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Snow and freezing rain in China were disrupting travel on Monday and had already caused hundreds of rail and flight cancellations, as millions of people traveled across the country before lunar new year holiday begins this weekend.<\/p>\n
For many years, heavy travel within and into China ahead of the holiday, known as Spring Festival in Chinese, produced the world\u2019s largest annual migration<\/a>.<\/p>\n During the coronavirus pandemic, fear of lockdowns, quarantines and other rules deterred many from traveling. Last year, the authorities abruptly lifted those rules weeks before lunar new year after facing widespread protests, but many would-be travelers stayed put because they were anxious<\/a> about spreading the virus.<\/p>\n This year was supposed to mark a return to normal levels of holiday travel. China\u2019s aviation regulator said that it had scheduled 2,500 extra international flights ahead of the holiday on Saturday, and transport officials said that they expected 480 million rail trips during the 40-day travel surge, a nearly 40 percent increase from last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But the bad weather, which began last week and is forecast to last several more days, was already getting in the way.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m seriously concerned about my trip back home now,\u201d said Mei Huang, 45, a saleswoman in Beijing who planned to spend the holiday at her hometown in the central province of Hubei for the first time since the pandemic. \u201cMy way home doesn\u2019t look as smooth as it used to.\u201d<\/p>\n