As the travel period for Chunyun, or the Spring Festival, enters its ninth day, the number of railway passenger trips increased to 9.4 million on Friday. Although the term "Chunyun" first appeared in Chinese news media in 1954, it did not become a phenomenon until 1979 when a record high of 100 million trips was made for the first time. This year, passenger traffic during the 40-day-long Spring Festival travel period, ending on March 12th, is expected to reach almost 3 billion. That's nearly 30 times more than in 1979. And, in 40 years, the operational speed of Chinese railways has surged from less than 40 kilometers per hour to up to 350 kilometers per hour. From Beijing to Shanghai, 1,300 kilometers away, it used to take passengers 24 hours. Now, the travel time has been cut to 4 hours.