Tang Zihan’s family decided to spend the Spring Festival holiday in Foshan, Guangdong province, this year instead of riding a motorbike back to their birthplace in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region before the Chinese Lunar New Year. During the Spring Festival travel rush, riding a motorcycle home and sitting between my parents seems like a far-off recollection. It was a long ride that left us exhausted “said Tang. Over the last few years, the 12-year-old youngster would typically travel 550 kilometers on a motorbike to return home for family get-togethers from Foshan a few days before Spring Festival.
Less migrant workers are, like Tang’s family, opting for motorbike journeys during the Spring Festival travel crunch to get back home from Guangdong. Rather, they are more likely to decide to remain in Guangdong or to return via high-speed trains and other modes of transportation. According to data from China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec), at peak periods, there were around 700,000 migrant workers riding motorbikes from Guangdong back home during the Spring Festival travel rush. As a result of the construction of high-speed rail lines and road networks, as well as ongoing improvements in living standards, the number of these motorbike riders has decreased to 30,000, according to the figures.
Sinopec started a wonderful campaign on Friday to help truck and motorcycle drivers on their way home. The program includes free services including vehicle repair, emergency medical attention, and fueling. Sinopec will set up free rest breaks at its approximately 100 gas stations around the provinces of Guangdong, Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Hubei, Yunnan, and Henan as well as Guangxi starting on Friday, which marked the start of the annual Spring Festival travel rush, and continuing until March 5. In parallel, Sinopec will offer gift packages for refueling to migrant laborers involved in cross-provincial truck transportation at its numerous Drivers’ Home locations that serve visitors on their way back home.
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