China’s unruly children worst part of Lunar New Year migration for many
- Social media users suggest children-only coaches and keeping them quiet with free maths problems
With millions of Chinese travelling home for the Lunar New Year holiday, the country’s online community is debating what many are calling the worst part of the experience – other people’s unruly children.
The annual Spring Festival migration – known as chunyun in China – runs from January 21 to March 1, with the first day of the Year of the Pig on February 5. Nearly 3 billion trips are expected to be taken as people return to their hometowns for the holiday.
Many Chinese are posting about their horrible experiences of travelling with children who run amok on public transport, littering and screaming, while their parents do little to discipline them.
As of Friday, about 20,000 posts had been shared with the hashtag “should trains have a children's coach” on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like service, and had been read more than 120 million times.
3 billion trips in 40 days: China begins Lunar New Year mass migration
The suggestion of a “children-only coach” was given official recognition by Huang Xin, director of China Railway’s passenger transport department.