In 2017, the BBC documentary Chinese New Year: The World's Biggest Event began with a spectacular movement of people, with a journalist from the UK exclaiming: "The Chinese New Year has witnessed the largest annual migration on earth, with one-sixth of the world's population returning home to be reunited with their families. ”
The Spring Festival always triggers a collective mood in Chinese. /Chinese New Year: The World's Biggest Event
After three years of absence, such a scene returned.
The capillary-like railway network is rushing blood again, transporting people to 3,285 railway stations across the country; And the once deserted and quiet airport has also resumed its familiar welcome and sending. Under the "Class B and B Management" policy, entry and travel isolation are canceled, and you can go home after landing. People who have not returned to their hometowns for several years are determined to embark on a journey home thousands of miles away.
According to the forecast of the Ministry of Transport, the total passenger flow during the Spring Festival in 2023 will reach 2.095 billion, an increase of 99.5% compared with 2022, and recover to 70.3% of the same period in 2019 (2.98 billion passengers).
In the past three years, international migrant workers have spent time in wandering, Belarus, Russia, Turkey, Jordan, Singapore, because of the epidemic, but also because of the international situation, she has lived a life of migration with the company, and this year, she finally embarked on the road home. Aki, who lives in Hong Kong, China, also returned to Guangzhou the day before the Lunar Chinese New Year's Eve, and this time, she brought her husband who had been married for a year to meet her father-in-law and mother-in-law...
In the new year, they hope to see their parents and eat the long-lost food of their hometown, and then set off again with a full battery.
Buy a ticket to return home
Going home is half the battle
@Kaka, international student
Copenhagen, Denmark – Dalian
"Deciding to go back to China was a momentary thing. In less than an hour, I ordered all the tickets home. ”
It was the most decisive and fastest flight booking Kaka had in the last three years. In June 2020, Kaka went to Copenhagen, Denmark to study, and for the next two and a half years, Kaka was torn between "going home" and "not going back".
Where Kaka lives.
After the outbreak of the epidemic, booking a flight ticket was once the most difficult step in the decision to "return home". Due to the frequent occurrence of flight circuit breakers, before purchasing a ticket, users usually need to search for a large amount of information, estimate the circuit breaker probability of each flight, and the quarantine policy of the transit place before deciding whether to place an order.
The high cost of air tickets is another practical problem that plagues Kaka's return home. Direct flights from Copenhagen to China are few and prices remain high. At the beginning of 2022, the ticket from Copenhagen to Beijing soared to 50,000 yuan, and some of the classmates Kaka knew spent 40,000 yuan to grab a ticket back to China. This price makes ordinary international students prohibitive.
The turning point came after China's "New Ten Rules" for epidemic prevention and control. On December 7, Beijing time, the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council issued "New Ten Articles", and a series of epidemic prevention and control optimization policies allowed Kaka to see the "signal of liberalization" - the entry isolation policy for returnees was changed from "7+3" to "5+3" (5 days of centralized isolation + 3 days of home isolation), and Kaka could finally go home.
In the end, Kaka chose a "tortuous" but cost-effective route back home - first from Denmark to Finland, then from Finland to South Korea, and two days later, from South Korea back to his hometown of Dalian. The whole trip took nearly 3 days, but the total price was only more than 6,000 yuan. Kaka told us that this route came from the most popular "Return to China to Save Money Strategy" on Little Red Book, and she simply took it directly to "copy homework".
Kaka at South Korean airports.
The ticket back to China is scheduled for January 10, 2023, plus the time for transfer and quarantine, just in time to arrive home in Chinese New Year's Eve.
Half a month later, a lucky message "hit" Kaka. On December 26, the "Category B and B Management" measures were promulgated, and from January 8, 2023, China lifted the entry quarantine, just two days before Kaka returned home. At this time, even the entry quarantine was exempted, and the time to return home was advanced by a whole week.
Although the journey back home was "rushing", Kaka enjoyed it.
On the day of your transfer in Helsinki, Finland, it snowed outside the window – a typical Nordic "ice fairy tale day". Seating in the lounge is home to Finland's famous designer chaise longue, and Kaka comfortably imagines the country's cuisine. The "hometown flavor" she misses the most is the sauerkraut vermicelli pork bun from her hometown in the northeast, "my aunt and grandma make it very delicious, a very large one, and fresh oysters will be put in it."
Miss the food of your hometown in a fairy tale world.
When studying in Denmark, Kaka's stomach was always homesick first. Since the Chinese community in Denmark is relatively small, the local level of Chinese food is generally "not too good".
After arriving in South Korea, Kaka "went shopping and eating" for two days. Her favorite food is roasted pig's trotters – served in a hot pot, the charcoal-grilled grease smells so rich that the bite makes you want to cry.
When I go back, the first thing I do is eat roast trotters.
On the flight from Seoul to Dalian, the crowd was full, and the countdown to going home went together.
At 1:30 p.m. on January 13, the plane landed at Dalian International Airport. There were many passengers entering the country, and Kaka waited in line for 40 minutes to enter the customs smoothly. In the past, when she returned to China, she usually passed with her passport. But this time is different, customs officers will ask each traveler one or two questions.
These include "When was the last time you returned home?" The answers Kaka heard the most when queuing were "2019" and "2020". It was a slightly poignant moment, with strangers in the team sharing the same experience, most of them "returning home for the first time in three years."
The moment they met their parents, they seemed calm with each other, just like any previous return. "Maybe none of us take the sensational route." Kaka said with a smile.
He did not return home for three years
Suddenly forgot how to take a taxi home
@Maizi, an overseas employee of a large factory
Singapore to Guangzhou
After three years, Maizi stood in the crowded international arrival hall of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and fell into a brief confusion.
The moment he walked into the parking lot, Mai Zi's brain suddenly went blank - "Take a taxi home, which software should I use?" ”
At 21:55 on January 10, Maizi's plane landed successfully at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. This is the third day that China has implemented its "quarantine-free entry" policy. Shortly after the plane landed, Mai Zi excitedly sent messages to several WeChat groups: "Friends, I'm back!" ”
Flight signs at Moscow airports.
For more than two years, Maizi has traveled all over the world because of his work. From Belarus to Russia, Turkey to Jordan to Singapore, it is no exaggeration to say that her footprints have covered almost half of Eurasia. But because of the high-intensity work rhythm, she was never able to give her the opportunity to "go home".
In January 2020, Maizi graduated from the UK with a master's degree. After returning to China, she joined an Internet company in Guangzhou, and a few months later, Maizi was sent to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, to become a foreign staff member of the company.
Unfortunately, soon after arriving in Minsk, something happened again. A year later, the company transferred the wheat to Russia for safety reasons. In Moscow, wheat survived one of the coldest winters of its life, with the snow at its thickest being 59 centimeters, according to official reports, and in some remote streets, the accumulation of snow barely reached the knee.
Between meetings, wheat is able to "breathe and relax" – it is freezing outside the window, and thoughts of homesickness occasionally strike in fragile moments. But because of the special quarantine policy on returning home, Maizi could not spare such a long time from busy work to go home to see.
At the beginning of 2022, due to force majeure, Maizi had to change its overseas cities again. In March, Maizi and several colleagues traveled to Istanbul, where the prayers of the Grand Bazaar, mosques, and minarets made her expatriate life "exotic and mysterious"; In the second half of the year, due to policy changes, the company sent wheat to Jordan, after which she began to live between Jordan and Singapore.
Istanbul. /Pexels
In the eyes of friends, Maizi has become an "international friend" who is only active online.
In December 2022, after the promulgation of the "New Ten Articles", the time for returning to China for quarantine was further shortened. Mai Zi discussed with his expatriate colleagues and applied to the company to return to China for the Chinese New Year. The direct flight from Singapore to Guangzhou takes only 4 hours, but just a few weeks ago, this seemingly short trip was a "thousand rivers and thousands of mountains" for her.
After arriving in Guangzhou, Maizi and her friends soaked in the hot spring and ate hot pot, and the moment she saw the mille-feuille belly and duck intestines, she sighed: "But I really want to die." ”
After 10 days of rest in Guangzhou, she was about to embark on a journey back to her hometown in Jiangsu, Chinese New Year's Eve arrived home the night before, just in time for the next day's Chinese New Year's Eve meal. Mai Zi said that after arriving home, what she wanted to eat most was the green vegetable tofu soup made by her parents, although it sounded simple, but it had its meaning - "green vegetables and tofu keep safe".
After the Spring Festival, Maizi will continue to work in Moscow. She hopes that simple green vegetables and tofu can bring good luck to the following year.
The moment the plane landed
It's really relaxing
@Xiaotian, international student
Chicago – Urumqi, USA
On August 31, 2022, Xiaotian was informed that her direct flight from Chicago to Guangzhou on September 12 had been cancelled. At the time, her rental was about to expire, and she would face illegal detention if she did not leave the United States. She began to do everything she could to find a ticket back home. It took four or five days for her to finally buy a ticket to return home.
The road back home was winding, from Chicago to Dallas, another city in the United States, to South Korea, and finally to Shanghai.
Xiaotian's road back home is long.
Finally, after the quarantine in Shanghai, she was temporarily unable to return to Urumqi, so she had to borrow from relatives living in Beijing. Despite frequent phone calls with her family, she felt uneasy. Especially after December last year, Beijing ushered in a peak of crowd infection, and her parents were worried that she would not be taken care of when she went out, and she was also very worried about her family.
At the end of December, her mother was a little seriously infected with the new crown, and she had a high fever for three days, and she could only be anxious when she couldn't go home in Beijing, and she couldn't buy an oxygen concentrator and an oximeter. At that time, seeing the news of the hospitalization of the old man in the news, Xiaotian began to think of his family, and his mood became particularly bad.
This is probably an unavoidable problem for only children: parents are getting older, they will always get sick, and one day they will need to take care of themselves, what will happen then? Xiaotian began to think about these issues.
In the past, Xiaotian, who was still studying, would hardly think of this. A little further, Xiaotian's relationship with his parents is also a little stiff. In traditional Chinese families, parents always treat their children as if they were children and discipline them strictly. But after graduating from college, perhaps distance produces beauty, and their relationship is more harmonious.
In January, there was good news from the hometown community, and after arriving, I didn't have to quarantine anymore, and I could finally go home!
On January 10, when the plane landed and came out of the arrivals area to see her parents, she suddenly felt "very relaxed", no matter what, when she got home, she could finally no longer care about the distance.
After returning home, I ate dumplings and a large plate of chicken, and I was finally steady.
When she was a child, she always felt that the airport in Urumqi was "very advanced", but she had not returned home for more than two years, "as if it had suddenly become small and a little old".
For 26 years, she was born, raised, and went to school, and now she is back, constantly calling for a strong sense of belonging, but also feeling like a visitor, which is inevitable for many years of travelers.
A few days after returning home, she felt as if Grandma Liu had returned to the Grand View Garden, "The shopping mall I was visiting last time has now changed to another store, and many of the shops I used to eat when I was a child have also closed or changed places."
However, everything is being restored again. At the market, the taste of the year slowly returned. When she was shopping, she found that there were many people who came out to buy things, and they were all pushing cars on the road selling spring couplings and everything.
After returning home, she began to do with revenge what she had dreamed of before. The first of course, of course, is to eat the rice made by the family, eat barbecue, pilaf, large plate of chicken, mixed noodles, Xinjiang fried rice noodles... Xiao Tian listed all kinds of Xinjiang food in one breath, then set off firecrackers, shopping, skiing...
The fireworks on the snow are particularly beautiful.
Perhaps in order to try to protect a familiar feeling, after going home for several days, she pulled her mother to sleep with her every day, "lying down with her mother and chatting and sleeping, especially safe"!
"Last year, my parents attended my wedding on video
Take the groom to meet my parents this year"
@Aki, clerk
Hong Kong—Guangzhou
On January 5, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced at a press conference that Hong Kong and the mainland will implement quarantine-free "customs clearance" from the 8th, and in the first stage, 60,000 Hong Kong residents can "go north" through seven sea, land and air ports every day. Aki, who was still in the company, watched the live broadcast with many colleagues from the mainland, and excitement filled the entire office.
The first time the high-speed rail began to sell tickets, Aki opened the already rusty ticketing software and kept refreshing, watching the system release the transfer ticket little by little, and then release the direct ticket, and she bought a high-speed rail ticket home at 8 a.m. on the 20th, from Hong Kong West Kowloon to Guangzhou East.
This train companion also witnessed her seven-year life from school, work to marriage, and now two years have passed since she got on this train. She had never been separated from her parents for so long before. She used to go home at least once a month, and more often when she was studying.
Going, going home, Aki recorded this exciting moment.
In the past two years, contact with family members has been limited to video calls. Sometimes my mom sends a video and she either happens to be exercising or is working overtime and doesn't get a call. She found that in the past two years, her mother began to learn to be "coquettish", saying things like "how did you forget your mother, you will leave us alone in the future", which has never been done before.
She is also a little stressed in her heart, the epidemic has separated the two places that are very close, and the future has become unpredictable. In addition, my parents are getting older, and I feel a little uneasy.
Last year, she and her boyfriend held a wedding in Hong Kong, and her parents participated in the wedding through video conferencing software. Aki said that many classmates got married, and they did so through videos. That day, parents and relatives had a simple meal to celebrate, and when passing by the Canton Tower, Aki saw her mother from the end of the screen pulling a big banner in front of Xiaoman's waist to celebrate her daughter's happy wedding. Embarrassing and cute.
The Tencent meeting wedding that was previously circulated on the Internet. /Little Red Book
Using Tencent Meeting to see your children get married may indeed be a special experience that only these three years will have. The experience of separation also made people rethink their relationship with their families.
This time when she went home, it was the first time her husband saw her father-in-law and mother-in-law after becoming a groom, and she asked her husband how he was feeling, but he was not nervous and looked full of confidence.
This time home, Aki has already thought of a long list of things to do. The first thing she did when she got home, she had to get her ID card that was about to expire, pulled her mother to visit the flower market to buy some daffodils and orchids, to eat the "meat crab pot" that she brushed on social media, to meet old friends she hadn't seen for many years, and then pinched the little face of her nephew who she missed the most...
Ahead, the train is about to arrive at Guangzhou East Railway Station, she thinks of when she was a child, the New Year, the family would pack "oil horn" together, which was filled with peanuts, the home arrived, the taste of the New Year came back, but everything seemed a little different.