Pet shops in Chinese cities are seeing more business as people go home for the Lunar New Year.

 

中国人回家过春节之际，各城市宠物店的生意开始火爆起来。

 

Each year the Spring Festival travel period, known as Chunyun, sees the world's largest human migration¹, as Chinese families gather for the country's most important holiday. This year's month-long travel rush is forecast to see 2.98 billion trips, according to the National Development and Reform Commission².

 

But as the procedures to take pets home is quite complicated in China, many pet owners choose to have their companion animals stay in pet shops for the Spring Festival holiday.

 

In Beijing's Tongzhou district, a pet shop owner has asked customers to reserve the animal cages as early as possible.

 

"As we will see a big number of animals during the Lunar New Year, we advise our customers to book in advance," the shop owner said in her WeChat.

 

A similar situation can be found in Taiyuan, capital of north China's Shanxi Province.

 

In a pet shop in Taiyuan's Changfeng Road, half of the shop's 20-plus cages have been booked.

 

"The demand for pet fostering³ is huge during the Spring Festival holiday," the shop owner said. "Many shops are closed as shop owners go home for family gatherings⁴, so it is difficult to find places to put the animals."

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