noelyf
VIP Member
http://addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250
Millions of travellers are boarding trains and buses across China to journey home for the Lunar New Year celebrations.
The world's biggest annual migration of people has begun in China.
Millions of travellers are boarding trains and buses across the country to journey home for the Lunar New Year celebrations.
The transport ministry said the number of passenger trips on trains, planes, boats and buses was expected to reach 2.6bn in the period before, during and after the holiday. That is 11.6% trips more than last year.
In Shanghai, migrant workers in dusty clothes with massive bundles of belongings on their shoulders streamed into the city's main train station as light snow flurries fell.
'It took me three days to buy a hard-seat ticket,' Zhang Guoxing, a 29-year-old construction worker, said before setting out on an 18-hour journey to Hunan in central China.
'I'm lucky this year because I can leave Shanghai for home earlier, last year I spent five days trying to get a ticket,' he said, adding he had to wake up at 4am to line up for a ticket before the daily allotment sold out.
The week-long holiday, also known as the Spring Festival, officially begins on 3 February. However, demand for tickets is high many weeks in advance.
The festival travel season is expected to end on 27 February.
Most of the passengers are migrant workers who travel home to see their families only once a year for the country's most important holiday.
The number of passenger trips has risen steeply from 1.66bn a decade ago, the official Xinhua news agency said.
'Sound economic growth is the reason for the increase. Higher incomes and better transport facilities make it easier for people to travel,' Xu Guangjian, deputy dean of Renmin University's School of Public Administration in Beijing, was quoted as saying.
An average of 2,265 trains per day will carry holiday travellers over the period, deputy railway minister Wang Zhiguo said at a news briefing.
He added nearly 300 additional trains had been enlisted to carry a record 230m passengers expected over the peak period.
Wang acknowledged there would be ticket shortages and said it would be five years before China's fast expanding rail network could meet demand.
Many migrant workers decided to return home early this year to save money because the cost of necessities such as food were rising so quickly in the cities, according to state media reports.
Domestic food prices soared in 2010, driving up inflation to 5.1% in November, the fastest increase in more than two years.
The annual mass migration often triggers short-term labour shortages, leaving factory owners anxious about when their workers will return - or whether they may go elsewhere in search of better opportunities.
In the southern province of Guangdong, some firms have even offered pay rises or free tickets home to encourage workers to stay until the end of the month.
Wang Jianping, a manager at Hexian Garment Factory in Guangdong's Dongguan city, said he had been scrambling to buy tickets for his remaining workers after 75% left already.
'The 100 that are still here stayed because their homes are not that far but they are only willing to work until the end of the month if we can secure tickets,' Wang was quoted as telling Xinhua.
Millions of travellers are boarding trains and buses across China to journey home for the Lunar New Year celebrations.
-
China - The peak travel period for the world's largest annual human migration has arrived
-
China - 2011 Spring Festival transportation rush launched
-
China - Passengers carry luggage as they prepare to board trains at Nanchang railway
-
China - Lanterns displayed outside the central railway station in Shanghai
The world's biggest annual migration of people has begun in China.
Millions of travellers are boarding trains and buses across the country to journey home for the Lunar New Year celebrations.
The transport ministry said the number of passenger trips on trains, planes, boats and buses was expected to reach 2.6bn in the period before, during and after the holiday. That is 11.6% trips more than last year.
In Shanghai, migrant workers in dusty clothes with massive bundles of belongings on their shoulders streamed into the city's main train station as light snow flurries fell.
'It took me three days to buy a hard-seat ticket,' Zhang Guoxing, a 29-year-old construction worker, said before setting out on an 18-hour journey to Hunan in central China.
'I'm lucky this year because I can leave Shanghai for home earlier, last year I spent five days trying to get a ticket,' he said, adding he had to wake up at 4am to line up for a ticket before the daily allotment sold out.
The week-long holiday, also known as the Spring Festival, officially begins on 3 February. However, demand for tickets is high many weeks in advance.
The festival travel season is expected to end on 27 February.
Most of the passengers are migrant workers who travel home to see their families only once a year for the country's most important holiday.
The number of passenger trips has risen steeply from 1.66bn a decade ago, the official Xinhua news agency said.
'Sound economic growth is the reason for the increase. Higher incomes and better transport facilities make it easier for people to travel,' Xu Guangjian, deputy dean of Renmin University's School of Public Administration in Beijing, was quoted as saying.
An average of 2,265 trains per day will carry holiday travellers over the period, deputy railway minister Wang Zhiguo said at a news briefing.
He added nearly 300 additional trains had been enlisted to carry a record 230m passengers expected over the peak period.
Wang acknowledged there would be ticket shortages and said it would be five years before China's fast expanding rail network could meet demand.
Many migrant workers decided to return home early this year to save money because the cost of necessities such as food were rising so quickly in the cities, according to state media reports.
Domestic food prices soared in 2010, driving up inflation to 5.1% in November, the fastest increase in more than two years.
The annual mass migration often triggers short-term labour shortages, leaving factory owners anxious about when their workers will return - or whether they may go elsewhere in search of better opportunities.
In the southern province of Guangdong, some firms have even offered pay rises or free tickets home to encourage workers to stay until the end of the month.
Wang Jianping, a manager at Hexian Garment Factory in Guangdong's Dongguan city, said he had been scrambling to buy tickets for his remaining workers after 75% left already.
'The 100 that are still here stayed because their homes are not that far but they are only willing to work until the end of the month if we can secure tickets,' Wang was quoted as telling Xinhua.
