Exploitation or enterprise? Professional car-pushers charge RMB100 to help motorists stuck in snow

In some corners of the world, it may be par of course for one's able-bodied countrymen (or even royalty, apparently) to lend a hand when your car gets stuck in the snow. Over in Zhengzhou, though, they know the price - if perhaps not the value - of everything.

Recent snowfall in the Henan capital has created an army of professional car-pushers charging RMB100 a pop to help troubled vehicles ascend the city's bridges. No one  in town is happier when the snow starts falling and citizens find themselves in peril: for car-pushers who make hundreds of RMB a night, it may as well be money falling from the sky. 

Wang Jun is one of these enterprising individuals. On the night of January 28, he and some of his friends were on duty at the Jiefang Lu overpass waiting for passing motorists to have difficulty climbing the slope.

As city roads became icy and treacherous, several vehicles skidded to the side and had no alternative but to pay Wang and his buddies for help. 

Wang Jun says it’s not his first time making money by charging helpless drivers. When he was working in the country's frigid northeast, he could earn upwards of RMB800 a day if he was lucky.

“I’ve pushed two cars today; a BMW gave me RMB100 and then a Volkswagen paid RMB50” Wang explained, rubbing his hands then shouting at a skidding car behind him, “100 kuai to push the car!”

Some Chinese media outlets have portrayed Wang and his ilk as selfish opportunists out to take advantage of others and profit from their misfortune. In one article, the writer uses a Chinese idiom literally meaning "to take advantage of fire to commit robbery" (i.e. to loot a burning house), replacing the "fire" with "snow."

Many netizens, however, took issue with this characterization, saying they're just making an honest buck through hard labor.  One commenter called on the writer to "volunteer to push cars all night and see how it feels," while another argued that "there's nothing shameful about clearly marking a price."

"Expending manpower on a snowy day just to make a few kuai is no easy feat," opined the most popular comment on the story, "paying to cover the cost is perfectly normal - no reaping without sowing here."

[Images from HNR]