Railways began selling tickets on Wednesday for trains scheduled to leave between Feb 1 to March 12, a 40-day period in China known as "Chunyun" when people travel back home to celebrate the Spring Festival, which falls on Feb 16 in 2018.
The 2018 Spring Festival Travel Rush will last from February 1 to March 12 when train tickets will be under great demand. Insiders recommend people to book the train tickets as early as possible.
Train tickets may be bought up to 30 days in advance. Passengers can book their tickets on Jan 17 for train tickets of the Chinese New Year’s Eve, which falls on Feb 15 this year. Passengers can book their tickets on Jan 23 for train tickets of the sixth day of the first lunar month, the date when the Chinese people are supposed to get back to work after the week-long holiday.
The week-long national holiday is one of the few -- and possibly only -- times many in China are able to take enough time off to return to their home towns. Nearly 3 billion trips were made during the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush between Jan 13 and Feb 21 last year, marking a new record of human migration during the Spring Festival travel rush.
The Spring Festival Travel Rush, also known as Chunyun in Chinese, or Chinese New Year Travel Rush, Lunar New Year Travel Rush is the largest annual migration on earth. It usually begins 15 days ahead of the Chinese New Year and 25 days after, lasting for 40 days. During the Spring Festival Rush, China, especially its railway system, faces an extremely high traffic load, which results in great difficulties to obtain a ticket, crowded railway stations and train carriages.
Millions of people working or studying out of their hometowns will be hurrying home to reunite with families as the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival approaches. This long-held tradition is the main reason for the rush.
