Did COVID-19 Reshape Inter-city Mobility Patterns in China? Evidence from Spring Festival Travel Rush Mobility Networks

Yangtianzheng Zhao; Richard J Harris; Ying Gao

doi:10.1007/s12061-026-09808-0

Did COVID-19 Reshape Inter-city Mobility Patterns in China? Evidence from Spring Festival Travel Rush Mobility Networks

Yangtianzheng Zhao^*, Richard J Harris , Ying Gao

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

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Abstract

Using Baidu migration big data for China’s Spring Festival travel rush from 2019 to 2024, this study reconstructs pre-, mid-, and post-COVID-19 mobility networks. Exploratory spatial analysis, social network analysis, and an extended gravity model are employed to track the dynamics of inter-city population flows and identify their drivers. Results show that China’s inter-city labor mobility remains relatively stable and continues to concentrate in southeastern city clusters. However, network density has declined and average path length has increased, indicating that flows are becoming more focused on a limited set of cross-regional pairs and that functional differentiation among cities is intensifying. Finally, COVID-19 reshaped the hierarchy of migration determinants: in the post-COVID-19 era, economic factors again dominate labor mobility, while institutional effects recede.

Original language	English
Article number	68
Number of pages	29
Journal	Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy
Volume	19
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s12061-026-09808-0
Publication status	Published - 14 Mar 2026

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Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2026.

Keywords

Inter-city population mobility
Spring Festival travel rush
Spatial pattern
gravity model

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title = "Did COVID-19 Reshape Inter-city Mobility Patterns in China? Evidence from Spring Festival Travel Rush Mobility Networks",

abstract = "Using Baidu migration big data for China{\textquoteright}s Spring Festival travel rush from 2019 to 2024, this study reconstructs pre-, mid-, and post-COVID-19 mobility networks. Exploratory spatial analysis, social network analysis, and an extended gravity model are employed to track the dynamics of inter-city population flows and identify their drivers. Results show that China{\textquoteright}s inter-city labor mobility remains relatively stable and continues to concentrate in southeastern city clusters. However, network density has declined and average path length has increased, indicating that flows are becoming more focused on a limited set of cross-regional pairs and that functional differentiation among cities is intensifying. Finally, COVID-19 reshaped the hierarchy of migration determinants: in the post-COVID-19 era, economic factors again dominate labor mobility, while institutional effects recede.",

keywords = "Inter-city population mobility, Spring Festival travel rush, Spatial pattern, gravity model",

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doi = "10.1007/s12061-026-09808-0",

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T1 - Did COVID-19 Reshape Inter-city Mobility Patterns in China? Evidence from Spring Festival Travel Rush Mobility Networks

AU - Zhao, Yangtianzheng

AU - Harris , Richard J

AU - Gao, Ying

PY - 2026/3/14

Y1 - 2026/3/14

N2 - Using Baidu migration big data for China’s Spring Festival travel rush from 2019 to 2024, this study reconstructs pre-, mid-, and post-COVID-19 mobility networks. Exploratory spatial analysis, social network analysis, and an extended gravity model are employed to track the dynamics of inter-city population flows and identify their drivers. Results show that China’s inter-city labor mobility remains relatively stable and continues to concentrate in southeastern city clusters. However, network density has declined and average path length has increased, indicating that flows are becoming more focused on a limited set of cross-regional pairs and that functional differentiation among cities is intensifying. Finally, COVID-19 reshaped the hierarchy of migration determinants: in the post-COVID-19 era, economic factors again dominate labor mobility, while institutional effects recede.

AB - Using Baidu migration big data for China’s Spring Festival travel rush from 2019 to 2024, this study reconstructs pre-, mid-, and post-COVID-19 mobility networks. Exploratory spatial analysis, social network analysis, and an extended gravity model are employed to track the dynamics of inter-city population flows and identify their drivers. Results show that China’s inter-city labor mobility remains relatively stable and continues to concentrate in southeastern city clusters. However, network density has declined and average path length has increased, indicating that flows are becoming more focused on a limited set of cross-regional pairs and that functional differentiation among cities is intensifying. Finally, COVID-19 reshaped the hierarchy of migration determinants: in the post-COVID-19 era, economic factors again dominate labor mobility, while institutional effects recede.

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KW - Spatial pattern

KW - gravity model

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DO - 10.1007/s12061-026-09808-0

M3 - Article (Academic Journal)

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ER -

Did COVID-19 Reshape Inter-city Mobility Patterns in China? Evidence from Spring Festival Travel Rush Mobility Networks

Abstract

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Keywords

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