Chinese New Year Brings Celebration, Horrific Travel Conditions

04:29

February 05, 2016

Passengers crowd the Shanghai Hongqiao railway station as they wait to board their trains to head to their hometowns for the Lunar New Year holiday, in Shanghai on February 3, 2016. Over 2.9 billion trips will be made around China during the 40-day "Spring Festival" travel rush, which kicked off on January 24, Chinese authorities estimated. The Spring Festival, this year being the Year of the Monkey, China's most important holiday centering around family reunions, will fall on February 8. (Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images)

In China, the Lunar New Year prompts a mass homecoming for those working in large cities. The holiday, which begins Monday, is seen as the largest collective movement of people in the world each year.

Long journeys by bus, plane and train are made worse with delays due to unexpected snowfall. Up to 100,000 people were stranded at Guangzhou Railway Station earlier this week.

NPR's Anthony Kuhn speaks to Here & Now’s Peter O’Dowd about how China will be ringing in the Year of the Monkey.

Guest

Anthony Kuhn, NPR international correspondent. He tweets @akuhnNPRnews.

This segment aired on February 5, 2016.