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If you've ever been to China during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year), you know how impossible it is to make travel plans or book tickets during that time, as the whole country prepares to make the journey back home to see family and friends. <!--more-->

Train tickets are particularly impossible to come by, as trains are the cheapest and most popular way return home. This article addresses a couple of ways that the transport authorities plan to address the problem this year. It's nice if you're a foreigner living in a major metropolitan area, as whole cities empty out, traffic disappears, and you get a temporary respite from the sounds of construction.

It's also interesting to note that bank cards (debit / credit cards) have been almost useless in China until the last decade or so, as restaurants, bars, smaller hotels, ticket offices and grocery stores rarely accept them. This, as we can see from this article, is gradually changing. 

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<h4>Interesting Vocabulary</h4>
召开 - [pinyin]zhao4 kai1[/pinyin] - Convene
春运 - [pinyin]chun1 yun4[/pinyin] - Spring Festival travel season
广铁集团 - [pinyin]guang3 tie3 ji2 tuan2[/pinyin] - Guangzhou Railway Group
刷卡 - [pinyin]shua1 ka3[/pinyin] - To use / swipe a bank card
实行 - [pinyin]shi2 xing2[/pinyin] - Implement
高峰 - [pinyin]gao1 feng1[/pinyin] - Peak
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昨日，铁道部<strong>召开春运</strong>新闻发布会。今年春运，铁道部首次开展银行卡购票业务，在北京、上海、武汉、南昌、成都、郑州、西安铁路局和<strong>广铁集团</strong>的256个较大车站之间开展银行卡<strong>刷卡</strong>支付业务。为满足春运期间旅客购票需要，北京站﹑北京西站﹑北京南站等车站春运期间<strong>实行</strong>24小时不间断售票。北京西站北广场和南广场售票处实行24小时不间断售票。北京站和北京南站实行24小时不间断购票，购票高峰时，两站419个售票窗口全部开启，保证24小时不间断售票。

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<a href="http://bjyouth.ynet.com/article.jsp?oid=76203888">Read the original news item</a>
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Yesterday, the railroad ministry convened a press conference to discuss the Spring Festival travel season. This season, for the first time ever, the ministry will begin accepting bank cards for ticket sales. In Beijing, Shanghai, WuHan, NanChang, ChengDu, ZhengZhou and XiAn, the railroad office and Guangzhou Railway Group together launched bank card ticket sales at their 256 relatively large railway stations. To meet the needs of Spring Festival travelers, Beijing Station, Beijing West Station, Beijing South Station and other stations will implement 24-hour ticket sales. At Beijing West Station, 24-hour sales will be available in the North Square and South Square ticket offices. During peak sales times, Beijing Station and Beijing South Station will have 419 ticket windows open for business to ensure that sales can continue around the clock.

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