As the Year of the Rabbit Kicks off, nearly 250 million travelers will be coming and going from China’s big cities to their hometowns, straining nerves and the nation’s mighty transport system
Outside the Beijing Railway Station
Frequently referred to as the largest temporary migration in the world, the mass travel of Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, kicked off this week in China. Over the next few weeks, some 246 million travelers will be coming and going from the nation's big cities to their hometowns.AP Photo/Ng Han Guan
Shijiazhuang Railway Station
Migrants' patience was put to test during the 2008 new year rush, when snowstorms hit the southern part of the country. Winter weather caused power outages which turned into delays that left millions of passengers stranded without much food or comfort.ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images
Beijing Railway Station
The 2008 travel snarl called for the intervention of the Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao, who was photographed during that year's holiday addressing crowds with a megaphone.PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images
Buying tickets in Hubei
Chinese transportation experts say the nation needs solutions that will ease the stress on the infrastructure, such as creating a paid annual leave scheme for migrant workers that would send people home during several different times during the year.STR/AFP/Getty Images
Deboarding at Hefei Railway Station
So far, travel in the Year of the Rabbit has gone as smooth as can be expected.REUTERS/Stringer
Passengers at the Shanghai Railway Station
While there's no snow this year to add to the plight of the migrants, record numbers of travelers are once again expected to put China's infrastructure to test this week.REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Outside the Guangzhou Train Station
Most travelers are the migrant workers who constitute the backbone of China's production might. Coming from impoverished western regions of the country, they started to flock to richer coastal towns in search of work after the economic reforms of the late 1970s, often leaving families and children behind.Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images
Waiting Inside Guangzhou Station
Every year, these migrant workers hit the nation's transportation network en masse over a period of about 40 days. Chunyun, as the spring festival travel season is called in Chinese, is often the only time in the year when they get to see their families.Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images
Waiting at the Beijing Railway Station
With an increasingly affluent middle class, chunyun tourism is also on the rise. Air travel during the holiday has grown too, estimated to hit a staggering 19.3 million passengers this week, up 9.4% from last year.Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
In the Crowd at the Beijing West Railway Station
China's first railway line was built in Shanghai in 1876, connecting the so-called 'Paris of the East' to a port 15 miles down river. Today, with more than 91,000 km (56,000 miles) of railway tracks being used and more on the way, China has the third largest network in the world after the U.S. and Russia.REUTERS/Jason Lee
Children Waiting to Board in Beijing
The nation's new high-speed lines — the pride of the government — will do little to ease the burden on the network these weeks or in Spring Festivals to come. For the foreseeable future, they will only connect the big coastal cities, whereas most migrants travel to remote rural areas.STR/AFP/Getty Images
Checking in at the Beijing Railway Station
For many, the rush is a big business opportunity: state media is reporting that police have already detained more than 600 scalpers this week.STR/AFP/Getty Images
Lining up to Board in Hefei
Chinese New Year is the longest vacation in the Chinese calendar.STR/AFP/Getty Images
