China sees record daily passenger flow in Spring Festival travel rush

Passengers are pictured at the Jiaxing South Railway Station in Jiaxing, east China's Zhejiang Province, Feb. 15, 2026. (Photo by Jin Peng/Xinhua)

BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- China's Spring Festival travel rush hit a historic high on Feb. 20, with daily cross-regional passenger trips exceeding 350 million, according to data released by the Ministry of Transport on Saturday.

On Feb. 20, the 19th day of the 2026 Spring Festival travel season, cross-regional passenger traffic reached a remarkable 352.999 million trips. This figure represents a 12.3 percent increase compared to the same day in the 2025 Spring Festival travel season, setting a new record.

The Spring Festival, which is also known as Chinese New Year, falls on Feb. 17 this year, and the official holiday lasts nine days. The annual travel rush, "chunyun," is often described as the world's largest human migration. It is expected to see a record 9.5 billion inter-regional passenger trips during the 40-day rush from Feb. 2 to March 13 this year.