- Title: China gets ready for lunar new year, but not all are going home
- Date: 24th January 2017
- Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (JANUARY 24, 2017) (REUTERS) PEOPLE WALKING IN PICUN VILLAGE SHOPS SHUTTERED VARIOUS OF KINDERGARTEN WORKER HAN DONGXUE AND HER SISTER WALKING TO BUS STOP (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) KINDERGARTEN WORKER HAN DONGXUE SAYING: "I really miss my parents because it's been half a year since I've seen them, so I'm really looking forward to seeing them and telling them that I love them, even though I'm not with them I'm always thinking about them." VARIOUS OF RESTAURANT OWNER WANG FEI SERVING UP BUNS WOMAN COOKING FRITTERS PICTURE OF CHAIRMAN MAO (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) RESTAURANT OWNER WANG FEI SAYING: "This year business has been bad." JOURNALIST ASKING "Why?" "I think that's just the overall situation (in the economy), that's what I think, or maybe it's just that you can't make money off this type of small business." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE GETTING ON BUS BUS DRIVING OFF BEIJING TRAIN STATION CROWDS WALKING IN FRONT OF STATION (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) YUE KUN SAYING: "The new year is after all a traditional holiday in China so everyone must go home. Also it just so happens that this year is the first year that I've made my own money, before I was spending my parents' money, right? Using my own money to buy things feels really good." CROWDS WALKING IN FRONT OF STATION PEOPLE WALKING ON BRIDGE
- Embargoed: 7th February 2017 05:35
- Keywords: China Lunar New Year mass migration migrant workers
- Location: BEIJING, CHINA
- City: BEIJING, CHINA
- Country: China
- Topics: Religion/Belief,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA00160FW11H
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: As the Lunar New Year approaches China's army of migrant workers continued to set out for the often long and arduous journey back to their hometowns on Tuesday (January 24).
For many like kindergarten worker Han Dongxue, the rare trip home is one of the few times a year when she can be reunited with her family.
"I really miss my parents because it's been half a year since I've seen them, so I'm really looking forward to seeing them and telling them that I love them, even though I'm not with them I'm always thinking about them," she said.
But not all will be making the journey this year, Wang Fei who runs a small snack restaurant said he's staying put, as business has been so poor this year he can't justify going home.
"This year business has been bad. I think that's just the overall situation (in the economy), that's what I think, or maybe it's just that you can't make money off this type of small business," he said.
China faced a slowing economy in 2016, growth for the year came in at 6.7 percent, the slowest pace in 26 years.
At Beijing station thousands of people joined the world's largest human migration and left China's capital by train.
"The new year is after all a traditional holiday in China so everyone must go home. Also it just so happens that this year is the first year that I've made my own money, before I was spending my parents' money, right? Using my own money to buy things feels really good," said Yue Kun who works for a car website and was heading back to Tangshan in neighbouring Hebei province.
The 40-day travel frenzy surrounding the week-long Lunar New Year began on January 13, and will last until February 21.
Festivities in China this year will get underway on February 27, the eve of the Year of the Rooster. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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