From the 23 million people counted for the first time in 1954, to the expected number of 9 billion people in 2025, the "largest periodic migration of mankind" during the Spring Festival travel rush has long surpassed the scope of simple population mobility. It is like a prism, reflecting the 71-year vicissitudes and great changes in Chinese society, and it is also like a dynamic history of social evolution, recording the century-long leap from survival to life by ordinary people.

The miscellaneous "missing" journey in the green train

At the Guangzhou Railway Station in the early 1980s, countless migrant workers, carrying poles full of houses, sacks of candies, snacks and clothes, waiting for the train to reunion with their longing for home. There was a long queue in the ticket hall, the station square and waiting room were crowded, and the carriages were crowded. During the Spring Festival travel rush at that time, people went to the "mixed flavors" journey with infinite love for life, and wrote their own life situations with unremitting struggle.

The former Ministry of Railways once conducted statistics. During the Spring Festival travel rush in 1993, an average of 8 people were stuffed into the carriage per square meter. At the connection of the car, migrant workers rotate support in single casters to save physical strength. These details outline the most vivid picture of struggle in the 1990s, and everyone who squeezes on the train is a trendsetter in the market economy. This vigorous migration of the times is the most realistic portrayal of China's urbanization process.

The roads in the high-speed rail era were smooth

The Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Railway was opened in 2011, reducing the time from Beijing to Shanghai to 5 hours. This is not only an improvement in speed, but also a leap in lifestyle. Nowadays, on the Fuxing train, which is galloping across the country, white-collar workers turn on their laptops to handle work, college students watch online classes with noise-cancelling headphones, and silver-haired people use their mobile phones to talk to their grandchildren on video. The crowded carriage is replaced by spaciousness and comfort.

Smart travel has completely changed the picture of the Spring Festival travel rush. The 12306 system processes 1,000 tickets per second, and the facial recognition gate passes 30 people per minute. The paper saved by paperless tickets can circle the earth 12 times together. At Guangzhou South Station, intelligent robots answer 2,000 consultations per day, and can even respond accurately to dialect questions.

On the eve of this year's Spring Festival travel rush, after I grabbed the tickets to my hometown through the "article ticket purchase" system, I immediately launched a New Year's Eve dinner menu vote in the family group. This calmness comes from the safety and convenience of the high-speed rail tunnel. When the journey of "going around" becomes a reality, homesickness is no longer a countdown hanging on the calendar.

The spiritual journey of mobile China

The geometric growth of the crowd during the Spring Festival travel rush is related to deep social propositions. A group of hundreds of millions of migrant workers ferry between urban and rural areas, chasing development opportunities like migratory birds, and trying their best to integrate into the bustling city. In the current situation where regional development is still unbalanced, migrant workers are busy in the construction site and factory buildings. In their hard work day after day, their hands are like plows, silently carving the traces of time. They use endless struggle to change their destiny and forge ahead on the road of common prosperity.

However, the concern for relatives in my hometown has given birth to a new form of "reverse Spring Festival travel rush", and more and more young people choose to take their parents to the city for the New Year. This transformation of the concept and method of celebrating festivals is not only a reconstruction of intergenerational relations, but also a sign of a new trend in population mobility. When "this heart is at peace is my hometown" becomes possible, the Spring Festival travel rush will eventually transcend physical displacement and be sublimated into a spiritual return of cultural identity.

Looking back from the historical scale of 9 billion people, the history of the Spring Festival travel rush is a compressed version of the epic of modernization in China. From green trains to Fuxing, from paper tickets to face-scanning entry, each technological leap corresponds to the improvement of people's livelihood and well-being. The huge changes in the Spring Festival travel rush are a vivid portrayal of the development of the times. While witnessing the development of China's transportation, people also deeply understand the huge improvement of people's livelihood and happiness. (Zhang Xiaojie, He Shuangjiang)