China's next Spring Festival doesn't start until January next year, but people are already rushing to buy tickets home. It is tradition in China to spend Spring Festival with family.
In fact, some 2.97 billion journeys are expected to be made over a 40-day period in 2017. And more than 350 million rail journeys are expected starting January 13th.
To help reduce pressure on the rail system, China is adding more trains to its networks.
Instead of waiting in lines to get a ticket, home-going people prefer buying tickets online, over the phone, or at a ticket sales station.
China's state train company is working overtime to optimize efficiency, but still, getting a ticket won't be easy, as people make arrangements to head home.