Bad economy, nosy relatives: Young Chinese put off by Lunar New Year - BBC News

China's sluggish economy is one reason why some have decided not to go home for the holiday.

1 day agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsLunar New YearImage source, ReutersImage caption, China's Spring Festival travel rush is the world's largest mass migration every yearBy Lok LeeBBC Chinese"If I had the choice, I definitely wouldn't go back home," says Yuwen, a 33-year-old who has been unemployed for more than six months, days ahead of the Chinese New Year.

Many of China's nearly 380 million internal migrants only go home once a year - and the Lunar New Year, the most important festival for family reunion, is usually the time to do it. That is why the Spring Festival travel rush, known as "chunyun", is the world's largest annual mass migration. Authorities are expecting a record nine billion trips this time for the Year of the Dragon.

But Yuwen dreads the homecoming trip because he says he will be grilled by relatives over every aspect of his life, particularly his work situation including salaries and benefits. His parents know he has lost his job and have been understanding about it. They have agreed with Yuwen that the best course of action is to lie to relatives that he still has his old job.

Yuwen will also spend just three days with his relatives - usually it would be more than a week. "It will be over soon," he says.

Hundreds of young people have taken to popular social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Weibo to say that they will not go home for the festival. Like Yuwen, some of them are recently unemployed.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-68224750?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

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