A hot ticket to home

Monday is the third day of the Spring Festival travel rush. By the end of the day, it is estimated that around five million passenger journeys will already have been made. And for the people who failed to get tickets the first time round, there is always another chance, with plenty of returned tickets on sale.

It is said that tickets for the busiest train routes sell out within 20 seconds on the Internet.

There is no way to verify that exact claim, but there is no doubt ticket sales reach fever pitch ahead of the festival rush.

But tens of thousands of sold tickets are also being returned every day, and that is good news for those who couldn't grab a ticket first time round.

One Chinese term has now gone viral on the internet is Yi Piao Nan Qiu - "It's hard to get one ticket."

School teacher Ms. Song is after three tickets from Beijing to Northwest China. She asked her students, family members and friends to help her try to get them.

The first day of trying, and no luck. But a day later, one of her relatives managed to get through on the phone, and get hold of three priceless tickets.

So asking others for help boosted her chances of success. But this is also a reason why so many tickets are now being returned. Some people try so hard to get their tickets, that they actually end up with too many.

Train tickets can be bought 20 days in advance through the Internet and telephone, but only 18 days ahead from ticket booths.

There is no quota for the ticket booths, so that means waiting the extra two days can sometimes mean one thing: "sorry, all sold out."

So here is the key problem. Less than half the Chinese population have internet access, according to recent data. That means more than half of people in China are at a disadvantage when buying train tickets.

If you are thinking about buying them online to re-sell to those without internet - don't do it. One couple in Guangdong Province recently booked tickets for migrant workers online, charging them an extra 10 yuan for each ticket. They have already been prosecuted for scalping.