So It Begins: Travelers Swarm Train Stations as CNY Rush Starts

By Bridget O'Donnell

China's annual Spring Festival travel rush is officially here.

Images of passengers swarming train stations have begun circulating as the 40-day-long chunyun period, the world's largest annual human migration, kicked off last week. The number of passenger journeys in China this Spring Festival travel season is expected to reach 2.98 billion, according to China News Network.

Spring Festival falls on January 28 this year, but the chunyun travel period typically starts a fortnight before New Year's Eve.

Trains set for travel on Friday, January 13 in Wuhan

Passengers outside Jinan station in Shandong.

A game of cards is played among travelers in Chengdu.

Passengers in Yinchuan, Ningxia on their way to Beijing.

Passengers in Beijing on their way to Chongqing

Passengers at Taiyuan station.

Apparently some people in Guangzhou didn’t know that scissors and knives aren’t allowed on the train…

Men playing cards while waiting for the next train out of Guangzhou.

Passengers on a train departing from Shenzhen arrange their luggage.

[Images via China Daily, Xinhua, iFeng, Tencent News]

You May Also Like...

For more China news, click "Read more" below.