Opinion / Li Xing
Try to make journey home enjoyable
By Li Xing (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-01-26 06:38
East and west, home is best, so the saying goes.
It is especially true when the Chinese lunar new year arrives and when
members of big or small families gather around for hearty meals and to
exchange gifts.
It is also a time when childhood pals or schoolmates reunite and share
experiences, anecdotes and even gossip.
For millions of migrant workers, Spring Festival is perhaps the only time
when they go home to see their children and spouses and attend to their
elderly.
Going home is a must, a responsibility and, above all, should be
enjoyable after a year's hard work.
But those of us who travel in soft or hard berths or by air and who opt
not to travel at all must respect them for their tenacity and
perseverance on their journey home.
In the past few weeks, we've heard many queued up for days before they
were able to secure tickets. Because of heavy snowfall in Central China,
more than 100,000 got stranded in train stations for two days.
While the Ministry of Railways was enthusiastic about opening special
trains for migrant workers, some such lines were very crowded with little
central heating, hot water and other services that were the standard on
regular trains. And it took longer to arrive at home in those trains.
One article from the Market newspaper affiliated with the People's Daily
reports that some migrant workers told its reporter that a pal of theirs
was hospitalized for two days after he endured cold and hunger on the
Northeast-bound special train.
Other migrant workers heard from hometown folk that some lost their
valuables because of the crowds and lack of police on that supplementary
train.
Above all, there is much anxiety among migrant workers about not being
able to get a ticket home. In fact, railway stations allow reservations
for hard seats even hard berths only four days in advance. Once they
attempt to book tickets at designated ticketing offices across town, they
are told no tickets are available. They must go to railway stations to
buy tickets.
It is really difficult to maintain order and provide good services when
thousands or even tens of thousands crowd into railway station ticket
offices, in addition to the crowds waiting for trains.
All these inconveniences and restrictions have given some people the
opportunity to take advantage of the anxiety and cheat the travellers
with fake tickets.
Increased mobility is a sign of economic development. Airports and
railway stations have gotten dramatically bigger. Flights and railway
lines have greatly increased.
Whether in developing and developed countries, seasonal travelling for
the masses places strain on many people, from train, bus, road and
airline authorities and service people to those who actually take to the
road and air. Complaints of poor services are not rare anywhere in the
world when the masses are on the road.
However, lack of central heating and hot water on the train bound for the
coldest regions in China is negligence and should not be excused. Ticket
monopoly on the part of the service providers is also questionable.
The people in charge are duty-bound to make sure that standard services
are available even in this mass travelling season.
As life is getting better and economies allow, there must be ways for the
authorities and service people to explore to improve the conditions for
the mass travelling.
The clich is "improvement with development," but I believe doubly hard
work and more creative ideas are needed to ease anxiety and make the home
journeys as enjoyable as possible.
Email: lixing@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 01/26/2006 page4)
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