Waiting Outside the Guangzhou Train Station

They've been having some terribly awful weather all across China for the past several days. In the north and farther south than is normal, it's snowed more than it has in the past 50 years.
In the south, it's rain and flooding and way below average temperatures.
The normal temp for Guangzhou right now is around 70-75. For the next 10 days it's supposed to be in the 40s.
And it couldn't happen at a worse time of year. People are trying to get home for the Spring Festival (New Year) and the weather is making it impossible to travel.
I have also heard of adoptive families over there right now unable to get to their children because of cancelled flights and closed roads. My heart goes out to all those people affected.

"January 30, 2008 6:31
Waiting For a Train
Posted by Austin Ramzy |
On Monday the number of people stuck in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou trying to catch a train was roughly equivalent to the population of Cleveland. By the time I got there yesterday the numbers were down from 500,000 to 150,000, closer to Chattanooga. I spent a few hours talking with people about what it's like waiting in the rain and possibly not making it home for the Spring Festival holiday because of the terrible storms. While Guangzhou wasn't snowy or icy it was unpleasant. Temperatures were in the mid-40s F and a steady rain fell. And still people came, trying to get home.

This morning I met a reporter from the Yangcheng Evening News, a well-known Guangzhou paper. She had spotted me talking with two guys who were were sitting on a patch of ground eating boiled eggs and sipping baijiu. The reporter asked me what I thought of the scene outside the station, and after hours of asking other people the same question I wasn't quite sure how to answer. My overriding impression was that I was impressed. I was impressed by what people were willing to put up with just for the possibility of getting a seat or even a spot on the floor of a train for a 20+ hour trip home. It was a grand display of enduring hardship, or what in Chinese is vividly known as "eating bitterness" (吃苦).

Of course, that is what many of these people's lives are about, a willingness to endure hardship to get ahead. The thousands waiting outside the Guangzhou station were largely migrant workers, people who traveled to Guangdong province from China's interior seeking a better life for themselves and their families. So when I spoke with the Chinese reporter, my final thought was that I couldn't imagine many Americans going through this. I left feeling a little guilty for complaining about transpacific flights in economy class.

I've posted a short clip from the station gate on Wednesday afternoon. I'm no videographer so the quality is poor but it at least gives you a feel for the crowds."