China’s annual Lunar New Year travel rush (Spring Festival travel season) officially kicked off on Tuesday, January 14th, amidst a backdrop of economic downturn and high unemployment rates. Despite the immense pressure of daily life, the importance of the Lunar New Year as a time for family reunions continues to draw many people to embark on the journey back home.
The peak of the Spring Festival travel season began at midnight on Tuesday, with the first train departing from Beijing to Hefei City in Anhui Province. The New Year’s Eve on January 28th is a key moment for many families to gather for a reunion dinner. This 40-day migration period will last until February 22nd. Official estimates suggest that the number of domestic trips during the Spring Festival travel season will reach a record high of 9 billion trips.
The Chinese authorities project that railway passengers will reach 510 million, a 5.5% increase compared to the previous year, while air travel passengers are expected to reach 90 million, both setting record highs. However, the significant increase in these numbers is more a result of changes in statistical methods rather than a true reflection of economic recovery.
Since 2023, the Ministry of Transport has included self-driving trips on national highways in its statistics, and in 2024, this scope was further expanded to include more road trips. This method has led to the continual inflation of official travel figures, masking the reality of the economic downturn.
Currently, China’s economy is in a slump, with the lingering effects of three years of pandemic control measures, coupled with a real estate market crisis and weak domestic demand, hampering economic recovery efforts. While the government has implemented a series of stimulus measures, including interest rate cuts and the expansion of programs like trading in old products for new ones, the impact on improving the lives of ordinary citizens remains limited.
In August 2024, official figures revealed that the youth unemployment rate in China had soared to 18.8%, hitting a new high since the statistical method change. Despite a slight improvement in recent months, a large number of university graduates still face the challenges of low-paying jobs or unemployment. Many individuals are choosing to leave highly competitive major cities and return to their hometowns for a simpler life.
22-year-old Shi Zhenyue and her friends went on a holiday to Harbin before heading back to Wuxi, Jiangsu to celebrate the New Year with her family. She expressed her hopes for the New Year to bring about economic improvements, providing more job opportunities for the younger generation.
“If the economy improves, my chances of finding a job will be greater, and I won’t have to continue pursuing a master’s or Ph.D. degree,” she said.
However, the persistent crisis in the real estate industry, escalating deflationary pressures due to low consumer confidence, and challenges posed by tariff commitments, particularly from the United States, present significant obstacles for China’s economy in 2025.
It is worth mentioning that terms like “Spring Festival travel season” and “Spring Festival” were forcefully introduced by the Chinese Communist Party after destroying traditional cultural terms. Historically, this festival was known as the “New Year” or “Lunar New Year” in China, serving as a pivotal moment for people to reunite with family, give thanks to ancestors, and being the most important festival of the year for the Chinese people.