China Spring Festival: A travel survival guide
Traveling during the world’s largest annual migration is not for the weak-spirited or inexperienced.Here's the best advice about traveling in China during the Spring Festival: don’t. Even for many locals, the fireworks and festivities aren’t worth the higher prices and the headaches of milling crowds.
But for anyone willing to overcome snags in exchange for a grand spectacle, here are nine tips for preparing for the ultimate travel challenge.
(The Spring Festival travel season usually starts two weeks before Lunar New Year and ends on the 15th day of the New Year, aka the Lantern Festival. This year's Lunar New Year falls on January 23.)
1. Travel light but bring essentials
Weather everywhere, except for south China, is frigid this time of year, so make sure you prioritize wool sweaters, down coats, fur-lined shoes, thermals and warm accessories in the one-checked-bag allowed on domestic flights and trains.
The weight limit is 20 kilos for checked bags, but considering the increase in crowds and pickpockets during this time, the lighter and less valuable your luggage, the better.
Normally everything, especially cheap clothes, can be bought easily in China.
Small shops and market stalls will close on the eve and the first three days of Lunar New Year (January 22-25), and gradually open in the days ahead.
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2. Mind the crowds and plan ahead
Booking air travel, hotels and restaurants is a must.
Planning ahead for trains is limited, however, as tickets don’t go on sale at train stations, agent booths or online until 12 days in advance of departure.
Even travel agencies that charge two or three times the ticket price offer no guarantees.
Before the Lunar New Year, tickets to smaller towns from big cities, especially Guangzhou, the “factory of the world,” are hardest to find.
Move in the opposite direction of the migration and take advantage of the travel lull on the first couple of days after the New Year, when most Chinese will still be at home with families.
Crowds are also thinner between big cities on newer D and Z express trains as they do not stop at smaller stations and are more expensive. But even these tickets should be bought as soon as they become available. Usually that means lining up at train stations hours before midnight.
Don’t let the crowds fool you into thinking departure times will be lax either. Trains close their gates five minutes early and often earlier during Chunyun.
A taxi ride to the station that normally takes 30 minutes can easily last two hours and a 60-meter walk to your gate, 30 minutes.
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3. Carry valid identification
Every train ticket in China must have a matching valid ID that each passenger shows both when buying tickets and boarding trains.
This is the first year people can buy tickets online at www.12306.cn, the customer service site run by China Railway Bureau.
While it could be considered a viable alternative to standing in long lines at train stations or agent offices, news sources have reported that online booking has experienced glitches.
The online site also is only in Chinese and only accepts payment from an online China account. Only Chinese citizens can book by telephone (+86 12306).
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4. Say “no” to a standing ticket
Never buy a standing train ticket around the Spring Festival. The only exception is if the trip is less than four hours and during daylight hours.
Trains that sell standing tickets are bad enough for people in seats, who must bear stuffy rides with strangers’ backsides in their faces. But anyone left standing undergoes a form of mental torture.
It is socially acceptable for the elderly and children to sleep on newspapers under a row of seats. Young people sometimes bend their bodies around baggage on racks above.
Foreigners and the inexperienced, however, usually end up next to the bathrooms, jumping up regularly from their newspaper plots to let people pass. Here, cigarette smoke mixes with the smell of ammonia, body odor and clogged toilets.
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5. Fireworks warning
The real mark of the festival comes at night when fireworks can be set off by anyone with a match.
Traditionally fireworks were meant to ward off evil spirits, but now it seems to be a way to show off one’s disposable income.
Some corner of China’s night sky will be lit up by fireworks every night for about two weeks, but three nights in particular won’t let anyone sleep.
The fireworks build up to a crescendo on Lunar New Years’ Eve at midnight and again at dawn the following day. The second blast comes on the fifth day of the New Year, when people set off fireworks to ensure wealth in their future, and then finally on the Lantern Festival.
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