Golden Week in China: the incredible numbers behind largest human migration in history
Twice a year China sees a mass migration of its citizens as it celebrates Golden Week. With the next holiday starting on Monday, we look at the staggering figures involved when half the country travels at the same time
There are two Golden Weeks: one for Chinese New Year in January or February, and National Day which starts around October 1. There used to be a third Golden Week for Labour Day on May 1, but that was cut back to one day plus the weekend in 2007.
The first Golden Week was in October 1999. It was created by the Chinese government to commemorate the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, with the idea of expanding domestic tourism, allowing long-distance family reunions and improving the national standard of living.
In 1999, an estimated 28 million people travelled for the first Golden Week. In October 2017, 705 million people travelled around China and spent 583.6 billion yuan (US$85 billion) from October 1 to 8, according to the China National Tourism Administration. (Usually the holiday runs from October 1 to 7 but last year it was extended by a day as it coincided with the Mid-Autumn Festival.)
There have been attempts to stop Golden Weeks because of the disruption to the country’s local and international businesses.
Hundreds of millions of people travel by rail and car. Some estimates say half the country is on the move. There were 15.03 million rail trips made on the first day of last year’s October Golden Week, October 1, and 12.36 million on Friday October 6, according to the China Railway Corporation.
