Ordinary Chinese are taking to trains, planes and automobiles amid the Lunar New Year travel rush that will see hundreds of millions head home to usher in the Year of the Snake, but the economic downturn is biting deep, sending many to the bottom of the ladder.
Many are taking to the older, slower “green trains,” rather than those on the country’s formidable high-speed rail network, as social media users traded money-saving tips ahead of China’s biggest annual festival. Many of the high-speed trains are noticeably empty, with people piling onto slower trains in search of cheaper tickets, residents told RFA Mandarin in recent interviews.