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64m Chinese on trips daily on Saturday and Sunday

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-02-23 09:59

BEIJING: Some 64.25 million people travelled on China's roads on Sunday, the 23rd day of the Spring Festival traffic rush, the Ministry of Transport said Monday.

The figure is 5.6 percent up from the corresponding day last year, as millions return from their family homes to work and study after the week-long Spring Festival holiday, the ministry said in a statement on its website.?The?Spring?Festival holiday is?from Feb 13 to 19, and Sunday is the second day after the holiday.

Some 64.15 million people travelled on China's roads on Saturday, the 22nd day of the Spring Festival traffic rush, 7.8 percent up from the corresponding day last year.

The ministry estimated another 64.3 million passengers were on the roads Monday, up 5.8 percent year-on-year.

That would mean a total number of 1.34 billion people had travelled on the roads since the beginning of the rush, up 8.3 percent from the corresponding period last year, said the ministry.

By Monday, the first wave of return-trips at the end of the one-week Spring Festival holiday had passed smoothly with no major hold ups, according to the ministry.

Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, fell on Feb 14 this year. It is the most important Chinese traditional festival for family reunions. Millions of Chinese journey across China during the 40-day rush period that began Jan 30.