Home for the holidays, in spirit only
- Source: Global Times
- [01:31 February 10 2010]
- Comments
By Yin Hang
Passengers enter the railway station under a shelter against the rain in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Feb. 7, 2010. In spite of a heavy rain, the Guangzhou Railway Station was estimated to transport 230,000 passengers on Saturday, 5,000 more than the peak day of last year. Photo: Xinhua
As tens of millions of people head home for the holidays, many are standing firm and staying in Beijing, or wherever they live now mainly because they feel the cost of seeing their family is just too high.
Liu Zhubo, 22, a cook in Beijing for the last 3 months, said he feels homesick as the lunar New Year draws near. As the elder brother in a rural household in Maoming, Guangdong Province he just cannot afford the time and gifts that would be mandatory for a trip home.
"I need to spend more than 1,000 yuan ($146) and four days on the road by train and bus, which would cost more than half my salary. And my vacation lasts merely five days," he said while chopping pork. "Extending the vacation will make my salary lower."
Liu earns 2,000 yuan a month and would have to spend about 6,000 yuan on gifts for his relatives.
"It may cost even more this year giving the soaring market prices," said Liu.
People like Liu are called kongguizu or "people scared to return home."
In an online survey conducted jointly by sohu.com and minyi.net.cn, 70 percent out of 1,840 respondents said cost was the main reason they chose to stay put.
Other reasons cited by the respondents included fear of Spring Festival traffic jams (38 percent) and fear of family pressure to get married (37 percent).
Beijing office worker Wu Yan, 31, from Liaoning Province, which is just a few hours from Beijing, told the Global Times that she has had enough with her relatives who hound her about finding a husband.
"I can easily persuade my parents to stop arranging a date for me. But I just get bored with my garrulous relatives. To find a mate for myself is my personal issue. It's really none of their business," Wu said.
A similar survey conducted by huanqiu.com said that between 2008 and 2009, the number of people who chose not to return home went up 5 percent.
However, 70 percent said that despite those concerns, they would prefer to preserve the family tradition of sticking together.
In Guangdong Province, some migrant workers are reportedly riding motorcycles home for the holidays to save money. About 100,000 migrant laborers in Guangdong, who failed to get train tickets, are preparing to use motorcycles to find their way home, according to local Nanfang Daily.
The number of people going home, however, is expected to go up yet again during the 40- day Spring Festival.
The Ministry of Communications said Monday that 609 million journeys were made by bus or rail since January 30 when the annual Spring Festival travel season kicked off, up 8.5 percent from the same period last year.
And 2.54 billion journeys are expected during the 40 days of the spring festival.
