University students play ping-pong in Shanghai Jiao Tong Univeristy on Feb, 2, 2021. They put family reunions on hold during the holiday and stay in the campus. (Photos: Xinhua)
Policies introduced
Many local governments and enterprises have introduced measures to encourage people to spend the holiday in cities and towns where they are employed.
In Yiwu, Zhejiang province, a county-level city regarded as the nation's small commodities trading hub, the local government has announced 17 policies aimed at encouraging people to spend the holiday locally.
With sporadic cases of COVID-19 reported in different areas of the country ahead of Spring Festival, people who remain in Yiwu during the holiday are each entitled to a 500 yuan ($72) Spring Festival shopping voucher.
They can also join a variety of free cultural and sports activities at public venues such as cultural centers, libraries, museums and fitness centers.
The city's hospitals and clinics will waive registration and emergency treatment fees for outpatients from Sunday to Feb 21.
Primary and secondary schools in Yiwu are arranging free winter camps for children whose parents remain in the city for the holiday, and landlords have been encouraged to reduce rents.
Numerous other local governments have announced plans to help employees who decide not to return home.
In the Xiangcheng district of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, migrant workers are each entitled to a subsidy of 500 yuan, while in the Shunde district of Foshan, Guangdong province, skilled workers can receive subsidies of 400 yuan to 1,600 yuan, based on their level of expertise, according to Guang Ming Daily.
Zhou Dewen, economist and deputy director of the China Association for Promoting Democracy's Central Economic Committee, said many enterprises are providing generous bonuses to retain employees.
"There are about 3 million nonlocal employees alone in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, and employers are willing to offer bonuses to keep staff at the end of the lunar year and in early spring, when there is traditionally a shortage of workers," Zhou Dewen said.
Chen Jianliang, chairman of Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, said the Shanghai company would spend about 50 million yuan on subsidizing its skilled workers who remain in the city for Spring Festival.
More than 80 percent of the workers at the company, a unit of China State Shipbuilding Corp, come from outside of Shanghai, who would stay in Shanghai for the holiday.
Chen said that during the holiday, most workers are entitled to a daily allowance of 500 yuan, Lunar New Year's Eve dinner sets, special merchandise, leisure activities and healthcare necessities.
Zhao Wen, a deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said, "Fewer people traveling will effectively minimize the spread of COVID-19 and also help contain it when work resumes after the holiday."
Privately-owned Zhejiang Grandwall Electric Science & Technology Co has announced an incentives package for its employees who remain locally during Spring Festival, including a 500 yuan holiday subsidy and two-week compensatory vacations in their hometowns after June.
Pan Jian, executive assistant at the company, said: "About 30 percent of our staff members come from distant provinces such as Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan. For each of those from outside Zhejiang who needs to return home for Spring Festival, we are providing an allowance of 2,000 yuan per trip."
A woman buys decorations at Yuyuan Garden, a historical tourist site in Shanghai, on Feb 6, 2021.
Range of activities provided for workers not traveling home
Shen Fei, a delivery worker from Luoyang, Henan province, is busy during his spare time preparing a special Spring Festival gala for his fellow workers.
Instead of joining the annual travel rush to return home for family reunions during the holiday, the workers are remaining in Shanghai.
"Many of my colleagues have opted to stay in the city this year due to the pandemic, so I decided to organize this gala and invite them to perform," said Shen, 50, who joined the online catering platform Eleme in Shanghai in 2018.
He said the gala would feature singing to both guitar and piano accompaniment, a talk show, dancing, martial arts, and poetry and literature recitals.
The gala will be recorded before Lunar New Year's Eve, which this year falls on Thursday, and the footage will be posted online.
Dubbed "the greatest annual human migration on Earth", the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush usually sees billions of trips made nationwide for family reunions.
However, due to the pandemic, people have been urged to avoid unnecessary travel during the holiday period this year.
In recent years, some 3 billion passenger trips have been made during the Spring Festival holiday travel season, which this year runs from Jan 28 to March 8.
Wu Chungeng, an official with the Ministry of Transport, said the number of trips made this year would fall by as much as 60 percent compared with 2019.
Ahead of the holiday, while Shen makes food deliveries near bustling East Nanjing Road in Shanghai, Zhou Yan is busy planning a program for young people to gain a better understanding of the city during Spring Festival.
"On Sunday, we will bring together teenagers, other young people and families to start a three-day hike exploring Shanghai's urban areas. Our destinations include city blocks with distinctive architecture and historic buildings," said Zhou, a Shanghai native who, with her husband, runs a regeneration business specializing in old properties.
She said most of those on the hike would be from other areas of the country who have decided to remain in Shanghai for Spring Festival as the nation battles the spread of COVID-19.
"We organized a similar five-day trip around the city in late January, and participants were surprised that although they had lived in Shanghai for quite a while, they were able to discover the splendor of the city's architecture, as well as its rich history and culture," Zhou said.
Both Zhou and Shen are attempting to make Spring Festival more interesting for nonlocals who choose to remain in areas where they work.