The peak Spring Festival travel period, chunyun in Chinese, lasts about 40 days. It usually starts 15 days before Lunar New Year's Eve and ends 25 days after.

The Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb 10 this year, is the most important festival for Chinese, and millions of people including the bulk of migrant workers and college students travel home for family reunions.

It is by far the largest human migration (though temporary) in the world. According to official estimates, people will make 3.4 billion trips during this year's chunyun, setting a new record.

However, the journey home for many is not easy because millions of people vie for a limited number of train and bus tickets. Though the authorities have tried their best to provide a fair and orderly system for ticketing, people still struggle to get a ticket back home. Transportation capacity and safety, and other social problems make Spring Festival travel a truly difficult task.

(China Daily 02/08/2013 page9)