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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.
带有红色和金色装饰的建筑随处可见，火车候车队伍排得越来越长，父母的呼喊声比以往更频繁。为期40天的春运将在2月4日开始，超过34亿人次将踏上回家之旅。
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.
地区之间的紧密发展是造成春运期间旅客人数不断增多的因素之一，这也导致将有更多弄农民工前往如北京、上海、广东这样的一线城市谋求机会。2014年的旅客人次将达到36亿人次，比2013年增长了2亿人，春节是打工人员每年唯一一次能够回家过节的假期，这也就增加旅客的人数。
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.
准备完红包之后，你的旅程预算将预示着你将面临着一场艰难的回家之旅。如果你足够幸运的话，你将购买到一张舒适的飞机，或者是巴士票，尽管价格飞涨，人数有限。你还可以选择开车回家，希望你不要堵在交通拥堵的大街上，尽管在2014年，像上海这样的大城市，每天的车流量是2300万，或者是遇到恶劣天气，如下雪，下雨或是雾霾。
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，你可能会和其他2.66亿人竞争一张最廉价，购买人数最多的火车票。
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.
购买火车票本身就是一场对你的考验。比如说你是那2.68亿农民工之中的一位，手中缺少电子技术，这是国家统计局统计的数据。你也许会在大冷天中站在售票窗口，等待购票，上海的购票培训服务使用了志愿者来帮助大家。即使是这样，其他乘客可能已经抢到了你的票，原因是中国铁建的官方订票网站-12306.com，网上购票可以让乘客提前60天购票，而不是像你一样在第58天购票，这一举动凸显出了中国人在电子世界中的差距。
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.
即使是一位电脑使用者，你也有可能丢失你的车票，前提是这一购票网站瘫痪，或者是遇到技术问题，再或者是票贩子购买了余下的火车票。使用非官方网站，如百度、携程或者是奇虎360，如果你使用这些网站，你的个人信息将很有可能被黑客获取。回程时你还要重新来过。
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.
从积极的一面说，当亲戚朋友询问你的个人状况时，你至少会有话对他们说。你提着行李穿越了重重围栏，金钱和生活是绑在一起的事物，结婚和生小孩那就轻松容易了许多。
For Caixin Online, this is Christina Guo.
这是克里斯提亚·郭为您带来的财新网报道。
译文属可可英语原创，未经允许，不得转载。
