Journey back home starts here

(China Daily/Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-01-12 07:29

HANGZHOU: Tang Jincheng walked into the waiting room at Hangzhou Northern Railway Station at daybreak yesterday to check if the air conditioner was working, and to see if extra tents were needed in the square to keep travelers warm.

"Many of them wait overnight to book a train ticket to return home" for Spring Festival, said the head of the northern station in the city, where the temperature has dropped to -2 C.

Tang is among some 2 million railway workers in the world's most populous nation who have to work long hours for the next 40 days, when people would be making about 2.32 billion trips.

Over the past few days, the media have splashed photographs of passengers wrapped in quilts while waiting in queues for tickets. Some people have to wait for up to three days and nights to get a ticket.

Migrant workers, students and white-collar workers - everyone working away from home - will travel home for a family reunion on Jan 25, the eve of Lunar New Year.

"I have to make the trip home. How can I keep working when my parents and children are waiting for me?" said Gou Dongyou, a migrant worker from Henan province.

Gou, 53, works at a construction site in Beijing so that he can pay for the education of his teenaged son and daughter, who are in a high school in his hometown of Xinzheng.

His boss had warned him of a possible wage cut, but luckily, Gou was paid every cent of last year's wages, about 2,000 yuan ($285) a month. "That's a handsome sum for a migrant worker," he said.

Gou's friend Zhang A'long, however, has not been as lucky. The 32-year-old garment dealer in Guangzhou said businesses had slumped in recent months and it was hard even to make ends meet.

"But I have to go home, all the same ... with gifts for my parents, pocket money for the children and to meet with friends and relatives," he said. "We should all feel happy, at least for once."

Gou and Zhang are among the "early birds", having embarked on the journey back home when tens of millions of people are still planning theirs.