Beer, drinks, mineral water, peanuts, melon seeds, grilled fish fillet", I don't know how many people still remember such a shout. In the moving green leather car, the attendants pushing the trolley are like sellers walking through the streets, adding a lot of fireworks to the boring journey. Recently, the hit broadcast of the TV series "South to North" has awakened many people's memories of the green train. As the "originator" of railway travel, the green train was once an important means of transportation for people to travel far away. In recent years, with the application of high-speed rail and bullet trains, as well as the popularity of private cars, although the number and number of trains in the green train have greatly decreased, it still plays a pivotal role. For people with limited economic conditions, the green train provides an affordable travel option; For areas where airplanes and high-speed trains cannot be reached directly, green trains are an important guarantee for people's smooth travel. During the Spring Festival, the green train diverted a considerable number of passengers. It is not only a mode of transportation, but also an emotional sustenance. Every journey, every seat, carries the imprint of hot life and the life of ordinary people. This issue of Micro Story is about the stories of passengers who travel on the green train during the Spring Festival, including young people who have just graduated from college and have been sleeping on the train and traveling in the style of "special forces", as well as low-level workers who are reluctant to buy "high-level tickets" because they can't buy high-speed rail tickets, and middle-aged people who are nostalgic for stepping on the green train because they can't buy high-speed rail tickets. Here's the real story about them:
Text |Swallow Edit |Excellence
At eight o'clock in the morning on the sixth day of the first lunar month, Xiaojun took the green train from Harbin to Beijing in the cold wind.
It is said to be "sitting", but in fact it is "standing". To catch up with the peak of the Spring Festival return, Xiaojun did not buy a ticket. This means that she will stand all the way to Beijing.
The whole journey from Harbin to Beijing took 23 hours, and she stood for 23 hours. Although there were occasional people getting off the train to make room for a vacant seat, it was quickly filled up by people boarding the train at the next stop, and Xiaojun barely sat down. She was so tired that she leaned on the edge of someone else's seat and stood and squinted for a while.
Figure |Beijing Railway Station during the Spring Festival
Xiaojun is a native of Guangdong and has just graduated from university. A few years ago, she and her classmates set off from Guangzhou and took a train ride of more than 30 hours to Harbin.
After checking in to the Ice and Snow World, Sophia Cathedral, Siberian Tiger Park and other Internet celebrity attractions, and going to the snow town to experience the scenery of the north in depth, they returned from Harbin to Beijing, planning to play in Beijing for a few days before returning to Guangzhou.
Xiaojun said that she is a "poor donkey", since she went to college, she has to travel every winter and summer vacation, but she has never taken a plane or high-speed rail, and has always traveled by green train. She also tries to choose night trains by train, so that she can save money on staying in a hotel.
Most of the time there are seats, and this time to catch the Spring Festival is the longest time she has been standing.
It was already past one o'clock in the morning when I arrived in Beijing. Xiaojun and his classmates did not look for a place to live, but went directly to Tiananmen Square and waited to see the flag-raising, so as to save another night's accommodation fee.
"All in all, all the costs of taking the green train from Guangzhou to Harbin, from Harbin to Beijing, and from Beijing back to Guangzhou, add up to only 1,000 yuan per person. ”Xiaojun said with some pride.
Like Xiaojun, there is also Ah Cheng who travels in the "special forces" style.
A Cheng, 26, is a native of Shenyang and works in a factory in Zhejiang. Years ago, he took the high-speed train back to Shenyang from Shanghai, and when he returned after the year, because he did not buy a direct ticket, and was reluctant to buy a full-price ticket, he tossed several sections of the green train, from Shenyang to Shanhaiguan, reversed to Beijing in Shanhaiguan, and then took a car from Beijing to Shanghai, tossing for two days and one night before returning to Zhejiang.
In order to cope with the long journey, Ah Cheng bought a lot of instant noodles, ham sausages and snacks before getting in the car, and carried them in a convenient bag.
After getting in the car, he put his luggage away and sat all the way with a convenient bag in his arms. As the mileage increases, the contents of the convenience bag gradually decrease. When the bag was empty, he also arrived at the terminal.
Figure |The passengers waiting to get off the train in the green train carriage have been accompanied by convenient bags during the time when they are constantly changing trains and taking the train. It is like an hourglass that records time, witnessing the progress of Ah Cheng's journey.
Among the passengers who took the green train back to work, Aunt Yu was the older one.
She is 66 years old and has been working in Beijing for six years.
Aunt Zhen is a native of western Liaoning, and there is a direct high-speed train from her home to Beijing, which takes three hours and a one-way ticket price is less than 300, but she has never taken it once.
Figure |People who get off the train at Beijing Railway Station and prepare to go to work.
She works at a laundry on the outskirts of Beijing, which cleans the hotel's bedding.
The aunt and the workers are doing the work of the assembly line, cleaning, placing orders, ironing, and storage, and there is a special person responsible for each process.
Aunt Zhen is responsible for the work of placing orders, that is, after the machine washing and drying procedures are over, take out the sheets, quilt covers, pillowcases and other things out of the washing machine and hang them.
Among the more than 20 workers, Aunt Yu is the oldest. Although she is almost seventy years old, she does no less work than young people. Working 12 hours a day, the number of pending orders is more than 1,000 sets every day.
Because of her quick hands and feet, she works diligently, and the boss values her very much. A few years ago, the laundry business was not good and continued to lose money, and the boss dismissed several young people, but left her behind.
"When I come out to work at my age, it's good to have someone to ask for, and someone has to work hard. ”For the current state, Aunt Yu is very content.
Aunt Zhen's family is in the countryside, her wife, son, and daughter-in-law are working at home, and her grandson is also of marriage age.
The reason why I came out to work at such an old age is because a few years ago, my daughter-in-law said that she would go to Japan to work to earn money, and my son had no opinion, but she disagreed.
In order to keep her daughter-in-law at home, Aunt Chu decided to go out to work to supplement the family. At the age of 60, she resolutely stepped on the green train to Beijing and became an older North Drifter.
The laundry provides room and board, and Aunt Zhen's monthly salary is more than 5,000, and she is reluctant to spend a penny herself, so she almost saves all of it. After working for six years, she saved 300,000 yuan and prepared to buy a house for her grandson's marriage.
When she went home during the Spring Festival, Aunt Yu gave more than 5,000 yuan in red envelopes to the juniors, but no one gave it to her.
The people in the village envy her for being able to find a job and "make a lot of money" at her age, only she knows how hard it is to get up early and stay late every day, but she is not afraid of hardship.
My health is not bad, while I can still do it, and the boss does not dislike me, I plan to work for a few more years to save some private money. My son and daughter-in-law are good to me and my wife now, but when I can't do it anymore, who knows what will happen? You still have to make some money on your own to have confidence. Aunt Yu replied to a message on WeChat.
Because he didn't buy a high-speed rail ticket home, this Spring Festival, Lin Yue also became a passenger on the green train.
After all, she hadn't been on the green train for more than ten years. In the past, when she went home for the Chinese New Year, she either drove herself or took the bullet train or high-speed rail. I don't know what year she started, she could no longer endure the long and crowded green train.
But this year, when she stepped on the green train, she actually had a long-lost sense of intimacy.
Lin Yue remembers that when she first came to Beijing, she took such a green train. When it was time for the Spring Festival, the train aisles and carriage connections were crowded with people, and even the toilet doors were blocked.
Figure |Stills from "South to North".
Everyone who wants to go to the toilet has to cut through the crowd and open the door with the "WC" mark in full view.
Amazingly, even with all this crowding, the vending trolleys always managed to break through and shuttle between the carriages.
"Beer, drinks, mineral water, peanuts, melon seeds, grilled fish fillet", this is the cry of the green train, which is also part of Lin Yue's youthful memory.
In Lin Yue's view, the noisy green train is like a noisy compound, and the passengers from all over the world are like neighbors in the compound, everyone sits around and chats, plays poker, plays games, and shares each other's food and trivial life.
Strangers who may only meet once in a lifetime add a lot of fun and warmth to each other's journeys.
Figure |In the early morning, Beijing Railway Station East Street is still full of traffic.
In this Spring Festival in 2024, Lin Yue feels like she has stepped on a time shuttle, and she is a teenager again in a trance.
Like Lin Yue, there is also Dawei who feels the reversal of time and space.
40-year-old Dawei is from Beijing, because his daughter-in-law is from the Northeast, and every Spring Festival, he has to go back to the Northeast with her to see his father-in-law and mother-in-law. Like Lin Yue, Dawei and his wife also got on the green train because they didn't buy a high-speed rail ticket.
On weekdays, David is not a particularly talkative person, but on the green train, he is happy to chat with the people around him.
The Green Train is like a lively market, where you will meet different people and learn about different lives. Every time I take the green train, I enjoy it a lot, and I don't feel tormented at all.
When taking a plane or high-speed train, people pay more attention to privacy, and in order to show their 'high quality', people try to avoid talking.
The high backs of the seats are like a solid barrier to swear sovereignty and tell those around us that we do not interfere with the water of the river.
The Green Train is different, its seat design is a group of opposites, and everyone sits facing each other around a small tableNo matter how long the journey is, you will have someone to share with you, so you don't have to worry about no one to pass the time with you. David said.
This time I went to the Northeast, and there was a man in his thirties sitting opposite Dawei.
The man said he and his uncle worked at a construction site in Beijing. Some time ago, because his uncle was sick and hospitalized, he took care of him in the hospital for more than ten days, and basically never slept much.
He really wanted to get home quickly and get a good night's sleep, but he was reluctant to buy a high-speed rail ticket. There are more than 200 high-speed rail tickets, and the green train is only a few dozen yuan. He has a wife and two children at home, and he wants to save the bus fare to buy gifts for his wife and children.
Dawei knew that on this train, there were many workers like the man in front of him.
They travel from north to south like migratory birds. It's not that they can't afford high-speed rail tickets, it's just that it's not easy to make money, and they want to save their hard-earned money and spend it where it's more worthwhile.
In their opinion, the simple green train may be more suitable for the simple them, even if you carry a shabby woven bag, carry a dusty suitcase, and dress less glamorously, no one will cast a strange eye.
Figure |Stills from "South to North".
Of all the means of transportation, perhaps only the green train is the one that can accommodate the big belly.
It travels through mountains, through long years, and sends waves of travelers to where they want to be.
In a few days, the 40-day Spring Festival will come to an end.
According to the Ministry of Transportation**, the number of people traveling during the Spring Festival in 2024 may reach 9 billion, a year-on-year increase of 50%, the highest in history. Of these, 80% are self-driving.
Figure |Passengers who have just gotten off the green train.
The development of technology has made human travel methods change with each passing day. Maybe one day, the green train will eventually be completely replaced and become an old object that can only be seen in museums and **, but at the moment, it is still indispensable.
During the Spring Festival, it witnessed the migration and reunion of hundreds of millions of families, and also carried the dreams and hopes of countless people. It is not only a mode of transportation, but also an emotional sustenance, connecting hometown and distance, past and future.
Even though many people no longer travel on the green trainBut those trains that start with the letters K, T, and Z are still indelible memory symbols in everyone's hearts.