A female Chinese migrant worker’s journey home ahead of Spring Festival

Liu Farong (middle) and her daughter and son have a video chat in her employee quarters in Zhenhai District, Ningbo City of east China’s Zhejiang Province with her husband, Jan.15. (Photo/Zhang Yongtao)

Liu Farong, a seasonal female migrant worker in Ningbo, east China’s Zhejiang Province, spent 18 hours travelling more than 800 kilometers to her home in Yingshang County, Fuyang City of east China’s Anhui Province with her daughter and son on Jan.16.

Liu and her son are both seasonal workers in a canned food company in Ningbo, which employed more than 600 migrant workers from provinces far away from the city, such as Anhui Province, central China’s Henan Province, and northwest China’s Shaanxi Province.

As Spring Festival approaches, the company has arranged for a coach to send its workers home for free since Jan.15 in an effort to help solve the problem of employees struggling to return home during the Spring Festival travel rush.

Liu received a salary of 14,000 yuan (about $2,028.5) for her work during this season, and her son, Li Longlong, who just finished his first year as a migrant worker, earned nearly 8,700 yuan.

“The pay is twice as much as the money I made when I worked in my hometown,” Li said excitedly.

The journey home for Liu and her daughter and son was not a smooth one. Their coach had to change routes several times due to the complex traffic conditions brought by the Spring Festival travel rush, and the journey was made even more difficult due to rain and snow. Nevertheless, their eagerness to spend the festival with their family made the effort worthwhile.

Thanks to the integrated development strategy of the Yangtze River Delta, the county where Liu lives now has a high-speed railway, making high-speed trains a new option for Liu’s journey home in the future.

On Feb.1, Liu and her daughter and son will take a high-speed train to Ningbo, according to Liu.