The hundreds of millions of Chinese who headed home for Lunar New Year had a relatively new travel option this year: mobile apps to find carpool partners to share costs in what is a novel concept for most Chinese.

The apps gave an alternative to pricey airfares and hard-to-obtain train tickets. Software developer Li Jin in Shanghai used one after he had to abort his flight plans because of last-minute work demands, and found that the only train tickets available to reach his hometown in northwestern Shaanxi province were expensive business-class ones.

Then he tried using the Didi Chuxing (pronounced "dee dee choo shing") carpool app and found a driver, real estate agent Chen Xiao, going his way.