Chinese New Year is a stunning spectacle of human migration in 3 billion journeys
Chinese New Year (also known as Lunar New Year), which starts on the new moon that falls between 21 January and 20 February, is celebrated by some 1.5 billion people around the world. And, as travel has become more affordable to China’s rapidly growing middle class, the holiday now accounts for an estimated 3 billion trips (called chunyun in Chinese), making the celebration the world’s largest annual human migration. The New York-based filmmaker Jonathan Bregel uses scenes of this extraordinary human flow to convey both the sheer magnitude of the movement of people and the moments of celebration that are a crucial aspect of the holiday.
Director: Jonathan Bregel
videoDemography and migration
The volunteers who offer a last line of care for migrants at a contentious border
30 minutes
videoArt
A young Rockefeller collects art on a fateful journey to New Guinea
7 minutes
videoDemography and migration
In California’s farmlands, immigrant workers share their stories of toil and hope
17 minutes
videoAgeing and death
Memories of friends and neighbours light the streets of a seaside village in England
11 minutes
videoAnthropology
For an Amazonian female shaman, ayahuasca ceremonies are a rite and a business
30 minutes
videoLanguage and linguistics
Why Susan listens to recordings of herself speaking a language she no longer remembers
5 minutes
videoFamily life
The migrants missing in Mexico, and the mothers who won’t stop searching for them
21 minutes
videoHuman rights and justice
Can providing humanitarian aid be illegal? A troubling case from the US-Mexico border
17 minutes
videoFamily life
The precious family keepsakes that hold meaning for generations
10 minutes