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.
昨日，铁道部召开春运新闻发布会。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、西安铁路局和广铁集团的256个较大车站之间开展银行卡刷卡支付业务。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实行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。
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 昨日 | zuó rì | yesterday |
| 铁道部 | Tiě dào bù | Ministry of Railways (MOR), disbanded in 2013 with its regulatory functions taken over by the Ministry of Transport 交通運輸部|交通运输部[Jiao1 tong1 Yun4 shu1 bu4] |
| 召开 | zhào kāi | to convene (a conference or meeting); to convoke; to call together |
| 春运 | chūn yùn | (increased) passenger transportation around Chinese New Year |
| 新闻 | xīn wén | news; CL:條|条[tiao2] |
| 发布会 | fā bù huì | news conference; briefing |
| 今年 | jīn nián | this year |
| 首次 | shǒu cì | first; first time; for the first time |
| 开展 | kāi zhǎn | to launch; to develop; to unfold; (of an exhibition etc) to open |
| 银行卡 | yín háng kǎ | bank card |
| 购 | gǒu | to buy |
| 票 | piào | ticket; ballot; banknote; CL:張|张[zhang1]; person held for ransom; amateur performance of Chinese opera; classifier for groups, batches, business transactions |
| 业 | Yè | surname Ye |
| 务 | wù | affair; business; matter; to be engaged in; to attend to; by all means |
| 在 | zài | to exist; to be alive; (of sb or sth) to be (located) at; (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress) |
| 北京 | Běi jīng | Beijing municipality, capital of the People's Republic of China (short name 京[Jing1]) |
| 上海 | Shàng hǎi | Shanghai municipality (short name 滬|沪[Hu4]) |
| 武汉 | Wǔ hàn | see 武漢市|武汉市[Wu3 han4 Shi4] |
| 南 | Nán | surname Nan |
| 昌 | Chāng | surname Chang |
| 成都 | Chéng dū | see 成都市[Cheng2 du1 Shi4] |
| 郑 | zhěng | surname Zheng; (hist.) the Zheng state (a Zhou-dynasty vassal state) |
| 州 | zhōu | prefecture; (old) province; (old) administrative division; state (e.g. of US); oblast (Russia); canton (Switzerland) |
| 西安 | Xī ān | see 西安市[Xi1 an1 Shi4]; see 西安區|西安区[Xi1 an1 Qu1] |
| 铁路 | tiě lù | railroad; railway; CL:條|条[tiao2] |
| 局 | jú | narrow; office; situation; classifier for games: match, set, round etc; cramped; narrow |
| 和 | hé | old variant of 和[he2]; surname He; (literary) harmonious (variant of 和[he2]) |
| 广 | yǎn | "house on a cliff" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 53), occurring in 店, 序, 底 etc; surname Guang |
| 铁 | Tiě | surname Tie |
| 集团 | jí tuán | group; bloc; corporation; conglomerate |
| 的 | de | of; ~'s (possessive particle); (used after an attribute when it modifies a noun); (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis); (used after a noun, verb or adjective to… |
| 个 | gě | used in 自個兒|自个儿[zi4 ge3 r5]; variant of 個|个[ge4] |
| 较大 | jiào dà | comparatively large |
| 车站 | chē zhàn | rail station; bus stop; CL:處|处[chu4],個|个[ge4] |
| 之间 | zhī jiān | (after a noun) between; among; amid; (used after certain bisyllabic words to form expressions indicating a short period of time, e.g. 彈指之間|弹指之间[tan2 zhi3 zhi1 jian1]) |
| 刷 | shua | a brush; to brush; to scrub; (onom.) swish; rustle; to scroll on (a phone) |
| 卡 | kǎ | to stop; to block; (computing) (coll.) slow; (loanword) card; CL:張|张[zhang1],片[pian4]; truck (from "car"); calorie (abbr. for 卡路里[ka3 lu4 li3]); cassette |
| 支 | Zhī | surname Zhi |
| 付 | Fù | surname Fu |
| 为 | wéi | as (in the capacity of); to take sth as; to act as; to serve as; to behave as; to become; to be; to do; by (in the passive voice); variant of 為|为[wei2] |
| 满 | Mǎn | Manchu ethnic group |
| 足 | jù | excessive |
| 期间 | qī jiān | period of time; time; time period; period; CL:個|个[ge4] |
| 旅客 | lu:3 kè | traveler; tourist |
| 需要 | xū yào | to need; to want; to demand; to require; needs |
| 站 | zhàn | station; to stand; to halt; to stop; branch of a company or organization; website |
| 西 | Xī | the West; abbr. for Spain 西班牙[Xi1 ban1 ya2]; Spanish |
| 等 | děng | to wait for; to await; by the time; when; till; and so on; etc.; et al.; (bound form) class; rank; grade; (bound form) equal to; same as; (used to end an enumeration); (literary) (… |
| 实行 | shí xíng | to implement; to carry out; to put into practice |
| 小时 | xiǎo shí | hour; CL:個|个[ge4] |
| 不 | bù | no; not so; (bound form) not; un- |
| 间断 | jiàn duàn | disconnected; interrupted; suspended; a gap; a break |
| 售 | shǒu | (bound form) to sell; to retail |
| 北 | běi | north; (classical) to be defeated |
| 广场 | guǎng chǎng | public square; plaza |
| 处 | chǔ | to reside; to live; to dwell; to be in; to be situated at; to stay; to get along with; to be in a position of; to deal with; to discipline; to punish |
| 高峰 | gāo fēng | peak; summit; height |
| 时 | shí | old variant of 時|时[shi2]; surname Shi |
| 两 | liǎng | two; both; some; a few; tael, unit of weight equal to 50 grams (modern) or 1⁄16 of a catty 斤[jin1] (old) |
| 窗口 | chuāng kǒu | window; opening providing restricted access (e.g. customer service window); computer operating system window; fig. medium; intermediary; showpiece; testing ground |
| 全部 | quán bù | whole; all |
| 开启 | kāi qǐ | to start; to begin; to initiate (an era, process, journey etc); (computing) to enable (a feature); (of a system or device) to start operating automatically; to self-initiate; to op… |
| 保 | báo | Bulgaria (abbr. for 保加利亞|保加利亚[Bao3 jia1 li4 ya4]) |
| 证 | zhěng | to admonish |
[January 16, 2011] 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.