How China’s Big Annual Migration Differs This Year

Lunar New Year, China’s most important holiday, is an annual ritual of family reunion that usually involves billions of trips home and back. In early 2020, the emerging coronavirus pandemic complicated travel, stranding millions away from their jobs for weeks. This year, with new restrictions in place to control recent Covid-19 outbreaks, mainly in northern China, many people won’t be able or willing to leave town in the first place. That threatens to drag on the nascent recovery in Chinese consumer confidence and spending.

Also known as Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival, it marks the beginning of the Chinese lunar calendar, and is seen as celebrating values like unity and family ties. People in China get a statutory seven days off beginning New Year’s Eve, which falls on Feb. 11 this year. Traditionally, the celebrations span 16 days, from a family feast on New Year’s Eve through the Lantern Festival on Day 15. Many migrant workers seize what’s often their only chance in the year to return home.