分类： society

China’s national transport network has successfully navigated its first major peak travel period of 2026, with integrated air-rail and land-air intermodal services playing a key role in easing congestion amid an 842 million surge in cross-regional passenger trips over the three-day Qingming holiday, held from April 4 to 6 this year.

New data released by China’s Ministry of Transport on April 7 shows that total cross-regional trips rose 5.6% year-on-year, with railway trips climbing 8.4% to 57.7 million. Road travel retained its position as the most popular mobility option for holidaymakers, while the first day of the break alone recorded more than 62.67 million highway vehicle trips — including over 14 million trips in new energy vehicles, a clear indicator of strong, sustained growth in domestic self-drive tourism and related consumer spending.

Industry analysts note the higher travel volume this year was partially driven by overlapping spring break schedules at schools across multiple Chinese regions, which boosted demand for family getaways and short-distance leisure trips. Beyond the raw numbers, this holiday rush has also highlighted a rapid, ongoing transformation of China’s passenger transport ecosystem: national authorities are rolling out a new seamless travel model that enables single booking, unified payment, and uninterrupted journeys, anchored by the fast expansion of cross-modal connectivity between air, rail and road networks.

Transport Minister Liu Wei explained that 2026 has seen accelerated investment in improving travel convenience by expanding these integrated services and simplifying end-to-end passenger journeys. To date, more than 80 major transport hub cities and over 2,000 national routes have activated formal air-rail interconnection, with 81% of China’s largest airports offering direct rail access to city and long-distance networks. During the 2026 Spring Festival travel rush that concluded in March, dozens of key hubs also launched a pilot program for mutual security check recognition between intercity rail and urban public transit systems, cutting average transfer waiting times dramatically.

For frequent travelers, these infrastructure and service upgrades have already produced tangible changes to daily travel routines. A frequent business traveler based in Beijing, identified only as Wang, shared that he now regularly takes the subway to Beijing West Railway Station after work on Fridays, then transfers directly to a high-speed train bound for Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport for onward flights. “If I book my ticket far enough in advance, I can get a combined fare to Chongqing for less than 500 yuan ($73),” he explained. “Most of the time, it’s just as fast as fighting rush-hour traffic to one of Beijing’s major downtown airports, and it’s far cheaper.”

Major transport hubs are continuing to refine their intermodal services to cut friction for transferring passengers. Cui Lin, deputy Party secretary of Beijing West Railway Station, noted the hub operates 24 daily direct train services connecting to Beijing Daxing International Airport, with roughly 1,000 passengers transferring from high-speed rail to flights via the station every day. “By moving flight check-in services forward to the railway station, we aim to create a far more convenient one-stop air-rail travel experience for all passengers,” Cui said.

Chinese commercial airlines are also deepening their integration with national rail networks to streamline end-to-end journeys. Cai Yingzhu, general manager of marketing and sales at China Eastern Airlines’ Beijing branch, explained that passengers can now complete full airline check-in procedures directly at the connecting railway station via the carrier’s digital terminal system. “In the near future, travelers will be able to check their luggage at Beijing West Railway Station and only collect it again at their final flight destination after landing,” Cai said. “That will drastically cut down on travel time and improve overall journey efficiency.”

Currently, passengers can already book combined “flight + high-speed rail” tickets in a single transaction through China Eastern’s official digital platform, with the system automatically matching the fastest and most convenient connecting options. “What used to require multiple independent searches and separate bookings on different platforms can now be completed in one step,” Cai added. “For families traveling together, we also offer more flexible offline seat arrangement services to meet group needs.”

As spring paints China’s landscapes in shades of blooming wildflowers and fresh green foliage, thousands of primary and secondary school students across the country are trading chalkboards and textbooks for hiking trails, sports fields and open wilderness, taking advantage of a newly expanded national spring break initiative designed to prioritize youth wellness over classroom time.

Ten-year-old Zhang Zijian, a fourth-grade student from Nanjing, is among the millions of young people embracing the shift. Over a rare six-day holiday created by aligning the new regional spring break with the annual Qingming Festival, Zhang spent five straight days outdoors, exploring the scenic hills of eastern China, harvesting spring tea and digging for wild bamboo shoots alongside his friends. “It was exhausting, but the experience felt fresh and rewarding,” Zhang explained of his time away from textbooks.

Zhang’s holiday is not an isolated exception, but part of a growing national policy experiment. Earlier this year, a national government work report called on regions with suitable geographic and logistical conditions to introduce formal spring and autumn breaks for K-12 students. In response, multiple provinces including Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Sichuan and Hunan have rolled out mandatory three-day spring breaks, which were coordinated this year with the three-day Qingming Festival public holiday to create an extended six-day window for outdoor recreation. The initiative follows a similar model to the “snow holidays” launched in several northern Chinese regions in recent years, which encourage students to hit ski slopes and embrace winter outdoor activity.

Today, instead of sitting in crowded classrooms, students across participating regions are flocking to open fields and forested trails to take part in hiking, cycling, frisbee, tug-of-war, rock climbing and a wide range of other outdoor sports, working up a sweat under the mild spring sun.

Local governments have moved quickly to support the new policy with structured programming and expanded access to public resources. Jiangsu’s provincial sports bureau launched a catalog of student-focused spring activity itineraries, featuring options ranging from kayaking and cycling to tactical simulation games. A kite-flying carnival held in Yangcheng as part of the initiative drew more than 1,000 participating families. In the southwestern province of Guizhou, organized youth sports events during the break included traditional team competitions like football, basketball and volleyball, alongside newer recreational activities such as rock climbing, martial arts and roller skating, drawing tens of thousands of participating students. In Huainan, Anhui province, local schools integrated spring outdoor excursions and campus sports meets into the holiday schedule, prioritizing family-focused activities including group rope skipping and community tug-of-war matches.

The push to get students outdoors comes amid growing national concern over rising rates of childhood nearsightedness and obesity across China. Spring’s mild, comfortable temperatures make it an ideal season for sustained physical activity, which experts note can boost cardiovascular health, build muscle strength, improve motor coordination and support overall mental well-being for young people.

Even in regions that have not yet formally adopted a regional spring break, such as Beijing, the Qingming holiday saw a sharp surge in outdoor, hands-on learning activities, with families taking children into nearby mountains to forage for wild plants, practice tree climbing and try slacklining. In the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, education officials have encouraged middle school students to combine physical activity with cultural learning, inviting them to practice traditional grassland sports including wrestling and archery.

Public sports venues across participating regions have also expanded access to support the initiative. Across Jiangsu, public sports facilities extended operating hours and offer free or heavily discounted entry for student visitors during the break. At Nanjing’s iconic Olympic Sports Center, select tennis courts, badminton halls and public swimming pools opened entirely free of charge to young visitors for the duration of the holiday.

Beyond physical health benefits, the new spring break policy is also designed to address growing concerns over excessive academic pressure and poor mental health among Chinese youth. Schools across participating regions are instructed not to assign written homework during the break, and unauthorized group tutoring and off-campus academic training are strictly prohibited for the duration of the holiday. “Without homework, my child just comes out to play football,” said Nanjing parent Wang Junjun, who watched his son play from the sidelines of a community pitch. “As long as he’s happy and healthy, we parents are happy too.”

Researchers note that the new spring break initiative aligns with broader national efforts to strengthen physical education in China’s K-12 education system, which currently mandates a minimum of two hours of daily physical activity for all primary and secondary school students.

“Holidays like this do more than improve children’s well-being,” said Wang Shuhua, a senior researcher at the Jiangsu Academy of Social Sciences. “They also stimulate the integration of sports and tourism, encourage spending on sporting equipment, and energize the broader sports economy. Some regions are already preparing to introduce autumn breaks as well,” she added, pointing to the potential for the policy to expand across the country in coming years.

Across the bustling northern Chinese city of Taiyuan, two photographs separated by nearly three decades have recently gone viral, touching the hearts of millions of online users across the country. The first is a faded, candid snapshot taken in 1999; the second, a sharp modern portrait captured in early 2026. Together, they tell an extraordinary story of chance connection, the passage of time, and quiet human resilience, centered around a reunion between 49-year-old veteran fruit vendor Yang Guoping and Henan-based children’s art educator Wang Mango.

The unlikely chain of events began when Wang, a native of Jiaozuo in Henan province, was sorting through boxes of childhood belongings earlier this year. Tucked between old drawings and hand-me-down toys, she found the 1999 photo, snapped by her father during a family trip to Taiyuan when she was just 3 years old. In the frame, a lean young vendor stands behind a fruit-heavy tricycle, his face youthful and unfamiliar to Wang decades later.

That vendor was Yang. To Wang’s surprise, her cousin, who lives locally in Taiyuan, immediately recognized Yang in the snapshot. Even 27 years after the original photo was taken, Yang still ran his fruit business within blocks of the spot where the image was captured. Wang arranged a visit, bringing the faded old photograph with her, and Yang greeted her with a mix of shock and joy — he barely recognized his own younger self in the worn shot.

The pair returned to the approximate location of the original photo to take a new side-by-side portrait, freezing in time both the slow march of years and the unexpected, enduring bond that linked them across a generation. After Wang shared the pair of comparison photos on Douyin, China’s leading short-video platform, the content spread rapidly, drawing thousands of comments from netizens reflecting on how much both the city and the people within it had changed.

For Yang, however, the decades of change have simply unfolded as part of his steady daily routine. He recalled to China Daily how different life was back when the first photo was taken: “Back then, hardly anyone had mobile phones, and cameras were rare. That photo was quite a novelty.”

Yang’s journey in Taiyuan began in the early 1990s, when he left his rural hometown in Xinzhou, Shanxi, to seek work in the provincial capital. He started out as a restaurant waiter, slowly saving every extra yuan until he could afford a secondhand tricycle, and launched a mobile fruit stall on Yijing Street. By 2009, he had worked hard enough to open his own fixed brick-and-mortar fruit shop, a milestone he had spent years working toward.

Looking back, Yang remembers old Yijing Street as a crowded, vibrant thoroughfare, buzzing with the energy of a traditional farmers’ market. Today, the street has been reborn as a trendy culinary destination, one of the most visited spots in Taiyuan. Reflecting on the changes captured in the two photos, Yang noted: “Time has left its marks, the era has progressed, and technology has developed. The old phone booth that stood in the background back then is now a 5G service center, and the entire street has been transformed. But what remains unchanged is the simplicity and kindness of people’s hearts.”

Today, Wang runs her own small art studio for children back in Henan. She describes the cross-decade reunion as not just a magical twist of fate, but a powerful reminder of the steady perseverance that drives ordinary people. “I hope to be like him, steadfastly pursuing what I love and doing every little thing with heart,” she said.

A closer look at the 1999 snapshot reveals another warm, untold detail: the woman standing just behind Yang is his wife, Li Xiuying. For more than 30 years, the couple has built their life around their fruit business, raising two children and helping them put down roots in the city. Over the decades, their tiny mobile stall grew into an 80-square-meter retail shop, and the beat-up secondhand tricycle was replaced by a modern delivery van. “I’m incredibly grateful for my wife’s companionship,” Yang said. “When I had nothing and started this venture, she endured hardships without complaint. Without her, we wouldn’t have what we have today.”

Remarkably, Yang’s shop has stayed in the same neighborhood for all these years. Many of his loyal customers are people who grew up buying fruit from him as children, and now they bring their own kids to his store — a tradition Yang cherishes deeply. Even after the story went viral and drew crowds of new curious customers to his shop, Yang has remained humble. “I’m just an ordinary fruit seller. Being noticed and appreciated by everyone is already very touching. I will continue to serve each customer with care and sell the best fruits,” he said.

Following their heartwarming reunion, Wang and Yang have already planned a future meeting: they agreed to gather again on Yijing Street for the next Chinese New Year, continuing the connection that a 27-year-old photograph first made possible.

On a sun-drenched early March afternoon at the Ministry of Public Security’s Kunming Police Dog Base in Yunnan Province, China’s leading training and research facility for this specialized working breed, senior trainer Long Ling and his 2-year-old Kunming dog Kunkun moved in flawless sync to complete three high-level training drills.

Kunkun, a demonstration canine at the base, embodies the ideal temperament that breeders and trainers have spent decades refining in China’s indigenous police dog. Around civilians, he is even-tempered, gentle and playful, especially with children, but shifts instantly to a sharp, intimidating stance when confronting hostile suspects. Long describes this balanced demeanor as an “Eastern temperament” — naturally reserved and restrained, yet able to switch to intense focus and assertiveness when duty calls.

A small moment during the on-site interview revealed just how attuned Kunkun is to his trainer’s feedback. When Long praised the dog for his sharp instincts and strong working capabilities, Kunkun settled calmly on the ground, wagging his tail in quiet contentment. But when Long brought up the young dog’s earlier incident of biting another dog and noted that he still required closer supervision, Kunkun instantly stood alert, ears perked straight up, clearly understanding he was being called out.

The close bond between Long and Kunkun dates back to a puppy suitability assessment in 2024, when Kunkun was just 10 weeks old. While other puppies hesitated, the young Kunkun scampered straight over to Long and nipped playfully at his pant leg, displaying a fearless curiosity that caught the trainer’s eye. That natural confidence convinced Long to select the puppy for training, and he named him Kunkun in honor of the breed’s Yunnan origins.

Over the past two years, Long has raised Kunkun like a member of his own family, personally overseeing his feeding and care even during national holidays, and treating the dog to a weekly reward of home-cooked beef. That consistent, attentive care and targeted training has turned Kunkun into an outstanding all-around working dog, excelling in tactical coordination, close-quarter reconnaissance, and long-distance obedience — the full range of skills modern security operations demand.

As a homegrown breed developed exclusively in China, Kunming dogs have gained growing recognition for their superior adaptability to China’s diverse climates and terrain, as well as their well-balanced character traits that make them uniquely suited to domestic public security and law enforcement work. Kunkun’s development from a curious puppy to a top-performing police dog stands as a powerful example of the breed’s decades-long success as a working dog developed for China’s specific security needs.