Chinanews.com, Nanning, January 19th, title: Directly hit the road back home during the Spring Festival travel in Wuzhou, Guangxi: The "motorcycle army" gradually faded out of the history of the Spring Festival travel
Author Jiang Xuelin Lin Jieqi
"I thought that after China optimized the epidemic prevention and control policy this year, there would be more motorcycles returning home. Now it seems that the 'motorcycle army' will fade out of the history of the Spring Festival travel." Zou Dan, instructor of the Third Brigade of Expressway Management, Traffic Police Detachment, Wuzhou Public Security Bureau, Guangxi In an interview with a reporter from Chinanews.com.
Zou Dan has participated in the "Motorcycle Army" Spring Festival travel service guarantee for more than 10 consecutive years.
She, Li Ziyu, and Li Jinlan have been going to the Spring Festival Transport Service Station at the East Exit of Wuzhou City, Guangxi every year for more than ten years to serve the returning "motorcycle army" in the past.
In 2008, Li Ziyu, then deputy head of the traffic police detachment of Wuzhou City, was in charge of coordinating and organizing the establishment of a Spring Festival travel service station at the inter-provincial checkpoint of National Highway 321.
A young rider who enjoys driving a motorcycle back home stopped at the Wuzhou East Spring Festival Transport Service Station to take pictures.
Li Ziyu said that migrant workers in Guangdong began to drive motorcycles back to their hometowns around 2000. At that time, motorcycles worth several thousand yuan each entered ordinary Chinese families. Because train tickets were not easy to buy, migrant workers had to drive motorcycles back home.
In 2008, the "motorcycle army" began to take shape. In that year, 70,000 motorcycles passed through Wuzhou and returned home for the New Year.
"On National Highway 321, a special cultural phenomenon related to motorcycles returning to their hometowns has formed. Some traffic police provide certificate replacement services, some companies set up recruiting staff, and some cultural departments write Spring Festival couplets on the spot for riders. The touching stories that happened at the station." Li Ziyu said.
Zou Dan is serving motorcyclists returning home.
"When I was serving the motorcycle army, I encountered something that moved me very much." Zou Dan said.
On January 21, 2014, pregnant Tan Yueling and her husband, who lived in Dali Town, Teng County, Guangxi, were returning home on a motorcycle. When they passed the Spring Festival Transport Service Station at the East Exit of Wuzhou City, they were hit by a van and fell to the ground.
Tan Yueling, who saved her fetus due to the timely rescue by Zou Dan and others, took a car driven by her husband to visit Zou Dan at the Wuzhou East Exit Spring Festival Transport Service Station five years later.
Like Zou Dan, Li Jinlan, an employee of Sinopec Guangxi Petroleum Wuzhou Branch, was also touched a lot.
She has been serving motorbikes returning home for 20 years here, and has served more than 50,000 "motorcycle troops".
Both Zou Dan and Li Jinlan took their children to the Wuzhou Dongexit Spring Festival Transport Service Station as volunteers.
"In the past, many children returned home with the 'motorcycle army', but I haven't seen them in the past few years." Li Jinlan said.
Li Jinlan is being interviewed by a reporter from Chinanews.com.
Zhang Shuyong, who lives in Guangming Village, Shepo Town, Guiping City, Guangxi, once used a motorcycle to ride his children back home.
"Both children went home in relatives' cars this year," Zhang Shuyong said.
He and his wife Xue Huanfang have returned home from Xiaolan Town, Zhongshan City on a motorcycle together for eight consecutive years.
On January 16 this year, he parked his motorcycle at the Wuzhou East Exit Spring Festival Transport Service Station to rest.
Like Zhang Shuyong, Li Rufa, who lives in Sumao Village, Guancheng Town, Pingnan County, Guigang City, Guangxi, is also a member of the motorcycle army.
"In the past, as soon as the Spring Festival was approaching, many fellow villagers met and drove home from Xiaolan Town, Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province. Now they all bought cars." Li Rufa told reporters that his two children are about to graduate from college.
"After two or three years of hard work, I will also buy a car." Li Rufa said.
Li Ziyu said that among the riders who still choose to drive motorcycles back home, there are fewer and fewer riders like Zhang Shuyong. Most of them are young riders who regard driving motorcycles back home as a pleasure.
Li Jianhang from Guigang is such a young man. He drives a motorcycle with a large displacement in order to enjoy "wind and freedom".
Li Jianhang has worked in Foshan City, Guangdong Province for 10 years. His father was also a member of the "motorcycle army". After years of hard work in Dongguan City, he finally bought a car in 2021.
Li Jianhang said: "Although my family has a car, I don't want to drive it. Riding a motorcycle is free, and I can travel all the way."
Zou Dan said that the increasing number of trains has diverted the "motorcycle army".
The Nanguang and Guizhou-Guangzhou high-speed railways were successively opened at the end of 2014.
In 2015, there were only 41 pairs of motor vehicles between Guangxi and Guangdong during the Spring Festival travel season, and more than 200 pairs in 2023.
In the gradually increasing capacity of the railway, the "motorcycle army" is also decreasing year by year.
During the Spring Festival, the "motorcycle army" passing through Wuzhou and returning home for the festival peaked at 250,000. This year, only 10,000 motorcycles are expected to pass through Wuzhou and return home for the Spring Festival.
Twelve years ago, the reporter witnessed the "grand occasion" of the "motorcycle army" returning home at the Spring Festival Transport Service Station at the East Exit of Wuzhou.
Today, Li Jinlan and Li Ziyu who served the "motorcycle army" have also retired.
The "motorcycle army" will also fade out of the public eye.
Zou Dan said: "The traffic police department of Wuzhou City has no longer regarded the 'motorcycle army' as the key service object for returning home during the Spring Festival travel in the past two years. )