Chinese Spring Festival Travellers crowd Guangzhou Railway Station

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Ticket holders weave their way through crowds of people looking for the proper que for their train. Thousands of holiday travelers flock to the main Guangzhou railway station days before the Chinese Spring Festival,

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Ticket holders for trains leaving within 24 hours are placed inside a make-shift waiting area in the square at Guangzhou Railway Station. Thousands of holiday travelers flock to the main Guangzhou railway station days before the Spring Festival.

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Ticket holders for trains leaving within the day wait inside a special area designated by plastic barriers and security guards. Thousands of holiday travelers flock to Guangzhou Railway Station days before Chinese Spring Festival.

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Additional security is put in place at the Guangzhou Railway Station to help travelers and maintain order during the heightened travel period before the Chinese New Year. Guangzhou, China.

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Families traveling together prepare to enter the train station after their train numbers are announced over a loud speaker in the square. Guangzhou, China.

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Weary travelers sit over their luggage in the waiting area outside the main hall of Guangzhou Railway Station until their train is called.

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Ticket holders for trains leaving within the day wait for their train to be announced in a special waiting area while other travelers hurriedly head for the entrance to the railway station.

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Exiting travelers pass by throngs of anxious family and friends waiting to receive them at the exit of Guangzhou Railway Station.

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Travellers find seats wherever they can in the open square at Guangzhou Railway Station while they wait.

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Thousands of holiday travelers flock to the main Guangzhou railway station, days before the Chinese Spring Festival, attempting to get home to be with family before Chinese New Year's eve, celebrated on the 22nd. China. 20th January 2012

Thousands of holiday travelers flock to the main Guangzhou railway station days before the Chinese Spring Festival, attempting to get home to be with family before Chinese New Year's eve, celebrated on the 22nd this year.
Guangzhou Railway Station is the most crowded of the three railway stations in Guangzhou, according to security guards patrolling the open square in front of the station. Many blue and green clothed security maintained order in the queue's and short term waiting areas constructed out of plastic and metal barrier fence.
The travel crowd may have peaked by Friday afternoon according to security, but that doesn't mean much to waiting travelers who have been living in the square for a day or longer in damp, occasionally rainy, weather. A group of men, who work in Guangzhou, wear wide smiles brimming with excitement to get home for the holiday. They've been waiting in the square for a day and will spend another day on their train home to Hunan province.