Aviation authorities of the mainland and Taiwan agreed to allow more chartered passenger flights to operate across the Taiwan Strait during the forthcoming traditional Lunar New Year holidays, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
So far, 13 airline companies from the two sides have applied for additional flights during the Spring Festival, which falls on January 26 this year.
Eight mainland airline companies would be allowed to run 61 temporary chartered passenger flights during a 29 day-long period, from January 12 to February 9. Five Taiwan operators will add 68 flights in the same period.
That's nice. Part of the holiday coincides with Chunyun:
The period around Chinese New Year is also the time of the largest human migration, when migrant workers in China, as well as overseas Chinese around the world travel home to have reunion dinners with their families on Chinese New Year's eve. More interurban trips are taken in mainland China in this 40-day period than the total population of China. This period is called Chunyun.
Ah, reunions! Hey, isn't that what the names of the new Pandas that China gave to Taiwan joined together mean? Why yes!
Something about all this is a little worrying. What is it? Oh, yeah, the Vietnamese call their lunar new year holiday "Tet."
If I was involved in Taiwanese security, I'd watch closely to see if a lot of Chinese male sports teams with members with short hair cuts start arriving in Taiwan for Chunyun on those chartered air flights.
I just don't believe the Chinese have really decided to rule out conquering Taiwan and will just wait for the Taiwanese to decide, in some distant future decade, to voluntarily join China.
So how much do the Chinese government leaders believe in Chunyun?
