Lin Wansi: “In order to get through the Beijing Tongzhou Baimiao checkpoint early, my morning alarm clock was set from 6 to 5 and then to 4:30, and my transportation was changed from public transport to carpooling and self-driving. A one-way trip that usually takes at most 3 hours was jammed into a 4-hour drive last Friday (Jan. 8).” Guo Qiang, who lives in Fudi Square in Yanjiao, recalled to CNN client, “There are 7 or 8 checkpoints from Yanjiao to Beijing, and this is just one of them.”
The town of Yanjiao, located in Sanhe City, Hebei Province, is only separated from Beijing’s Tongzhou District by the Chaobai River, where hundreds of thousands of “northern drifters” live. Every morning, Guo Qiang took the 818 bus to the White Temple checkpoint and then changed to the No. 1 and No. 4 subway to go to work in Zhongguancun.
In accordance with the requirements of the document of the Office of the Leading Group for Prevention and Control of the New Coronavirus Infected Pneumonia in Sanhe City, from 12:00 on January 12, villagers and residents in the city are subject to access control, except for those who are ill for medical treatment, prevention and control of the epidemic and protection of public utility operations and other important positions related to the people’s livelihood, villagers and residents are not allowed to go out or enter Beijing during home isolation.
Like Guo Qiang, the cross-city commuters between Beijing and Yanjiao are a special group whose usual commute has been disrupted by the epidemic. Over the past week, as the epidemic prevention requirements escalated and the requirements to enter Beijing became stricter and stricter, the reporter interviewed several commuters, and here is what they experienced.
The bus moved 2 km in 3 and a half hours
Daily early morning commute to work, Xiaofen and her husband, who live in Yanjiao Jiacheng International District, will take the 1-hour fast 815 bus, passing through the Tongzhou Baimiao checkpoint and arriving together at the Langjiayuan station in the East Third Ring Road, where Xiaofen then changes to Line 1 and Line 2 subway eventually arriving at a media company in Xicheng District. Commuting 100 kilometers round trip every day, a total of 4 hours, such a life, Xiaofen repeated for 7 years.
At 6 a.m. on Jan. 8, as usual, Fanny and her husband washed up and hurried downstairs to catch the 6:30 a.m. bus. As early as before the departure, social media users have begun to complain: “into the Beijing checkpoint traffic jam, we have not moved for an hour” “checkpoint requirements to check ID cards!” According to Xiaofen recalled that many people got off the bus and walked past the checkpoint, “that section of the journey I walked about 20 minutes, but the bus 20 minutes certainly can not pass.”
LED display on one side of the road shows home isolation 7 days. Interviewed for the picture
At the White Temple checkpoint in Tongzhou, Fanny received a message from the company leader asking her to return to her home office. While Fanny’s husband had been slowly queuing on the bus, it was already 10 a.m. when he passed the checkpoint into Beijing. According to his estimate, the bus moved only 2 kilometers in 3 and a half hours from 6:30 a.m. when he got on the bus to 10 a.m. when it passed through the White Temple checkpoint.
“Yanjiao is across the Chaobai River from Tongzhou, and the price of housing is cut in half from Tongzhou.” Xiao Fen has two children, the older one is already at elementary school age. The reason for choosing to settle in Yanjiao, Xiao Fen said, on the one hand, is the cheap house price in Yanjiao; on the other hand, the couple does not have a Beijing household registration, so even if they buy a house in Beijing, they cannot solve the problem of their children’s schooling afterwards.
When it comes to traffic jams, Guo Qiang said he was not surprised. After trying carpooling, self-driving, and public transportation, on January 10, Guo Qiang arrived at Yanjiao Railway Station with his “three certificates” (proof of employment, proof of residence, and negative nucleic acid test certificate within 72 hours) and ID card, and boarded the 6:44 a.m. train to Beijing.
The Yanjiao train station requires a negative nucleic acid test certificate within 72 hours. Interviewee photo
“The two trains from Yanjiao to Beijing East Station at 6:44am and 7:54am have been very popular recently. Due to the inconvenient access to the Beijing checkpoint, twice as many people take the train as before, but there are only two trips, so I especially hope to open the Yanjiao – Beijing intercity train.” Guo Qiang said.
The 31-year-old runs between Beijing and Yanjiao every day, and he plans to get married this year to his girlfriend of 2 years. He admits that he can’t afford to buy a house in Beijing with an annual income of 200,000, so he can only buy one in Yanjiao, “at least to have a home of his own.
The first thing you need to do is to take a detour to the fever clinic to register for a nucleic acid test.
According to a press conference on January 8 in Hebei Province on the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, commuters from the Beijing-ring area into Beijing can pass with proof of residence, proof of work in Beijing, and proof of negative nucleic acid test within 72 hours issued by Beijing or the four cities and 15 counties around Beijing.
Kai, who lives in Yanjiao Tianyangcheng, works in Beijing’s Chaoyang District. The company’s main business is to provide a service to the public. “He was able to get to the hospital in half an hour, but it took him 2 hours to get there that day, and every route to the nucleic acid test site on Gaode Map was in dark red.
He checked the nucleic acid testing sites in Yanjiao, but found that the last three days have been fully booked, “many people in order to be able to do the nucleic acid test, using a ‘detour’ way to the fever clinic registration, and then find a doctor to write a lab order to do on the test.” Xiao Kai said to the client of the China New Economic Times.
But Kai learned that on the 9th, Yanjiao then added a new nucleic acid testing site. At a press conference held on January 10 on the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in Beijing, Tian Tao, deputy head of the quarantine and testing working group of the leading group for the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in Beijing and full-time deputy director of the Office of the Leading Group of the Municipal Party Construction Work, said that Beijing has sent two nucleic acid testing teams from Tsinghua Changgeng Hospital and Beijing Youan Hospital to Yanda Hospital in Sanhe City, Hebei Province, with a total of 40 people, carrying instruments and equipment. Help Yanda Hospital to quickly improve the testing capacity, after upgrading the daily testing capacity of up to 10,000 tubes.
On January 12, Sanhe City issued a notice on full nucleic acid testing and home isolation observation. It was stated therein that the first full free nucleic acid testing for the new coronavirus was carried out since the morning of January 12, and a 7-day isolation observation at home was implemented.
On the 13th, sampling sites into the village committees, Mara is located in the town of three rivers, the village committee of the big Kang Zhuang residents to organize nucleic acid testing. Mara introduced, 12 daytime, the village committee will be residents divided into groups, 13 about 10 o’clock directly to the field queue. “There were more than a thousand people at the scene, and there are still people outside the brigade yard not allowed to enter, but a morning are measured, get a paper nucleic acid test certificate is no longer difficult.”
The queue for the nucleic acid test. Interviewee photo.
Mara is the father of a 1.5-year-old child, settling in Yanjiao was decided only last year. 2019, Mara rented an apartment in Beijing and lived there before returning to Dakangzhuang, Qixinzhuang Town, Sanhe City, on weekends. He recalls being unable to leave Beijing during the new crown pneumonia outbreak in 2020, when his child had a high fever of 38 degrees but could do nothing about it, so he chose to stay in Yanjiao. “The commute is a little more troublesome, but at least you can take care of your child.”
I’m more afraid of being fired than living in a company where I can’t take a shower
The company’s main business is to provide a service to the public, and to the public. The price was 400 yuan a person, we three people spent a total of 1200 yuan, usually carpooling only need more than a hundred dollars, that day more than ten times, not only into Beijing is difficult, return Yan also difficult.”
“Now the road basically can not see there are pedestrians and vehicles, a moment the road cold a lot.” Hengnan said.
The company’s first meeting was held in Beijing on March 12, 2012. The company’s office folded the bed and slept.
“No one wants to do that, but I’m anxious to know when I’ll be home. All are northern drifters, finally buying a house in Yanjiao, but also eager to be respected. What I fear most is losing my job, after all, I have to earn money to support my family.” Li Ke said.
The night of Jan. 15 was the fourth night of home isolation in Yanjiao, and the fourth night that Li Ke spent in the company. Li Ke learned from various WeChat groups that Yanjiao residents had begun to receive a second round of nucleic acid sampling.
(At the request of the interviewer, Xiao Fen, Guo Qiang, Xiao Kai, Mara, Xing Nan and Li Ke are all pseudonyms in the text)
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