My friend Joe Li started calling ticket agents two weeks ago. During the coming Spring Festival, he and his girlfriend are planning to go to see his parents in Xi'an, the capital of West China's Shaanxi Province.
Li, 27, has had the bitter experience of having to fight to get train tickets every Lunar New Year. Unwilling to ruin his girlfriend's first trip to his home, he decided to book air tickets a month before the holiday. But it wasn't that easy. He and some of his software engineering colleagues who had the same destination were almost driven crazy by the agents who changed the ticket price every other day.
Finally Li got his two tickets at a meagre discount the other day. "Anyway," he said, "it's so much better than battling over the train tickets."
Li and his colleagues are obviously a lot luckier than most Chinese migrant workers. At least they can afford an air ticket even though it's still a luxury item.
For those migrant workers who haven't received their wages at the end of year, there is no chance of avoiding the train ticket battle. People standing in long queues or sleeping outside ticket agencies to be sure of getting the first tickets of the day are common scenes in railway stations these days.
Sadly, despite all their efforts, some still fail to get the long-distance tickets they need thanks to the behaviour of some ticket dealers. The already higher ticket prices in the coming holidays will be even higher for some travellers.
Li said the first year he came to work in Shanghai he had to pay an extra 100 yuan to get a sleeping car ticket to Xi'an. Still, he was luckier than some. For a lot of the migrant working population, the holiday get-together always involves tears among the laughs.
Moreover, it is the only time most migrant Chinese can afford to take leave from their jobs. "I wish I could have paid holidays so that I don't have to cope with the crush of large crowds," Li said. He wanted to go home during the National Day holiday but the large rush of travellers made his girlfriend shy away.
My friend is not alone in now disliking the idea of "Golden Weeks" - weekdays off during the major holidays of May 1, International Labour Day, October 1, National Day and Spring Festival in January or February.
The additional holidays do help a lot in stimulating domestic spending. Nevertheless, the "Golden Weeks" have become nightmare for travellers. Most rational consumers, in fact, would rather not travel at all during the "rush weeks".
Zhang Guangrui, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said time off does not have to be concentrated into a few weeklong holidays. Why not encourage people to spend on these days?
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