China is about to see one of the largest human migrations, as people travel home for the Lunar Year holiday.
January 31st marks the beginning of Chinese New year. But some 3.62 billion people are expected to journey home during the 40 day Spring Festival that began January 16.
Every year this places a huge burden on Chinese infrastructure. We rounded up some images that show just how busy it gets this time of the year in China.
Travelers wait for their train at a check point in Shanghai.
REUTERS/Aly Song
Some of these train journeys can take upwards of 15 hours.
Reuters
Scalping makes getting a train ticket harder and often people don't get tickets at all.
REUTERS/Carlos Barria
If you think the trains are bad, there are expected to be about 80 million road trips a day.
REUTERS/China Daily
Just because you have a ticket doesn't mean you're guaranteed a seat. Many travelers are seen crowding the train floor.
Reuters
And travelers use the floor of the train as a garbage receptacle. A passenger throws garbage on the floor of a train travel ling from Shenzhen to Zhengzhou.
Reuters
The online ticket booking website repeatedly crashed because of overwhelming demand.
Reuters