Editor's Note: "Jaime's
China" is a weekly column about Chinese society and politics. Jaime
FlorCruz has lived and worked in China since 1971. He studied Chinese
history at Peking University (1977-81) and served as TIME Magazine's
Beijing correspondent and bureau chief (1982-2000).
About 230 million people are expected to take the train during the official travel period between late January and February 27, railway officials say. Around 30 million travelers will take the plane, and millions more will go by bus.
Zhou Jie is among the luckier ones. Two weeks ago, the 45-year-old migrant managed to snap two train tickets through a scalper, so that she and her husband could return to their home in central Anhui province for the holiday.
"We paid more to get hard-seat tickets," she tells me by phone from her rural home. "But it's okay because we're happy to be together with our children." She and her husband work as migrant workers in Beijing, while their two adult children remain in their hometown.
For many Chinese, the Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is the only time they visit home during the year. "It's important for us to get together, however briefly," Zhou says.
Chinese families remain strongly influenced by tradition in the ways they celebrate the holidays.
The most important part of the festival is the nianye fan, or "reunion dinner," which family members attend in the hours leading to the New Year's eve.
While eating a feast of traditional food like noodles, fish and dumplings, they gather around the TV set watching the "Spring Festival Eve Gala," featuring performances by entertainers and celebrities. For over 20 years, the marathon TV extravaganza has been China's most watched variety show, raking in huge advertising revenues and catapulting artists to stardom.
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