Those of us who aren’t lucky enough to live a short 10-minute stroll from our offices know that commuting in Beijing isn’t always the best experience. From cramped subway cars to anger-inducing traffic jams, long and often uncomfortable commutes are just the name of the game in Beijing.
Sure, it can be a bummer, and on some days it can even be a bit soul crushing. But when you hear this woman's story you might look at your (seemingly long) commute a little bit differently.
Jiang Jingzi commutes all the way from her family’s home in Cangzhou City in Hebei to downtown Beijing – and she does it on a near daily basis.
It’s a long and arduous commute that she’s now been making for over a year. In order to get to her office on time she has to wake up at 6.10am and leave the house by 6.50am. She then hails a taxi and drives to Cangzhou West Railway Station to catch the 7.23am train. From there she hops on a high-speed train which delivers her to Beijing's South Railway Station at 8.21am. Finally, she takes the subway to southwestern Beijing and arrives at her office at 9.15am.
On some days her commute is nearly two and a half hours long – and that’s one way. Each evening she makes the trek back to Hebei, arriving home at around 8.40pm.
Her daily commute to and from Beijing is roughly five hours.
Time aside, the trip also costs her a whopping RMB225 (USD32) a day or RMB4,000 (USD580) per month.
So why does she do it? Family, of course.
Jiang started working in the capital in 2009. She later married her husband and moved to a home near the East Sixth Ring Road.
However, her husband’s company relocated him to Cangzhou City in 2015, and he had no choice but to leave his family, Jiang and his one-year-old baby in Beijing. It didn’t take long for Jiang to make the decision that the separation wouldn’t work for their family, so she moved the family to Cangzhou City.
Jiang's husband picks her up from the train station in Changzhou and brings her a rose on Valentine's Day
According to Jiang, there are plenty of jobs in Cangzhou City, but the opportunities pale in comparison to those found in Beijing, especially when it comes to salaries. So she decided the commute was worth the time and price.
Jiang dines with her family at their home in Changzhou
According to Jiang, she might not be able to spend a lot of time with her family but at least this way she gets to see them every day.
[Images via CRIENGLISH.com]
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