China's return travel rush peaks as NY holiday ends

Chinese passengers have begun traveling back from ir hometowns across country as Spring Festival holiday draws to an end. As biggest family reunion holiday in China, Spring Festival usually sees biggest annual movement as hundreds of millions of people who move across country for work, travel to visit family.

For third year in a row, government encouraged people to avoid long-distance trips as country was coping with sporic coronavirus outbreaks. Despite this more than 90 million railway trips were me from January 17 to February 2 according to Chinese State News Agency.

In railway stations in Beijing, passengers pushing suitcases and wearing masks filed out of railway exits on Sunday. Zhao Qiao'e, a housekeeping worker whose hometown is Hebei Province, recounted strict coronavirus measures before she boarded train, saying y me her feel safe. Wearing a red scarf, 49-year-old Chai Xiaoping arrived Sunday morning from Tianjin with dampened memory of lunar new year celebration.

"In past, my home was more lively and more festive with family reunion. But this year we celebrated Spring Festival in Tianjin, children in Beijing, and elderly in hometown. We were separated into several clusters," said Chai, "Epidemic messed it up." Chen Zhufen, 22, from Henan Province was also reminiscent of his childhood memory. "In past, sky was bright during Spring Festival, but in past two years, sky is dark with only sound but no light, and no fireworks," said Chen.