Horse Year Day 4 records 352 mln cross-regional trips

China handled an estimated over 352 million cross-regional trips on Friday, the fourth day of the Year of the Horse, with a steady growth in passenger flows during the 2026 Spring Festival travel rush, said transport authorities.

The figure represents a 3.7-percent daily growth from Thursday and a 12-percent increase year on year.

On Friday, the country's railway system handled an estimated 15 million passenger trips, increasing by 10.8 percent over the previous day.

In northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, some parts of Urumqi, Turpan and other cities experienced strong winds on Friday, prompting local authorities to adjust operation of some trains and railway lines.

"Information of affected train services was displayed on screens in the railway station hall. Once the weather improves, we will immediately resume train operations," said He Xu, a technician at the passenger transport section of the Urumqi Railway Station.

By estimation, China's road system handled an estimated passenger volume of over 332 million trips on Friday, marking a 3.4 percent daily growth.

The civil aviation sector recorded an estimated passenger volume of 2.57 million trips, up 1.9 percent from Thursday.

The waterway system handled an estimated passenger volume of 1.93 million trips, up 5.5 percent from the previous day.

The traffic volume on China's expressway network increased slightly on Friday from the day before.

The Spring Festival, which is also known as Chinese New Year, falls on Feb. 17 this year, and the official holiday lasts nine days.

The annual travel rush, "chunyun," is often described as the world's largest human migration.

It is expected to see a record 9.5 billion inter-regional passenger trips during the 40-day period from Feb. 2 to March 13 this year.

Horse Year Day 4 records 352 mln cross-regional trips

Russia-Japan relations have been reduced to zero with no dialog currently taking place between the two sides, due to Japan's "unfriendly" stance towards Russia, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a press briefing on Friday.

Peskov's remarks followed Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's policy address at the lower house of parliament earlier on Friday, in which she said that Japan intends to resolve the long-standing territorial issue and conclude a peace treaty with Russia despite the strained state of bilateral ties.

"Tokyo is taking an unfriendly stance toward our country. Under these circumstances, it's unlikely that any agreements can be reached without changing the modalities of our relations," Peskov said at the press briefing.

Speaking to the press on Feb 13, Russian Ambassador to Japan Nikolai Nozdrev said Japan's approach to handling relations with Russia is contradictory, erroneous, and impracticable.

Japan claims its willingness to conclude a peace treaty while simultaneously imposing sanctions on Russia, said the ambassador, who characterized bilateral relations as being at their lowest point in the post-war period.

Russia and Japan have yet to sign a peace treaty to formalize the end of World War II due to a territorial row over four small Pacific islands, known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan.

No Russia-Japan dialog as ties "reduced to zero": Kremlin