Being a Part of the Largest Human Migration

After running to catch my train I panted heavily to catch my breath in the middle of a huge escalator filled with people. Then suddenly the power stopped. With 10 minutes left I had to make the decision whether I should carry the huge bag I had packed for a year of living in China up to the top, or drag it down and take another escalator. The line in front of me hadn't moved by the time the line behind me had cleared, so I ran to get on the next one. After all that running I got to the platform just in time to watch my train chug off into the distance. Lost, confused, and unable to speak Chinese I had to find another way to get across the country.

Around two billion people experience Chunyun (also known in China as "The Spring Travel Season.") every year. The amount of people travelling in China during this time is about 50 percent more than the country's total population. People literally jam-pack every airplane, locomotive, and bus over a four week period to go home and see their families. As a foreigner travelling 1200 km from Hong Kong to Henan I was a speck lost in the epic mosaic of madness which is commonly known as "The Largest Human Migration."

After my train left I found someone to help me. He didn't speak English, but he drove me to a bus station. I bought a ticket and waited with everyone for 6 hours until the bus started to board. However, when I went to sit the bus was completely full. Then a man along with his wife and child smiled, and gave their seats to me.

I sat on a bench seat between my wife and some guy who kept offering me spicey pickles and chicken feet for over 27 hours. We stopped once in the middle of the highway amidst bumper-to-bumper traffic so everyone driving on it could sleep. Other than that, the only time we stopped was to let more people on the bus, which I thought was already full. The experience of travelling like a Chinese migrant worker is something I can now appreciate, but never want to do again.