
This cool heat map tracks billions of people travelling for Chinese New Year
Close to three billion trips are expected to be taken this year, making it the world’s largest human movement
Chinese New Year is quite unlike anything in the West.
Think of it as a heat map for millions of people moving across China: Red lines flow from the massive cities on the coast to homes further inland.
The most active route as of Thursday afternoon was from Shanghai to the city of Luan in Anhui province, where many of China’s migrant workers come from.
The most common city to depart from? Predictably, it’s Shenzhen: The bustling city north of Hong Kong where enormous factories manufacture electronics for the world. The map is powered by Baidu’s vast troves of location-based data from its apps, including Baidu Maps.
In addition to the population migration, you can also track real-time flights as well as airport and train station heat maps.

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