Spring Festival travel rush

春运

Year

2025

Views

Synopsis

The Spring Festival travel rush is a large-scale population migration during the Chinese Spring Festival, known as the world's largest periodic human migration. Every year during the Spring Festival, billions of trips are made by train, plane, and car as people return home for family reunions.

Overview

Chunyun (Spring Festival travel rush) is a large-scale population movement phenomenon that occurs during the Chinese Lunar New Year period, hailed as the world's largest periodic human migration. During the Chunyun period each year, the nationwide passenger trips exceed 3 billion.

Chunyun generally begins 15 days before the Spring Festival and ends 25 days after, lasting approximately 40 days in total.

History and Scale

Year	Passenger Trips	Notes
2020	Approx. 3 billion	Pre-pandemic peak
2023	Approx. 2.1 billion	Post-pandemic recovery
2024	Approx. 3.2 billion	Record high
2025	Approx. 3.5 billion	Continued growth

Transportation Modes

Mode	Share	Characteristics
Railway	Approx. 40%	Developed high-speed rail network, 12306 ticketing
Road	Approx. 35%	Toll-free expressways
Civil Aviation	Approx. 10%	Significant airfare fluctuations
Waterway	Approx. 5%	Coastal cities
Self-driving	Approx. 10%	Increasing year by year

Ticketing Methods

Method	Description
12306 Website	Official ticketing platform
Mobile App	Convenient ticketing
Railway Station Counters	On-site purchase
Ticket Agencies	City-based agencies

Cultural Significance

Chunyun embodies the importance Chinese people place on family reunion. No matter how far or difficult, returning home for the New Year is the wish of every Chinese person.

Phenomenon	Description
Chunyun Ticket Rush	The most popular online activity each year
Reverse Chunyun	Parents traveling to cities to reunite with children
Chunyun Memories	Collective memory of a generation