有一种节日叫我们回家过年

YU Jie is one of the lucky ones. The 21-year-old Shanghai hotel waitress boarded a train early yesterday on her way home hoping to arrive before Sunday, the Spring Festival, for a family reunion.

余杰是幸运者之一。这位21岁的上海酒店服务员昨天早上登上了一列火车回家，希望周日之前到达，春节与家人团聚。

"It was so hard to get a train ticket. I had to divide my journey into two, from Shanghai to Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, and then from Wuhan to Yueyang, a city in Hunan Province," said Yu, one of millions of people heading home to visit their parents for the lunar New Year.

“很难买到一张火车票。我不得不将我的旅程分成两种方案，从上海到湖北省省会武汉，然后从武汉到岳阳，湖南的一个城市，”余说，数以百万计在农历新年回家探望父母的其中一个。

Traditionally, those living apart from their parents return home during the festival period.

传统上，这些远离父母的人在春节期间回家。

To encourage this, China's newly revised law on the elderly's rights says that from July 1 this year, people living apart from elderly parents should visit them often and employers should guarantee their rights and opportunities to do so.

为了鼓励这种传统，中国新修订的关于老年人的权益法律表示从今年7月1日起，远离年迈父母的人应该经常探望他们，雇主应该保证他们这样做的权利和机会。

Shen Guoming, an expert with the Shanghai Institute of Legislation, said the proposal was first initiated by the public.

沈国明，上海政法学院的法律专家说，这是首个由公众发起的提案。

China has 250 million migrant workers and most of them have only one opportunity to go home during the Spring Festival. Others may not have a chance during the whole year.

中国有2.5亿农民工，他们中的大多数春节期间只有一次机会回家。其他人可能整整一年都没有机会。

"Going home" has become a national puzzle, due to Chinese employment rules, railway capacity, weather and even the online ticketing system.

“回家”已经成为一个全国性的难题，由于中国就业规则、铁路运力、天气、甚至在线票务系统。

Yu said: "This year, I tried to buy a train ticket on the Internet, but got nothing. Then a colleague tried more than 100 times to call the ticketing phone number and finally bought me a ticket."

余表示：“今年我想在网上买张火车票，但一无所获。然后一个同事试了超过100次拨通售票电话，最后给我买到一张票。”

Because of the online ticketing system, Yu had to go home alone, as her friends did not get tickets on the same train. "We have to go home separately. Some have had to spend 1,000 yuan (US$160) on a plane ticket, which equates to half a month's salary," she said.

由于在线售票系统，余不得不独自回家，因为她的朋友没有买到同一列火车的票。“我们不得不分开回家。有些人不得不花1000元(160美元)买张机票，相当于半个月的薪水，”她说。

Only half the hotel's 100 employees will go home before the lunar New Year's eve, while the other half will have to wait until after the festival. But the good news is that the hotel owner also arranges for staff to go home every summer.

酒店100名员工只有一半将在农历新年除夕夜之前回家，而另一半要等到春节之后。但好消息是酒店业主还安排了员工每年夏天回家。

The "two home visits" system is rare for hotels in big cities.

“两个回家探望期”系统在大城市的酒店是罕见的。

"On the morning of the Chinese Lunar New Year, I will give each of my parents one red envelope," Yu said.

“在中国农历新年的早上，我要给我父母一人一个红包，”姜瑜说。

The happiest thing for her, she said, is that she can give her parents more than 10,000 yuan a year now. "All of it is saved from my daily expenses. I feel much better when I go home to eat and chat with my parents and brother."

对她来说最幸福的事，她说，是现在她能给她的父母1万多元一年了。“这是从我的日常开支中省下来的。当我回家吃饭，与我的父母哥哥聊天时我感觉好多了。”