Returning home for festival family reunion

The Spring Festival is the most important festival for the Chinese people. It is the first day of the first lunar month of the year, heralding the beginning of spring. This year, the Spring Festival falls on Saturday, Feb. 10.

This traditional festival is China’s biggest extravaganza, and also a festival for family reunion, just like Christmas in the West. No matter how far away people are from their homes, they will try their best to return to have the Lunar New Year’s eve feast, also called the reunion dinner.

The Spring Festival travel rush is the busiest time for the country’s transportation systems. Airports, railway stations, and long-distance bus stations are crowded with hometown returnees. This year, Shenzhen Daily reporter Liu Xudong went back to his wife’s hometown in southwestern China’s Guizhou Province to celebrate the upcoming Spring Festival with her family members. Liu used his camera to capture everyday life there before the important festival.

An electricity facility maintenance vehicle is seen running on an icy highway in Kaili City, Qiandongnan, Guizhou Province, yesterday. Photos by Liu Xudong

Northbound traffic on the Er’guang Expressway in Guangdong Province.

A sea of clouds in Qiannan, Guizhou.

Sunrise at the Caohai National Nature Reserve in Weining, Guizhou.

A little girl plays with fireworks in Zhenning, Guizhou.

A child enjoys scenes featuring glazed frost in Kaili City, Qiandongnan, Guizhou Province, yesterday.

Tourists at the Meihuashan International Ski Resort in Liupanshui, Guizhou.