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A Travel Tale
Here is a touching little story from the depths of what is universally known as "the Spring Festival snow disaster" as reported in China Daily.
Tracking a little girl's journey of tears and joy
Updated: 2008-2-28 9:25:40
Huang Beibei, a 7-year-old child, returned to her home in Zhengzhou, Henan province, by rail from Changsha, Hunan province, on Feb 17 - the trip took just 10 hours.
Twenty-one days ago, the trip took Huang six days to cross the snow-stricken southern areas to meet her father in Changsha for the Spring Festival. It was a trip she will never forget.
On Jan 28, the girl's mother, Sun Jing, asked the chief conductor of No 1627 train from Zhengzhou to Nanning, which would make a stop at Changsha, to look after her daughter as she would be traveling alone.
The conductor, Yin Fengguang, refused because children under 1.4 m in height are not allowed to travel on trains without being accompanied by an adult.
However, after hearing of the family's plight, Yin decided to make an exception.
Sun, works in Zhengzhou while her husband in Changsha. They had planned a family reunion in Changsha to celebrate the Spring Festival. But Sun's father suddenly fell ill forcing Sun to cancel her trip.
On the day of departure, snowstorms swept through the southern areas, forcing the delay of 67 trains arriving and departing Zhengzhou station. Six other trains were canceled.
Passengers on Train 1627, however, were allowed to depart. At 5:50 pm a call from Yin to Sun made her anxious. Yin told Sun the Beijing-Guangzhou line was blocked by snow, so the train would first stop at Wuhan and then make a detour.
Sun decided to let Huang continue on the journey. On hearing that the train would not be proceeding directly to its destination, Huang began to cry and remonstrate. A call from her mother finally comforted her.
After staying in Wuhan for over an hour, the train switched to the Changsha-Jingzhou line and then the Jiaozuo-Liuzhou line for its final destination.
Unfortunately, the train had to stop once again at Mayang, a small city in west Hunan province, for lack of power. The stop lasted 15 hours.
Food was the most pressing problem. The crew bought food and water from a nearby market, and diesel oil to start up the heaters on the train.
The 216-km detour took 30 hours. When the train finally arrived at Liuzhou on Jan 31, the station master, Li Jianshi, took Huang to his home where she was given a hot bath and food. She then spent two days at the Liuzhou home of 1627 train's announcer, Su Ping. He has a daughter the same age as Huang.
Eventually on Feb 2, the southern sections of the Beijing-Guangzhou line were cleared, and Huang arrived at Changsha to be met by her relieved, but happy, father.
When it was time for Huang to make the return journey to Zhengzhou, her parents decided that she should travel on the 1627 train.
On arrival at Zhengzhou, Yin found it difficult to say goodbye to Huang as he grown very fond of her.
"It was indeed fate. She was my youngest as well as my most special passenger," Yin said.
"The snowstorms were terrible, but we learnt a lot from it."
What is confusing is that the girl seems to have changed her name somewhere between the story appearing in China Daily and its earlier appearance in Henan Window. In that paper, she was called Bo Cong. This is her real name. Huang Beibei is a nickname.