How does China mark Homecoming and Reunion?
Everyday topic
China's chunyun is the largest annual movement of people in the world: centred on the Spring Festival, spanning about forty days, with combined passenger trips across rail, road, water and air counted in the billions. The Spring Festival has four days off under the national holiday regulation, and shifted workdays are then used to build something longer. The difficulty of getting home is the ticket — snapping up tickets, extra services being added and staggering travel are the fixed vocabulary of this period.
What is this topic?
Homecoming is not one holiday pattern: Taiwan's main wave is Lunar New Year; Japan has year-end/New Year and Obon; China's roughly forty-day chunyun surrounds Spring Festival; and Thanksgiving drives the largest U.S. wave. India's travel follows state festivals, Indonesia's mudik clusters around Idul Fitri, and Brazil's return trips also follow school and family calendars. This guide compares dates, leave, transport pressure, and ways of reuniting, while leaving room for people who cannot or do not want to travel.
Sources and dates
Dates follow local time zones, calendars, and official notices. Check the source when a date is estimated or locally variable.