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Lunar New Year
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Here’s a look at some (real) Lunar New Year travel horror stories

Combination of bad weather and millions on the move can lead to tragedy

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Villagers dressed in traditional costumes perform in Lantian county, Shaaxi province, February 26, 2015. Photo: Reuters
Celia Chenin Shenzhen
China’s annual Spring Festival is a time when families reunite and usher in a new year. But it’s also a time when bad weather conspires with hundreds of millions of people on the move to create some really unpleasant, sometimes tragic, incidents. Here’s a look at some of them:


Serious traffic jam in Central China on frozen roads in 2017's Spring Festival. Photo / Handout
Serious traffic jam in Central China on frozen roads in 2017's Spring Festival. Photo / Handout

2017: Many highways in central China were iced over from a severe cold spell, and the frozen roads caused severe traffic jams.

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In Henan, a central Chinese province with more than 100 million residents, some parts of major highways were also closed due to heavy fog. In Guangzhou, southern China, traffic jams began to form for outbound traffic four days before the Lunar New Year eve.

About 100,000 passengers were trapped in Guangzhou stations in 2016's Spring Festival because of heavy rain and wind. Photo / Handout
About 100,000 passengers were trapped in Guangzhou stations in 2016's Spring Festival because of heavy rain and wind. Photo / Handout
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2016: Five days before Chinese New Year’s eve, about 100,000 passengers were trapped in Guangzhou’s railway stations because of heavy rain and wind in China’s southern areas. 

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