After an hour of traffic, Wang Shao decided to ride his bike to Beijing.
He turned the car around and went home to move out his bike. Two hours later, he rode to the downstairs of his company in Sanyuanqiao in the cold wind and temperatures close to minus 10 degrees.
Since he bought a house in Yanjiao in 2009, this road to Beijing is one he travels almost twice a day. The commute is usually more than an hour, and he leaves at 7 o’clock and can clock in at the office by 9 o’clock. And on this day, January 8, he arrived at the company at 11:30, at the cost of, frozen feet.
Seven days earlier, Shijiazhuang had been exposed to its first outbreak of the New Year, and since then the number of confirmed cases had risen rapidly, halting the city. The outbreak in the capital drew attention, and in addition to epidemic prevention initiatives, “defending the capital” became a common phrase in official meeting minutes. Soon, Hebei threw out the slogan: “No entry into Beijing unless necessary.
As a Hebei enclave sandwiched between Beijing and Tianjin, Beisan County is more than 300 kilometers from Shijiazhuang. On the morning of January 8, people who left for work in Beijing from here experienced a long congestion before they saw the news passed in the WeChat group: the checkpoint for commuting into Beijing required a nucleic acid report.
Luck of the Pass
Just as Wang Zhaoge rode downstairs to the company, Liang Ru was still stuck on the highway.
In Yanjiao, one of the three northern counties where many people go to work in Beijing, there were long lines on the main roads into Beijing from early morning on January 8, and it took ten minutes to move forward. When she saw the news in the WeChat group that she needed a nucleic acid test report to enter Beijing, she was still some distance from the checkpoint. It was after seven o’clock, which is normally the time she arrives at the office.
Stuck in traffic, who does not know if they can pass the card, the atmosphere in the car is somewhat dull. They usually carpool together are more familiar, this time are holding the phone to ask others where to go. And outside the car, some drivers because of the traffic jam, almost and others to fight. “The road is blocked are more impatient. “Liang Ru said.
Soon, Yanjiao was in the hot seat because of “severe congestion”. In a widely circulated video, a wave of people wearing masks crowded the narrow roads, trying to cram themselves into an already full coach. “This epidemic has given me a whole commute that’s like waiting in line to register. ” said one person who gave up going to the office today.
The hindsight media also began to reproduce the information from “Baoding Zhuozhou City, the relevant departments learned”: in order to strictly prevent the risk of the spread of the epidemic in the Beijing ring, reduce the Beijing-Hebei area cross-province In order to prevent the risk of the spread of the epidemic in the Beijing-ring area and to reduce cross-province mobility in the Beijing-Hebei region, the general public should not enter Beijing unless necessary. Commuters in the Beijing-ring area of Hebei can commute normally with proof of residence in the Beijing-ring area, proof of work in Beijing, and proof of negative nucleic acid test within 14 days (hereinafter referred to as the “three certificates”). The three certificates will be valid for commuting.
At the same time, contradictory news keeps pouring into the WeChat group. People who left early said that everyone at the checkpoint had to get off and fill out a form to register, “a car with four people at least ten minutes. “Others said that the checkpoint on the other road does not check the nucleic acid report, they decided to take their chances.
At 12:45, Liang Ru arrived at the company, nearly four hours after her usual work time.
“Everyone asks me, and there’s always someone who doesn’t believe it.”
But some people are not so lucky.
Unlike Wang Shao, who drove, and Liang Ru, who carpooled, Kong Jia commuted to work by bus. Before leaving home, she looked at her circle of friends to see someone posting to Beijing who might need a nucleic acid test. She was afraid that the follow-up work would be affected, so she brought a computer and a change of clothes before leaving home, and prepared to stay in Beijing for a few days.
She lives in the northern three counties of the Xianghe Development Zone, from home to take the bus to leave the checkpoint in Hebei to three kilometers, the results of an hour and a half to walk a kilometer.
Trapped in the car, passengers on the phone to see the message. Kong Jia heard, someone called his wife to send the three certificates, was refused after the couple had a fight. Others began to contact friends and colleagues to find out what the situation is now.
There were also many old people on the bus, most of them are Beijingers who live on the edge of the capital and get up early to buy vegetables in Xianghe. Some of the elderly were calm, chatting with the steward about their family’s retired New Year’s Eve dinner and the damage the virus had done to their lungs. After chatting for half an hour the car did not move, and one by one the old people got off the car and prepared to walk back.
When the time came to 9:30, the stewardess could not sit still and called her colleagues in the previous car to find out where they had arrived. It turned out that the first train, which left at 4:30, did not cross the checkpoint until an hour ago. “Everyone has to be tested for nucleic acid. “The steward told passengers they had just poked around from a colleague.
Waiting dry on the bus was not an option, so Kong Jia took a chance and tried to walk through the checkpoint before taking the bus. But when she got off the bus, she realized that the middle of the road was filled with buses. She walked with the flow of people to the checkpoint, there are also people walking in the opposite direction, there are even cars on the dirt road against traffic. Kong Jia stopped the oncoming passerby and asked him if he needed a nucleic acid test to cross the border, and got an affirmative answer.
“Everyone asks me, there is always someone who does not believe. “Probably having been asked too many times, the passerby looked quite upset.
“Then you have to ask the top.”
The situation at the checkpoint was very different. Although there were long lines on the road, there were few people at the checkpoint. The fence in the lobby was crossed with “Service to the public” “Safety check” “Everyone is responsible “. Here, Kong Jia received the same answer, not allowed to pass, unless you have nucleic acid testing.
“You stop us here and don’t notify us in advance,” Kong Jia said, a little angry, questioning the staff about the outbreak, which has been going on for a year, and whether there are channels of information transmission and response There is no information transmission channel and response plan. “Then you have to ask the top,” said the male staff member, who was also a bit annoyed, directing the line of people waiting for inspection. “This side should be blocked and blocked, and this side should be lined up. “
–I don’t know how many kilometers we’ve been stuck.
–It’s been blocked so far, it’s blocked to Tianjin. You should not go this way without nucleic acid testing, you will not be allowed to enter.
–I mean, everyone can’t be so bewildered to be stuck on the road for hours and come here and find out that they can’t go.
–That stuff is all over the news.
–You have to do something about it!
–We’re supervising, that’s our job! I would like to say something to you, (but) what can I do to push you this thing ah. We are just responsible for unblocking, we have reported to the top, the top will be responsible for communication.
“Last night on the report to the upper side, the traffic jam for at least four hours or more. “The staff repeated similar words over and over again.
Embarrassment of the three northern counties
There was a time last summer when the checkpoint into Beijing would also strictly check everyone’s ID card. Because he didn’t want to be stuck in traffic, Wang Shao bought that bike and rode it two hours to work every day.
In fact, the checkpoints were not built because of the epidemic. Wang Shao remembers that they were built one after another after about 2012. Since then, checking ID cards before entering the city has become a habit for everyone living in the three northern counties.
This enclave in Hebei, sandwiched between Beijing and Tianjin, is home to many people who work in Beijing. Because the price is much lower than that of Beijing, this is a good choice for either purchasing or renting a house.
If you’re willing to get up a little early every day, you can endure an hour of crowded and muddy air on the bus – it’s no different than squeezing the subway in Beijing. You can also go big and spend 20 to 30 yuan in a carpool group, just to ride into Beijing in a minivan with four or five other “workers”.
Many times, the three northern counties and Beijing seem to be no different. People who live here like to call going to Beijing “going to the city”, and even the North Youth Community Newspaper has a Even the Beisanxian Community Newspaper has a “Beisanxian Edition”. Years ago, there were even rumors that the three northern counties would be incorporated into Beijing.
Of course, these “convenience” and “comfort There are prerequisites. Although one after another is described as “heavy! ” of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei synergy plan was sent out, but once the two meetings, epidemics and other times need to be strictly prevented, the relationship between the three northern counties and Beijing was immediately beaten back to its original shape.
“The epidemic happened in Shijiazhuang, which is more than 300 kilometers away from Yanjiao, but it is just ruthlessly stuck to the northern drifters living in Yanjiao. “”No matter how much the house sellers fool around, Yanjiao can’t be Beijing. “People stuck in traffic complained up on Weibo.
Life with a swipe of ID
But even earlier, the three northern counties were indeed an okay choice.
Liang Ru, a native of Jiangxi, came to Beijing to work early on and just started living in Beijing’s Tongzhou. In the year of the Olympics, she bought a house in Yanjiao at a “group price” of just over 4,000 yuan for a square meter, while Beijing next door had already broken 10,000.
At that time (Yanjiao), there was no traffic jam and the highway was better. It was a lot of work to squeeze up the Baitong subway line. But now it’s a different story when you’re a river away. The company’s main business is to provide a wide range of products and services.
Wang Shao also had a similar experience. As a native of Hebei, he bought a house in Yanjiao in 2009, also because it was cheap. At first, he was a little uncomfortable that there were only three buses from Yanjiao into the city, 930, 816 and 817. But with few cars and small crowds, a two-hour bus ride soon brought him there. “Happiness was strong when there were no checkpoints, but not now. Since there are checkpoints, it’s painful to go to work. “
Kong Jia late they moved to Yanjiao only ten years ago. She rented a room in Liujiayao for ten years. Her busy schedule made her feel that life was too frenetic, and after a quick desperate effort to earn money and develop, she wanted to stop for a while. After quitting her job, she now lived in Songzhuang for a year, and increasingly did not want to return to live in the city.
Later, a friend looking at houses recommended this suite to her. “She knows me better. I like high floors, quiet, facing south, big glass windows and a view of the endless plain. “This house in Yanjiao met her one and only imagination, and without much consideration she bought it.
Since then, she has also been living a life of swiping her ID card twice a day: once when she leaves Hebei and once when she enters Beijing. Crew members dressed in black are responsible for urging each passenger to get off and punch their cards, and elderly and disabled people with leg problems are exempted, as long as they don’t encounter strict checks.
Wang Shao, who drives a private car to work, seems to have a little more freedom. The staff will take a carload of people’s documents, take them to the machine and punch them in, and return them later. The scale is sometimes tight and sometimes loose, and he will also be released directly across the border.
Until the day of January 8, 2021, Wang Shao was also stuck in traffic. Although the boss said he could work from home, but the laptop for work is still in the unit. In order not to delay his work, he rode the bike he bought a few months ago in the cold wind.
“Now feel the pain of Yanjiao. “
(Wang Shao, Liang Ru and Kong Jia are pseudonyms)
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