Chunyun 春运 the largest annual human migration in the world

Chunyun, 春运, also referred to as the Spring Festival travel season or the Chunyun period, is a period of travel in China with extremely high traffic load around the time of the Chinese New Year. The period usually begins 15 days before the Lunar New Year's Day and lasts for around 40 days. The number of passenger journeys during the Chunyun period has exceeded the population of China, hitting over 2 billion in 2008. Rail transport experiences the biggest challenge during the period, and myriad social problems have emerged. In recent years, the situation has gotten better with the newly constructed high speed raillines. As the income of average Chinese citizens increases, more people are expected to go home by air plane. If the Chinese economy is more balanced, fewer people would have to seek opportunities away from home. This should further alleviate the transportation bottleneck.