Over 100 million people will not return to their hometowns for Spring Festival to avoid travel amid

Liu Huan, a nurse at Maternal and Child Health Hospital in Shijingshan district, Beijing, takes nucleic acid sample of a visitor. It is 27-year-old Liu's first Spring Festival away from her hometown Baoding, North China's Hebei Province. She will celebrate the festival with her sister who is also in Beijing. Photo: Li Hao/GT

The upcoming Spring Festival will be very special for people in China.

Considering the needs of virus prevention, this year, more than 100 million people in China will stay where they are to celebrate the Chinese New Year, instead of returning to their hometowns, a tradition lasting thousands of years.

The current epidemic has not yet completely ended in China. There have been several scattered cluster COVID-19 outbreaks in the past months around the country. Therefore, many people have decided to stay in the city where they work and live during the holidays, and the government has urged local regions to ensure those who stay put have a safe and happy new year.

The Global Times reporters visited some of these people who chose to stay during the holidays. 

Among them, there are people who work on the frontline of virus prevention, having to stay alert at all time to ensure the safety of people; there are office employees who volunteered to stay in the city they work in, in order to reduce the risks of virus spread in transportation; and there are also people whose duty is to keep the city running normally, like deliverymen, janitors or security guards.

"If we could make a tiny contribution to the anti-virus work, it would be worth it," a netizen wrote. "My families understand my decision. My father told me, 'come back when the epidemic situation is better. I will prepare the best wine and food to weolcome you.'"

Wang Yiqing, 22, a security guard from Zaozhuang, East China's Shandong Province, checks temperature for a visitor of a community in Beijing. Wang just started this job last month. He decided to stay in Beijing during Spring Festival because he thinks it would be meaningful. Photo: Li Hao/GT

Du Junjun delivers food. The 34-year-old man is from Lüliang, North China's Shanxi. He has to celebrate Spring Festival alone. "I decided to stay in Beijing because I do not want to add trouble to my hometown." Photo: Li Hao/GT

 

Xiong Shaolin from Fengcheng, East China's Jiangxi Province works as a researcher at the Key Laboratory of Particle Astrophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. "This year's Spring Festival is the same as in previous years. I will always be paying attention to the data observed by the satellite." Photo: Li Hao/GT

 

Hou Jiajing from Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China works in her office in Beijing. She bought gifts for her parents who are in Harbin. For the upcoming holidays, she plans to gather together with some friends and go hiking in mountains. Photo: Li Hao/GT

 

Li Na and her friends from a car club pose with 91-year-old Jiang Mingjun, a veteran of the Korean War in Shijingshan district, Beijing, before Spring Festival. Li chose not to return to her hometown in Bozhou, East China's Anhui, and decided to do something meaningful. Photo: Li Hao/GT

 

Yan Zhou poses with the family in the rental apartment in Anji, East China's Zhejiang Province. Yan, 22, is from Hezhang county, Southwest China's Guizhou Province. Though he chose not to go back home, he won a lottery of 8,888 yuan ($1376.9) from the community, which was organized for migrant workers who choose to stay put during holidays. Photo: Yang Hui/GT

Huang Changsheng, a janitor in Beijing, poses in front of his working tools. He has been in the capital city for 24 years, far away from his hometown in Neijiang, Southwest China's Sichuan Province. His parents and children will stay at home to celebrate Spring Festival, and he and his wife will stay in Beijing.