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)
