2011 Feb 01 Chun Yun Travails
The Spring Festival move has started. Chun Yun is the world’s largest yearly human migration and it is expected that half of China’s population will travel over the next few weeks. With up to 700 million people traveling trying to get home is no small feat and people have found lots of ways to avoid train travel, which - from the looks of it - does not bode well for a relaxing holiday.
Stories have spread throughout the Chinese papers and web about people seeking different routes to travel home. Xinhua tells the story (in Chinese) of a student that traveled from Nanjing to Urumqi. “13 days, 3,700 kilometers (about 2,300 miles), 25 free rides” brought the student back to his home for free. An English version can be read here.
The Global Times reported about several over-enthusiastic runners who grouped together and ran from Beijing, southwest 132 km, to Baoding, arriving home in 17 hours.
In an effort to avoid the problems of train and bus travel, motorcyclists have taken to the streets in masses, many dealing with snow and awful weather that is plaguing much of the south, as ChinaSMACK has documented.
ChinaSMACK has collected photos of train travel to truly illustrate the madness and mayhem that is Chun Yun.
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