Pic story: couple working as train conductors difficult to meet due to different schedules

Train conductor Chen Haiyan says goodbye to passengers at Xi'an North Railway Station in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Jan. 11, 2020. While millions of Chinese are heading home to catch the eve of Spring Festival, China's Lunar New Year, Zhao Yao and Chen Haiyan, a couple both working as conductors on trains, will miss their daughter's birthday again which falls on the same day of the eve, also the most important family reunion occasion for Chinese. There are only three times for the couple to spend the birthday with their daughter since she was born in 2008. Zhao and Chen met and fell in love when they were attendants on a train in 2003, and got married three years later. Now, Zhao Yao works on the K884 train from Taiyuan to Qingdao of east China's Shandong Province, and his wife Chen Haiyan serves on the D2507 bullet train from Taiyuan to Xi'an of northwest China's Shaanxi. Due to different schedule of the trains, the couple often can't meet each other once a week. This year, they will both leave home to work at their positions one day before the eve of Spring Festival to serve the travel rush. (Xinhua/Zhan Yan)