China's railways and roads underwent the first travel peak after the Lunar New Year festival, with larger passenger flows than the same period last year, Xinhua reported.
The railways carried more than 5 million travelers each day from Jan. 31 to Friday, a record high in both duration and passenger number, said the Ministry of Railways (MOR) spokesman Wang Yongping on Saturday.
Altogether 5.02 million took trains on Friday, increasing 170,000 year-on-year, MOR figures show.
Wang predicted lighter traffic on Saturday and Sunday and a second peak after Monday, when the Lantern Festival falls and wraps up the Chinese New Year celebration.
About 55.8 million hit the road on Saturday, up 4 percent from a year earlier, said the Ministry of Transport spokesman He Jianzhong.
The number was down from previous days as most people had returned from family visits, but there were more college students and migrant workers making trips back to study or city work, said He.
He said 800,000 traveled by water on Saturday, 6 percent more than the same period last year.
China's Lunar New Year, or the Spring Festival, came on Jan. 26 this year. It's the country's most important traditional festival, creating the world's largest population migration in a year.