"China's ministry of transport says around 700 million people, more than half of China's population, will make 2.85 billion road, rail, air and ferry trips around the spring festival, as the holiday period is called. Even though extra services are laid on, many travellers have to queue overnight to secure a ticket."

"Wong Siuyin, an expert on Chinese family life who teaches in the department of applied social studies at the City University of Hong Kong, says: "It's the most important festival and people use this time to meet relatives that maybe they never meet within the whole year.

"They can return to their home town for a long vacation because all the factories will close down for these weeks. They may take several days to get home."

For the article in full length see China begins largest annual human migration on earth