Handy Guide: "Chunyun" and Chinese Culturual DNA

Dear friend,

Last time I filled you in on when we're celebrating the Spring Festival, now let’s talk about where. Traditionally, Spring Festival is all about family get-togethers. Folks scattered across the country tend to head back to their hometowns to spend the holiday with their loved ones. Nowadays, people often take advantage of the usually week-long break to travel around.

Every year, from the 15th day of the 12th lunar month to the 25th day of the 1st lunar month, a whopping 40 days, the massive population movement creates a unique Spring Festival travel rush, or “Chunyun”.

In 2023, during the Spring Festival travel rush, about 4.73 billion trips were made by folks all over China, with a total of 348 million passengers, which was more than the entire population of the United States. Wrap your head around that! And mind you, this accounted for only about 85.6% of what it was back in 2019. This year, the Ministry of Transport anticipates around 9 billion trips for a same period of time, a historical high.

Now, why the big fuss about going back to hometowns during Spring Festival? Understanding this unique social phenomenon of “Chunyun” requires a little bit of knowledge about the cultural DNA of Chinese people. This tradition of going home for the holidays is deeply rooted in the our attachment to hometown and family.

Chinese sociologist Fei Xiaotong, in his book "From the Soil: The Foundations of Chinese Society", pointed out that Chinese rural society is rooted in "soil", and discussed how the fixed nature of soil makes a society where people live from birth to death in the same place. In such societies, local customs and traditions shape people's cognition and behavior within their communities. Even with rapid urbanization, this attachment to one's hometown profoundly influences the Chinese way of life. It's what keeps folks from becoming mere cogs in the urban grind, maintaining their unique hometown identity through things like dialects, culinary habits, customs, and values.

Then there's the aspect of filial piety, a traditional virtue deeply ingrained in the Chinese culture, where respect and care for parents and elders are highly valued. “Family reunion” is another cherished ritual in Chinese tradition. Many traditional activities during the Spring Festival are family-centric, like the big New Year's Eve dinner and visiting relatives and friends to exchange greetings. So, being together with family during the Spring Festival is seen as both a display of personal filial piety and a testament to family happiness.

As someone new to the Spring Festival vibe, I urge you to take this opportunity to greet and visit your parents and elders, spend some quality time with them, maybe sharing a meal or two. That way, you'll truly experience an authentic Chinese New Year holiday brimming with the warmth of home.