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The red and gold decorations are popping up everywhere, the train queues are getting long and your parentsare calling more often than before. The Chun Yun period, a 40-day travel season in the lead-up to China's Spring Festival holiday begins February 4 2015，and it's time to start preparing for your journey 'home,' along with over 3.4 billion others.
帶有紅色和金色裝飾的建筑隨處可見，火車候車隊伍排得越來越長，父母的呼喊聲比以往更頻繁。為期40天的春運將在2月4日開始，超過34億人次將踏上回家之旅。
Regional clusters of development are a major factor in the ever-increasing number of travellers during the'Chun Yun' period leading up to the holiday and are a result of migrant workers flocking to more affluent cities such as Guangdong, Shanghai and Beijing for better opportunities. The 3.6 billion total passenger load in 2014 represented an increase of 200 million from 2013 and is exacerbated by the fact that the Spring Festival is usually the only chance workers are given to return to their hometowns every year.
地區之間的緊密發展是造成春運期間旅客人數不斷增多的因素之一，這也導致將有更多弄農民工前往如北京、上海、廣東這樣的一線城市謀求機會。2014年的旅客人次將達到36億人次，比2013年增長了2億人，春節是打工人員每年唯一一次能夠回家過節的假期，這也就增加旅客的人數。
After you've prepared all the hong bao you're bringing home, your travel budget shapes the next trials you'll face. If you're lucky, you'll be searching for a relatively comfortable plane or bus ticket, albeit with heavily inflated prices and limited capacity. You may choose to drive your own car, hoping you don't get caught in mass traffic jams, despite the 2.3 million vehicles projected to pass through major cities like Shanghai per day in 2014, or treacherous weather that can include snow, freezing rain and haze.
準備完紅包之后，你的旅程預算將預示著你將面臨著一場艱難的回家之旅。如果你足夠幸運的話，你將購買到一張舒適的飛機，或者是巴士票，盡管價格飛漲，人數有限。你還可以選擇開車回家，希望你不要堵在交通擁堵的大街上，盡管在2014年，像上海這樣的大城市，每天的車流量是2300萬，或者是遇到惡劣天氣，如下雪，下雨或是霧霾。
But most likely, you will be among the 266 million people competing for the cheapest and most popular option: railway travel.
但是更有可能的是，你可能會和其他2.66億人競爭一張最廉價，購買人數最多的火車票。
Ticket-buying is its own ordeal. Let's say you're one of the 268 million migrant workers who have limited access to digital technologies, according to the National Statistics Bureau. You will probably have to brave the 5AM cold and a long wait at ticket booths, The training session on how to book ticket in Shanghai are phoning up young volunteers initiatives organised through Weibo may help you chances. Even so, other travellers may have already snatched your tickets because the China Railway Corp's official booking website,12306.cn, allows buyers to book 60 days in advance, instead of 58 days like you, a move that highlights the inequalities perpetrated by the digital gap in the chinese population.
購買火車票本身就是一場對你的考驗。比如說你是那2.68億農民工之中的一位，手中缺少電子技術，這是國家統計局統計的數據。你也許會在大冷天中站在售票窗口，等待購票，上海的購票培訓服務使用了志愿者來幫助大家。即使是這樣，其他乘客可能已經搶到了你的票，原因是中國鐵建的官方訂票網站-12306.com，網上購票可以讓乘客提前60天購票，而不是像你一樣在第58天購票，這一舉動凸顯出了中國人在電子世界中的差距。
Even as a computer user, you may still be missing a ticket if the $300 million yuan website's annual server fails or has technical difficulties and a plague of ticket scalpers scrounge up remaining seats. Using an unofficial plugin by websites like Baidu, Ctrip or Qihoo 360 to boost your chances can increase the riskof personal data being leaked by cyber attacks. And you'll be doing it all again for the return journey.
即使是一位電腦使用者，你也有可能丟失你的車票，前提是這一購票網站癱瘓，或者是遇到技術問題，再或者是票販子購買了余下的火車票。使用非官方網站，如百度、攜程或者是奇虎360，如果你使用這些網站，你的個人信息將很有可能被黑客獲取。回程時你還要重新來過。
On the bright side, there is at least one thing you can say to nosy relatives asking about your relationship status. Since you jumped through all those hurdles with your luggage, money and life all in tact, getting married and having children should be a breeze.
從積極的一面說，當親戚朋友詢問你的個人狀況時，你至少會有話對他們說。你提著行李穿越了重重圍欄，金錢和生活是綁在一起的事物，結婚和生小孩那就輕松容易了許多。
For Caixin Online, this is Christina Guo.
這是克里斯提亞·郭為您帶來的財新網報道。
譯文屬可可英語原創，未經允許，不得轉載。
