Chinese Man Runs 211 Km for Lunar New Year Holiday

Yujing Liu
Yujing Liu
TT
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Chinese Man Runs 211 Km for Lunar New Year Holiday

Yujing Liu
Yujing Liu

As tens of millions of Chinese converged on bus and railway stations last week, 42-year-old Pan Shancu decided to make his own way home for the Lunar New Year holiday – by running 211km across eastern China.

According to South China Morning Post, Pan took a little under 27 hours to complete the mammoth journey – equivalent to five regular marathons – to his hometown in Tiantai county in Zhejiang.

“I think running is more fun than driving or taking buses, and you can appreciate the scenery along the way,” he was quoted as saying.

The keen amateur athlete set out just before 4.15am on Thursday and arrived home at about 7am the next day. He would have got there a little sooner, but decided to stop off for a bowl of noodles a few hours from the finish line.

Despite having experience of tackling extreme distances, Pan said his latest run was gruelling at times.

“I ran a 130km ultramarathon over the new year, which took 16 hours and 27 minutes, and I felt all right afterwards,” he said.

But having to carry a 9kg (20lb) backpack filled with energy bars, sugary drinks and pickled vegetables to keep him going along the way, as well as clothes he bought as gifts for his mother and elder sister, took its toll.

“Towards the end, I was hungry, thirsty, and miserable,” he said.

Lunar, or Chinese New Year, which starts on Feb. 15 this year, is China’s most important holiday, and families and revelers traditionally celebrate with several nights of fireworks and firecrackers. The cacophony is believed to drive away bad spirits and usher in an auspicious start to the year.

More than 400 cities across China, though, have banned fireworks since last year to curb air pollution during the 15-day holiday and reducing deadly accidents, which are common.

More than 6.5 million are expected to head overseas this year, according to a joint report from travel agency Ctrip and the China Tourism Academy.

Travelers have booked voyages to more than 68 nations and regions, the report said, with Thailand, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and Nordic countries among the top destinations. The average Chinese tourist spends about 9,500 yuan ($1,500) on a Lunar New Year trip, the report said.

Domestic travel is also popular: the National Tourism Administration predicted earlier this month that this year's holiday period will bring in 476 billion yuan ($75 billion) in tourism revenue.



Europe's Oldest Lake Settlement Uncovered in Albania

A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci
A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci
TT
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Europe's Oldest Lake Settlement Uncovered in Albania

A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci
A drone view shows archaeologists diving in the lake of Ohrid to uncover objects, in the village of Lin, Albania, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci

Archaeologists working on the shores of Ohrid Lake in Albania are convinced they have uncovered the oldest human settlement built on a European lake, finding evidence of an organized hunting and farming community living up to 8,000 years ago. The team, from Switzerland and Albania, spends hours each day about three meters (9.8 feet) underwater, painstakingly retrieving wooden stilts that supported houses.

The are also collecting bones of domesticated and wild animals, copper objects and ceramics, featuring detailed carvings.

Albert Hafner, from the University of Bern, said similar settlements have been found in Alpine and Mediterranean regions, but the settlements in the village of Lin are half a millennium older, dating back between 6,000 and 8,000 years.

"Because it is under water, the organic material is well-preserved and this allows us to find out what these people have been eating, what they have been planting," Hafner said.

Multiple studies show that Lake Ohrid, shared by North Macedonia and Albania, is the oldest lake in Europe, at over one million years.

The age of the findings is determined through radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology, which measures annual growth rings in trees. More than one thousand wood samples have been collected from the site, which may have hosted several hundred people.

It is believed to cover around six hectares, but so far, only about 1% has been excavated after six years of work.

Hafner said findings show that people who lived on the lake helped to spread agriculture and livestock to other parts of Europe.

"They were still doing hunting and collecting things but the stable income for the nutrition was coming from the agriculture," he said.

Albanian archaeologist Adrian Anastasi said it could take decades to fully explore the area.

"(By) the way they had lived, eaten, hunted, fished and by the way the architecture was used to build their settlement we can say they were very smart for that time," Anastasi said.