1st holiday travel peak in China

The first travel peak hit China on Sunday in the ongoing Spring Festival travel rush. It came one week ahead of Chinese lunar new year's eve, a time for family reunions.

5 million people flocked to railway stations around China and 60 million travelled by car and coach. In Beijing, 2 hundred thousand travellers left town via  Beijing West Railway Station on Sunday. Travellers are being advised to reach the station two hours before their train leaves, because of long queues to get on board. As much of Northern China was hit by snow on Saturday, 300 flights have been delayed at Beijing's Capital airport.

Every year, China moves 200 million people across the country within one month. They're mainly migrant workers, college students and tourists. The peak time is expected to be on Monday.

Passengers enter the railway station under a shelter against the rain in  Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Feb. 7, 2010. In spite of a  heavy rain, the Guangzhou Railway Station was estimated to transport  230,000 passengers on Saturday, 5,000 more than the peak day of last  year. (Xinhua/Lu Hanxin)