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China’s Spring Festival travel rush this year has seen the largest number of people travelling since the zero-Covid policy was dropped on 8 December, 2022.
Known as chūnyùn 春运, it’s the world’s largest annual human migration and lasts for more than one month:
The 2024 Spring Festival travel rush starts on 26 January and ends on 5 March, a total of 40 days.
The Spring Festival holiday in 2024 is from February 10 (the first day of the first lunar month) to February 17 (the eighth day of the first lunar month), a total of 8 days.
2024年春运自1月26日开始至3月5日结束，共40天。2024年春节假期从2月10日（初一）至2月17日（正月初八），共8天。
New Year's Eve (除夕 chúxī), which is the most important day for families to come together, fell on Friday 9th February this year.
But it wasn’t officially a holiday in China, meaning many people were forced to leave travelling home to the last minute if their employer didn’t break early.
Demand for train tickets was high.
Tickets for the festive period went on sale on the 12th of January. In just two weeks, 610.8 million tickets were sold for travel during the Spring Festival period, a 159% increase on the previous year.
The official ticketing app is the 12306 platform, run by China Railway Group (中铁集团).
This year updates to the app allowed travellers to pre-fill their information for faster booking when tickets went live.
According to data released by the company, daily sales on the app peaked at nearly 19 million during the run up to New Year, with daily website visits reaching over 6.2 billion.
People preparing to return home compared prices of high-speed rail tickets, hard and soft seat slow trains, as well as flights, many times per day.
"Ticket-snatching apps" (抢票软件) were popular with people scrambling to buy tickets in the last two weeks.
To use "ticket-snatching apps," users have to pay in advance. Once the tickets are released, the apps will act as a "purchasing agent" to automatically snatch tickets.
To use an analogy, it's like everyone is waiting at a virtual train station, queuing to buy tickets for the Spring Festival. With the app you spend a bit more money to hire a few people to queue for you at different windows, so you can get tickets faster.
抢票软件的原理，就是需要用户提前付款，放票的时间一到，平台作为“代购”就会自动抢票。相当于大家都在一个线上版的火车站，所有备战春运的人都在排队，现在你只要花钱，就可以雇几个人多占几个队伍，多排几个队，最后看能在哪个窗口最先买到。
Other travel apps had their own in-app purchases or extensions, known as "accelerators" (加速包), which serve the same purpose.
News reports describe anxious travellers queuing through as many as seven ticket-snatching apps, as well as directly on the 12306 platform, to grab their tickets as soon as they went live.
Personal stories circulated on WeChat blogs of travellers taking circuitous journeys to get home in time New Year’s Eve dinner (年夜饭).
Originally, all I had to do was to get to the nearest high-speed rail station and then take a long-distance bus to get home.
Now I have to change my plan and turn to travel platforms for different options.
Among the options provided, the cheapest might require me to stand for 3 hours; another one offers a seat for the whole journey, but I have to make a pointless detour, taking the route of a triangle on the map of China before being able to reach home.
原本只要坐到离家最近的高铁站，再搭一班长途汽车就能到家，现在只能变更计划，转向求助旅游出行平台。给到的方案，一个是最便宜的，需要坚持3个小时无座。一个是全程有座的，但需要走不少“冤枉路”，至少在中国地图上走出个三角形才能回家。
Do ticket-snatching apps and accelerator extensions actually work?
China Railway Group says they do not. But that hasn’t stopped millions of people paying extra through them for the comfort of standing better chance of getting home in time.
So that's what we explore this week!
Favourite Five
1. 乡愁 xiāng chóu
homesickness
回到亲人身边，是很多异乡打工者最眷恋的一缕乡愁 - For many of the homesicked who work in a different city, all they want is to return home to be with their family. [1]
Related:
发愁 fā chóu - worry, be anxious
2. 攻略 gōng lüè
tactics, guide
米花给爸妈抢了8年票，查过很多攻略，知道哪个软件更容易候补成功 - Mi Hua has been helping her parents grab train tickets for 8 years, so she has read many guides on how to do it and knows which app makes it easier to get off the waitlist. [2]
3. 冤枉路 yuān wang lù
pointless detour
一个是全程有座的，但需要走不少冤枉路，至少在中国地图上走出个三角形才能回家 - One option offers a seat for the whole journey, but I have to make a pointless detour, taking the route of a triangle on the map of China before being able to reach home. [1]
Related:
冤枉钱 yuān wang qián - ill-spent money, wasted money
4. 心惊肉跳 xīn jīng ròu tiào
heart pounding with anxiety; frightened, startled
从自己家成了网红城市以后，回家的机票价格就一天比一天让人心惊肉跳 - Ever since my hometown became a popular city, I’ve watched in panic as the flight home goes up in price day by day. [1]
5. 耐着性子 nài zhe xìng zi
have patience
米花觉得委屈，还是耐着性子解释——别人可能是坐票，我想抢最快的、21个小时就能到家的Z290，卧铺比较难 - Mi Hua felt wronged but still patiently explained: Others may only manage to get tickets with a seat, but I want to grab the fastest one, the Z290 sleeper train which takes only 21 hours to get home, and the tickets with a bed, which are relatively difficult to get hold of. [2]
Consuming the Conversation
Useful words
6. 抢票 qiǎng piào
scramble for tickets
有钱没钱，抢票过年 - Whether you have money or not, you have to scramble for train tickets if you want to get home for Chinese New Year. [1]
Background: This is a play on the common saying: 有钱没钱，回家过年.
Related:
难抢 nán qiǎng - hard to snatch, difficult to grab
7. 异乡 yì xiāng
foreign land
异乡人常常从一个月前就计划这场出行 - People who live away from home often plan this trip a month in advance. [1]
Related:
返乡 fǎn xiāng - returning home, going back to one's hometown
8. 漂泊 piāo bó
to drift, to wander
回家过年，是很多异乡漂泊者的执念 - Going home for the New Year is a must for people who live away from home. [1]
Related:
北漂 běi piāo - people who have moved to Beijing
深漂 shēn piāo - people who have moved to Shenzhen
9. 焦灼 jiāo zhuó
anxious, fretful
回家的心情是迫切的，春运抢票的环境是焦灼的 - They long for home, but the tickets home are difficult to come by as everyone scrambles for them. [1]
Related:
心慌 xīn huāng - nervous, flustered
10. 候补 hòu bǔ
on the waitlist
刚更新的好时段车票就在半小时内被迅速抢到“候补” - The newly released tickets for prime time were gone within half an hour and you could only get on the waitlist. [1]
Related:
余票 yú piào - remaining tickets
11. 黄牛 huáng niú
scalper, ticket tout
老家朋友给她推荐了最古老的“黄牛抢票法”，并传授心得 - A friend from her hometown recommended the oldest "scalper ticket-snatching method" to her and shared their experiences.
Three character phrases
12. 打水漂 dǎ shuǐ piāo
to throw money away, to waste money
声势浩大的“保障套餐”让150块钱打了无声水漂 - 150 yuan went down the drain as they purchased the "guarantee package" that boasted many services. [1]
13. 碰运气 pèng yùn qi
to rely on luck, to take a chance
