The most important holiday in the Chinese calendar places great emphasis on family reunions, and travellers must get home by Monday to usher in the Year of the Pig the following day.
At Beijing Railway Station, thousands were milling around in the cold, wrapped up in thick coats and wheeling their luggage.
Lunar New Year is the most important holiday in the Chinese calendar and is the world's largest annual human migration. Source: Visual China Group
Readying for a 32-hour journey from Beijing to Huaihua in Hunan province, central China, passengers kept themselves entertained on mobile phones while sipping tea from flasks and eating noodles.
Rail operators expect some 413 million trips during this year's holiday season, up 8.3 percent from a year ago, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Several Chinese cities have decorated colorful lanterns and lights to welcome the Lunar New Year.
Millions of Chinese begin exodus for Lunar New Year holiday Source: Visual China Group
The travel rush started on Monday and crowds are not expected to die down until Friday. Source: Visual China Group
In Hangzhou, crowds enjoy thousands of red lanterns just lit on a footbridge to welcome the Spring Festival, which runs for 40 days. Source: Getty
A tourist town in eastern China is trying to attract health conscious visitors with hot springs designed to look like a fiery hotpot, a popular Chinese dish said to drive away winter blues.
Visitors to the First World Hotel in Hangzhou can dip into a hot spring bath, shaped like a rectangular copper pot with nine compartments, each containing popular hotpot ingredients like chilli peppers, lime, corn and lettuce.
Across China, bright and colourful latern shows have been lighting up the night sky.
Source: Visual China Group
People born in the Year of the Pig eat kebabs in a hot pot shaped hot spring. Source: Visual China Group
People select ornaments for Spring Festival on a market in Yantai city, east China's Shandong province. Source: ICHPL Imaginechina
Aerial view of villagers holding red lanterns as they prepare to usher in the 2019 Chinese New Year, the Year of the Pig. Source: Visual China Group
A colored lantern featuring a phoenix is illuminated during a lantern show. Source: Visual China Group
Colored lanterns are illuminated on the water during a lantern show. Source: Visual China Group
A woman runs under a sea of red lanterns. Source: Visual China Group
