Known as the world’s largest human migration, chunyun regularly clogs already busy roads, trains and airports. In past years, billions of travelers have taken to the road during the 40-day period. Lunar New Year has even spawned its own form of travel: During chunyun, or spring migration, hundreds of million people travel to their hometowns in China for family reunions and New Year’s celebrations. The number of railway passenger trips in China is expected to jump by 28.5 percent in 2022-portending busy weeks ahead at this train depot in China's Gansu Province. Right: During the 40-day Lunar New Year travel season, many observers travel to reunite with their families.

Though the festival varies by country, it is dominated by themes of reunion and hope. Today, Spring Festival is celebrated in China and Hong Kong Lunar New Year is also celebrated in South Korea, Tibet, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and places with large Chinese populations. Learn why some people celebrate Christmas in January.Īs its name suggests, the date of the lunar new year depends on the phase of the moon and varies from year to year. When the newly founded Republic of China officially adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1912, its leaders rebranded the observation of the Lunar New Year as Spring Festival, as it is known in China today. Its holidays, however, are governed by its traditional lunisolar calendar, which may have been in use from as early as the 21st century B.C. Modern China actually uses a Gregorian calendar like most of the rest of the world. Lunar New Year, which falls this year on Tuesday, February 1, is traditionally a time for family reunions, plenty of food, and some very loud celebrations.

And though it is known to some in the West as Chinese New Year, it isn’t just celebrated in China. Celebrated around the world, it usually prompts the planet’s largest annual migration of people.

Lunar new year