The World's Largest Annual Mass Human Migration
The largest annual mass human migration occurs each year during
the Chinese New Year. This important Chinese holiday is responsible
for the largest surge in travel as millions of Chinese move around the
country to be near friends and family for the celebration.
What is the Chinese New Year?
Also known as the Lunar New Year, the celebration is an
important Chinese holiday ringing in the start of the first day of the
year of the Chinese calendar. The Chinese New Year coincides with the
Gregorian calendar each year anywhere between between January 21 and
February 20, falling on the second new moon after the winter solstice.
Largest Mass Annual Human Migration
The forty-day travel period surrounding the New Year (which is
considered the most important public holiday in China) and is known as
"Chunyun" and means "Spring Festival Transport". Chinese officials
calculate that well over 3 billion passenger trips are made as a result.
In 2014, there will likely be 3.6 billion trips made: 3.2 billion by
car and buses, 258 million by train, and 42 million by bus. The mass
movement of travelers puts a strain on the Chinese transportation system
will many more travelers than available seats on buses and trains.
See: Travel statistics for Chinese New Year
Travel Map for the Chinese New Year
The map shown with this article is pulled from Baidu, the
Chinese search engine that is responsible for 'Baidu Migrate'. The heat
map pulls locational data from smartphone users in China who access
Baidu maps and other locational apps in order to show patterns of
migration during the Lunar New Year travel period. Many Chinese
laborers use this time of year to return back to their inland rural
birthplaces from the more urban areas of China where they work. The
holiday period also falls during the winter break of college students in
China who often study at universities far from their hometowns.
See: Baidu Migrate Map
Hajj
By comparison, the migration of travelers far outnumbers the
annual celebration of Hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Hajj is
considered to be the largest gathering of Muslim people in the world.
The annual pilgrimage to Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and
every able-bodied Muslim is required to make the trip at least once.
This annual mass migration to Saudi Arabia involves the movement of over
three million people a year.
Whether traveling by train, plan, or car, the celebration of
the Chinese New Year is responsible for the largest annual mass human
migration in the world with billions of passenger trips generated to
move Chinese travelers closer to friends and family for this important
annual festival.
I never had given this a thought.
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