China ushered in its largest annual population migration on Tuesday, 15 days ahead of the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls on Jan 29 this year.
This marks the first "chunyun", or the Spring Festival travel rush, after UNESCO inscribed the Spring Festival on the intangible cultural heritage list in December last year.
Nine billion passenger trips are expected to be made during this year's travel rush period that ends on Feb 22, with both rail and air passenger trips set to hit record highs.
During this travel season, 7.2 billion road trips, accounting for around 80 percent of the total trips, and over 90 million civil aviation trips will be made. Over 510 million passenger trips will also be handled by the country's railways, with an average of 12.75 million trips daily, an increase of 5.5 percent over the previous year.
In China, the 40-day travel surge will see hundreds of millions of people return to their hometowns for family reunions.
China's Spring Festival travel rush starts with 9 bln trips expected
The inaugural maritime film festival kicked off on board China's first domestically built large cruise ship Adora Magic City on Sunday, with classic movie screenings, exhibitions of cinematic memorabilia and interactive activities together creating a special journey for travelers.
Jointly presented by Adora Cruises and Changchun Film Group, guests are treated with movie screenings, panel sessions with actors, as well as interactive performances themed on classic movies during a five-day voyage.
The themed cruise season will run until the end of June on three cruise ships.
"Through the in-depth expansion of the 'film plus' model, we combine resources across sectors to explore new pathways for the integrated development of the film and television industry and the cruise economy," said Zhuang Yan, chairman of Changchun Film Group, at the opening event.
Actor Hou Yong, who is on the maiden voyage of the film-themed cruise season, said he was looking forward to having interactive experiences with audiences.
"During this journey, I also look forward to those chances of encounters -- with film audiences, with film enthusiasts. As an actor, I feel I have the obligation, the capability, and the responsibility to pass on my understanding of Chinese cinema to them," he said.
Adora Magic City, 323.6 meters long, has a gross tonnage of 135,500 tonnes and can accommodate up to 5,246 passengers in 2,125 guest rooms.
First maritime film festival launched on China's homegrown cruise ship
