{"id":413952,"date":"2020-01-23T15:37:24","date_gmt":"2020-01-23T20:37:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=413952"},"modified":"2020-02-03T13:55:03","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T18:55:03","slug":"millions-migrate-to-mark-the-year-of-the-rat-413952","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/millions-migrate-to-mark-the-year-of-the-rat-413952\/","title":{"rendered":"Millions migrate to mark the Year of the Rat"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is typically the busiest travel period in China\u2014if not the world\u2014as millions of people make their way home to celebrate the Chinese New Year, clogging highways, airports, and train stations in the process. As described by Forbes<\/a>, the country goes into radio silence as more than 1.3 billion Chinese go on vacation at the same time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been called the largest mammalian migration on the planet, and it always takes place at the Chinese New Year,\u201d says John Osburg<\/a>, a University of Rochester<\/a> associate professor in the Department of Anthropology.<\/a><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s celebration may be less than typical, as the country is faced with an outbreak of coronavirus, which has forced the closure of Wuhan, a major port in China, and several other cities.<\/p>\n

Osburg says, \u201cWhile I\u2019ve heard from friends in China who are cancelling travel plans, I also have friends who are mostly unconcerned with the threat of the virus.\u201d<\/p>\n