China Spring Madness Passenger Numbers Don’t Add Up!

“China’s chunyun passengers up 3.5 pct ” —Xinhua

According to our back-of-the-envelope calculation, more than 3.7 billion passenger trips were made during China’s 2015 Spring Festival, “Chunyun,” which began on February 4 and concluded on Sunday, March 16.

Our figure reflects a reported rise of 3.5% over previous year, a total of 3.6 billion passenger trips in 2014.

However, our figure apparently doesn’t tally with the official statistics provided by China’s Ministry of Transport (MOT), as reported by Xinhua.

“China’s chunyun passengers up 3.5 pct to 2.81 bln” —Xinhua

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-03/16/c_134071300.htm
English.news.cn 2015-03-16 18:35:35

BEIJING, March 16 (Xinhua) — Chinese railways, roads, airlines and waterways carried a total of 2.81 billion passengers during the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, known as “chunyun,” which concluded on Sunday.

The figure represented a 3.5-percent rise over the corresponding period last year, the Ministry of Transport (MOT) said on Monday.

Chunyun has been called the world’s largest human migration.

A total of 2.42 billion passengers traveled on roads, while 295 million chose to travel by rail, according to the MOT, adding that passengers on waterways reached 42.84 million.

Airlines carried nearly 49.2 million passengers, up 11.7 percent, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said on Monday. Airlines operated 360,000 flights during the period, up 9.3 percent. With a combined average of 1.91 million seats available each day, the airlines comfortably met demand. On both Feb. 23 and Feb. 24, the airlines carried more than 1.35 million passengers, an all-time daily high, according to the CAAC.

“Bittersweet travel period comes to an end” —Xinhua

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-02/24/c_133139890.htm
English.news.cn 2014-02-24 21:09:54

BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) — The world’s largest human migration came to an end on Monday, the last day of China’s 40-day bittersweet travel period.

As many as 3.6 billion trips were made during “chunyun” this year, the travel period around the Spring Festival, which started on Jan. 16.

About 266 million train trips were made, up 12 percent from a year ago. Journeys by road, air and water stood at 3.26 billion, 44.07 million and 42 million respectively, said the Ministry of Transport (MOT).

This year’s 3.6 billion trips set a new record.

Since the reform and opening up, migrant workers have shaped chunyun. There were 500 million trips in 1984, 1 billion in 1994, over 2 billion in 2006, and more than 3 billion in 2012. [Emphases are added. Editor]

Related Links

• ‘Chunyun’ Madness: World’s Largest Human Migration February 5, 2015
• “Chunyun”: The Spring Madness in China January 19, 2014

Thousands of Snow Geese Fall Out of Sky in Idaho

Suspected avian cholera outbreak kills  thousands  of migrating snow geese

About 2,000 migrating snow geese appeared to have succumbed to avian cholera and died at Mud Lake and Market Lake Wildlife Management Areas, on their way back north to their nesting grounds in Northern Alaska, reported the Idaho Department of Fish & Game (IDFG).

“The carcasses of a small number of snow geese were first reported at Camas National Wildlife Refuge near Dubois, Idaho. Closer inspection on Friday found higher numbers of dead birds at the Mud Lake WMA Area near Terreton, Idaho and a lesser amount at Market Lake WMA near Roberts, Idaho. The migratory birds were on the return leg of their migration from the southwestern United States and Mexico to their breeding grounds on the northern coast of Alaska. It is unknown at this time where the geese may have picked up the suspected bacteria. ‘Outbreaks of avian cholera have occurred sporadically in the region over the past few decades,’ said Upper Snake Regional Supervisor Steve Schmidt.”

“Basically, they just fell out of the sky,” media reported an IDFG spokesperson as saying.

“More than 10,000 migrating birds died of avian cholera in southern Oregon and northern California in the first three months of 2012 because of low water levels in wetlands at a popular bird rest area,” said a report.