Chun Yun in Shanghai 2012

China’s population is the largest in the world, estimated at 1.4 billion people, and the ramifications of this number constantly ripple through every part of daily life. There are always lines at every turn, transportation is crowded, and of course, there is limited personal space. Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, falls on January 23rd this year, and is a time when many Chinese return to their hometowns to be with their families and friends. During this time an impossibly large amount of people board planes, trains, busses, and boats in what is known as Chun Yun. Chun Yun is often referred to as, “the largest annual human migration in the world.” It is estimated that some 700 million Chinese people will travel making an estimated 3.1 billion trips over the 40 day travel period. Trains are running around the clock and still overcrowded. Highways have increases in volume of 20-30% during this time. And airports are packed to the brim.

If you have never seen Chun Yun, there are many ways to see this in action. For example, you can go down to your local train ticket office to see the lines that wrap around the corner. Or better yet, ask about train ticket availability, and you will probably hear, “mei you,” which translates in English to “there are none.” Yet, to really understand how crowded the trains will be during this time, imagine a packed subway at rush hour, and this is approximately the amount of standing room in a train car during Chun Yun. The trains are absolutely packed, from standing room cars all the way up to soft sleeper cars. People are sleeping on the floor, luggage and personal belongings are squeezed into every possible nook and cranny, and millions of instant noodles will be consumed as surrogate meals. Frank Yang, who has made the trip from Shanghai to his home in Anhui province twice during Chun Yun, echoed these sentiments. He says, “because there are so many people who buy standing room only tickets, they often have to sleep on newspaper laid over the floor.” This year he had a great trip home, though, because he bought a soft bed ticket compared to his hard seat ticket of the year before.

The Great Spring Migration brings unbelievable lines, ridiculous travel conditions, and outlandishly high-priced scalped tickets. Yet, apart from all the troubles, inconveniences, and stress that this migration brings, it is actually quite a logistical marvel. First, it is important to realize how difficult it must be to coordinate this massive move and how relatively well it goes over. There are not massive amounts of crashes on the highways, train derailments, flight cancellations or other major problems (right?). Hundreds of millions of people get where they need to go safely and in one piece. That is quite an achievement. Think on a smaller scale, and imagine planning a family vacation for five people and how difficult that can be. Now imagine working in the Ministry of Transportation who has to write the stage directions for this amazingly intricate play. Think about all the questions, like, “How many trains need to go from point A to point B?” “How many extra busses should be ordered?” “Due to limited track space, what are the best times for these trains to leave?” And after considering these questions you can begin to understand the difficulties that this huge migration brings every year.

Everybody wants to get home for the holidays and it is worth all the stress and difficulties. So as all these people gear up to travel and the trains, planes and busses get ready to carry all these millions of people, take a second to think of how amazing this really is. Xin Nian Kuaile.

 

Cory Kutcher is a Travel Editor for ShanghaiExpat.com. If you have questions or comments he can be reached at: ckshanghai@yahoo.com.