

Some 59 million passengers took buses over the weekend, the Ministry of Transport estimated.

The traffic flow is expected to peak during Feb 5 - 10, days before the Spring Festival, which falls on Feb 15 this year.

The real name ticketing system, on trial in Guangdong, Sichuan and Hunan provinces, led to fewer crowds or delays.

In Guangzhou railway station yesterday afternoon, Wang Xiangzhi was relaxed after his ticket was stamped with a seal, indicating his ID card matched the details on his ticket.

"It took me only several seconds to go through the procedures for having my ID card checked in the station square," said 35-year-old Wang, who is employed in a chemical factory near Guangzhou.

Media reports said many scalpers had quit their business this year because of the new system - but others appeared, selling IDs to people at the railway station square, according to the city-based Southern Metropolis Daily.