Letter from China: Feeling the pulse of the times at Spring Festival travel rush hub

HEFEI, March 4 (Xinhua) -- As the Spring Festival holiday ended on Feb. 23, I found myself at a railway station in the city of Fuyang in east China's Anhui Province. There I saw a young student, within a large moving crowd, carrying a disassembled bicycle as he passed swiftly through an access gate using a facial recognition system.

The Spring Festival travel rush in Fuyang, a city known for human resource exports, draws considerable attention every year. More than a decade ago, at this same station, namely Fuyang Railway Station, I saw endlessly long queues and overcrowded waiting halls.

The 2026 Spring Festival travel rush started on Feb. 2 and will end on March 13. According to railway authorities in Fuyang, the post-holiday travel rush has hit consecutive records this year, reaching a historic high of 137,200 trips on Feb. 24.

The year 2019 witnessed the opening of Fuyang West Railway Station, a development which has resulted in more capacity and comfort for travelers. But the changes in Fuyang run deeper. During my two days there this year, I witnessed some vivid shifts in Spring Festival travel which reflect the dynamism of China's recent economic and social development.

I saw economic vitality in the form of significant and yet smooth passenger flow.

"My whole family is going to Guangzhou," said Huang Zhihui from Chenji Township in Fuyang. He was waiting with his wife and siblings at Fuyang Railway Station ahead of their trip to the capital of south China's Guangdong Province. Together they are planning to work in Guangzhou again this year.

"Four temporary ordinary-speed trains to Guangdong were added this year," said Wang Hui, a staff member at Fuyang North Railway Station, noting that demand for Guangdong-bound travel has surged over the past two years. "The Greater Bay Area's rapid development may have boosted labor demand," said Wang.

"Today, Fuyang's major Spring Festival travel destinations are way more than those of previous years," Wang said, adding that every year, millions of migrant workers start their travels in Fuyang. Their destinations have spread from the Pearl River Delta region in south China in the early 1990s, to cities like Shanghai, Hangzhou and Ningbo in east China after 2001, mirroring the changing regional labor needs in the country.

"Rapid industrial and urban development in Hefei and other cities in Anhui has also brought job opportunities to doorsteps, lifting in-province travel," Wang said.

In 2025, Anhui topped the nation in terms of auto production with 3.69 million units, including 1.79 million new energy vehicles. Hefei, the capital of Anhui, is characterized by strong labor demand from automakers like NIO, JAC and BYD, as well as their suppliers.

I also saw diversified travel needs by closely observing a passenger flow that included many smiles at my base in Fuyang Railway Station.

I caught up with college students Wu Yuxuan and Yi Ming, who were planning to travel before the start of the new semester. They were set to take an ordinary-speed train to Suzhou in east China's Jiangsu Province, before also visiting Jiaxing and Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province, also in east China. "Railway transport is reliable and affordable, as it only costs around 100 yuan (about 14.47 U.S. dollars) for a one-way trip, which is indeed a perfect choice for students," they said.

"Travel needs have diversified over the past few years," said Gao Pengxia, an engineer in Fuyang North Railway Station's marketing section, noting that migrant workers no longer dominate the composition of Spring Festival travelers. Instead, business and leisure travel, along with student passenger flow, now account for over 30 percent of total railway trips in Fuyang.

Several years ago, peak times during the Spring Festival travel rush at Fuyang Railway Station saw more than 10,000 passengers waiting at the station and in temporary waiting halls in a nearby square.

Now, however, railway stations in Fuyang have enough chairs for passengers to rest comfortably during such peak times. Fuyang West Railway Station also has a store stocked with imported goods.

"We have shifted from simply letting migrant workers board trains to helping different types of passengers enjoy soothing travel," said Li Lingling, a staff member at Fuyang Railway Station's service center.

During my stay in Fuyang, I also saw how technology is now serving the Spring Festival travel rush.

In a duty room at Fuyang West Railway Station, staff members were reviewing data analysis produced by its modern passenger flow monitoring system. This station has installed 21 intelligent cameras at sites including security and ticket gates to detect real-time entry, exit and waiting numbers, said on-duty stationmaster Mu Shuwen.

"The system allows us to predict the number of people in the station during emergencies like cancellations or delays, which helps carry out proper emergency responses," said another stationmaster Zhang Hongjun.

In the square at Fuyang Railway Station, I also saw a "police robot," which was on patrol. Equipped with cameras and infrared sensors, it is able to both patrol key areas independently and broadcast safety warnings.

"It's a new colleague that handles patrols and calls when officers are busy," said Xiao Mingyang, head of the police station at Fuyang Railway Station.

I soon realized that Fuyang is more than just a microcosm of China's broader Spring Festival railway travel rush. It also serves as a witness to the travel changes and wider progress China has experienced in its recent history. ■