Every winter, Pang Qingguo, a fruit seller in northern China, takes an 800-mile trip to his ancestral home to celebrate Lunar New Year, the biggest holiday of the year in China, with his family.
The coronavirus ruined last year’s festivities, leaving Pang stranded in the northern city of Tangshan, as many Chinese cities have imposed blockades. Now, while China faces a resurgence of the virus, the pandemic is likely to ruin the holiday again, with officials announcing costly quarantine and testing rules to deter migrant workers like Pang from traveling for the new year, which begins this year. February 12th.
Pang, who describes his home in Heilongjiang province as the “happiest place”, is distressed by the rules. He has been accessing social media for the past few days to express frustration with his situation and post photos of his 7-year-old daughter, who he has not seen in over a year. “Society is so cruel,” he wrote in a post.
“I really miss my daughter,” said Pang, 31, in an interview. “But there is nothing I can do.”
Many of China’s nearly 300 million migrant workers face a similar reality, as the government tries to prevent an increase in the number of cases during what is typically the busiest travel season of the year.
The authorities demanded that people visiting rural areas during the holiday stay in quarantine for two weeks and pay for their own coronavirus tests. Many migrants, who support hard jobs for low wages in big cities, say that these restrictions make travel impossible.
The implementation of the rules has drawn widespread criticism in China, with many people calling the approach unfair to migrant workers, who have long been treated as second-class citizens under China’s rigid domestic registration system. Without this registration, migrant workers cannot access social or medical services in the cities where they work. Workers are among the hardest hit in China by the pandemic, as authorities have carried out sparse roadblocks to fight the virus and employers have reduced working hours and wages.
In a normal year, hundreds of millions of people travel by plane, train and car to be with their families in the Lunar New Year. The holiday, which usually includes large festive banquets and fireworks, is usually the only occasion when many workers can return to their cities to see their loved ones. This year, many plan to spend the holiday alone.
Zhu Xiaomei, who works at a fabric store in the eastern city of Hangzhou, usually takes a 30-hour train ride to his hometown in southwestern Sichuan province to stay with his family. This year she will spend the holiday alone for the first time, inside her 13 square meter dormitory, which has no kitchen.
“Of course, it is a little disturbing,” said Zhu, 40. “I never experienced that feeling.”
For many Chinese families, the holiday will represent the second year the pandemic has separated them. A few hours before the start of the Lunar New Year last year, authorities imposed radical blockades and suspended trains and planes across the country. Within hours, more than 35 million people in and around Wuhan city were forced to stay home.
Chinese officials are concerned that widespread travel could cause new outbreaks, especially in rural areas, where testing is less common and there has been some resistance to quarantines and other public health measures. Although the outbreak in China is relatively under control compared to other countries and life is normal in many cities, groups of new cases have emerged in recent weeks, leading to sporadic blockades and mass testing efforts. China reported 54 new cases on Wednesday, compared with more than 155,000 new cases in the United States on the same day. Chinese authorities have promised to vaccinate 50 million people before the Lunar New Year, but doubts remain about the effectiveness of some vaccines made in China.
Authorities still expect hundreds of millions of people to travel during the Lunar New Year season, which runs from January to March, despite the threat posed by the virus. Many of these travelers are going to big cities, not just rural areas. Several major cities in recent days have increased travel restrictions. Beijing requires visitors to test negative for the virus before they are allowed to enter.
The Chinese government, in response to migrants’ outrage at the new restrictions, tried to offer sweeteners, including gift baskets, activities and shopping discounts, to encourage them to stay put.
In Shanghai, authorities plan to pay the telephone and medical bills of anyone who gives up on returning home. In Beijing, officials have encouraged companies to pay employees overtime, while domestic workers have been told they will receive about $ 60 if they work during the holiday. In Tianjin, a city to the north, the government has promised subsidies to companies for every worker who stays during the holiday.
Some cities and counties have gone further, promising a better chance of accessing social benefits such as education and health. Some authorities are offering rural migrants who forgo vacation travel favorable treatment for residence requests in cities.
“Through these comforting measures, we are going to let migrant workers stay at their workplaces and spend the Spring Festival without worries,” said Chen Yongjia, a Chinese official, last week at a press conference in Beijing organized by the Beijing Council. State, the Chinese cabinet. In China, the New Year holiday is commonly known as the Spring Festival.
Before the holiday, the government led an advertising campaign aimed at persuading migrant workers to avoid traveling home. Large red bands invoking filial piety and exemplary citizen behavior began to appear on the city streets.
“Mask or fan? You choose one of the two, ”says a banner.
“If you come home with the disease, you are not affiliated,” exclaims another.
“If you spread the disease to your mom and dad, then you will be totally unconscious,” says a third track.
The Chinese government is trying to prevent a major outbreak that could hamper the country’s economic recovery. Last year’s blockades drove China’s economy to its first contraction in almost half a century, but then it recovered when authorities ordered its state-owned banks to lend and factories to open. Earlier this month, China reported that its economy grew 2.3% in 2020, probably outpacing other major countries, including the United States.
Getting people to spend money has been less effective. Another widespread outbreak would cloud over any pent-up demand for purchases that usually accompanies the Lunar New Year holiday.
“What would be really harmful is if the virus spreads enough to close more factories and construction sites,” said Arthur Kroeber, managing director at Gavekal Dragonomics, an independent economic research company.
Kroeber said the authorities did not seem anxious for a repeat of last year’s draconian response.
“They are trying to walk a tightrope,” said Kroeber. To impose strict rules on meetings for the second year “would be embarrassing,” he added.
Vacation restrictions have become a difficult time for many migrant workers in China. Many did not work for months in the past year, when the economy stopped amid blockages and other restrictions. While the wealthiest workers in China kept their jobs during the pandemic, many migrants struggled to make a living amid cuts in their wages and hours of work.
Shi Baolian, 47, a chemical factory worker in the city of Suzhou, said she was looking forward to going home on holiday to see her father and help him clean his house. But she canceled her plans after a group of cases emerged in her hometown in northern Hebei province.
Shi said she would celebrate the holiday with her husband in Suzhou instead. She said the city “has no New Year’s atmosphere” and that it misses the fireworks and red and gold flags of her hometown.
“I can’t go home, so I’m just going to work,” she said. “After the epidemic is over, we will be back.”
Albee Zhang and Cao Li contributed to the research.