What is a "motorcycle army"?

Motorcyclists got into the car seats one after another, rode for ten or even dozens of hours from the bustling Pearl River Delta metropolis in spite of the wind and rain, and finally returned to their hometown in a remote mountain village. For more than ten years, "motorcycle army" has been a unique landscape in the great migration of "Spring Festival travel rush fever".

As a reporter, my colleagues and I go back to the "motorcycle army" every year to record their sufferings and joys on the road with a lens. We tracked and recorded their cycling trip home, listened to their hard and even thrilling stories, felt the constant service warmth along the way with them for many years, and witnessed the far-reaching impact of economic and social development on this group.

On February 3, 2065438+00, migrant workers from Guangxi who returned home for the New Year rode motorcycles into the Changgang toll station in Fengkai, Guangdong. Fengkai County is the first stop of National Highway 32 1 from Guangdong to Guangxi, and it is the only way for migrant workers in Guangxi to return home by motorcycle. According to preliminary estimation, during the period of 20 10 in Spring Festival travel rush, more than130,000 motorcycles returned to their hometown and the Pearl River Delta through this county. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency/Wei Shiming)

201165438+1On October 26th, migrant workers rode motorcycles and lined up to pass through the toll station of Wuzhou section of 32 1 national highway at the junction of Guangdong and Guangxi. On that day, the motorcycle flow of migrant workers returning home through the Guangdong-Guangxi border reached the highest level since the peak in Spring Festival travel rush, with more than 5,000 motorcycles entering Guangxi from Wuzhou section of National Highway 32/KLOC-0. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency/He Xun)

In Nandan, Guangxi, 20 1 1, I recorded the scene of the "motorcycle army" riding home in the freezing rain on a cold night. Today, that scene still keeps emerging in front of my eyes: the cold rain can't quench the hearts of returnees full of blood, and can't quench the thoughts of their relatives in their hometown. A group of riders are marching in the rain. Cotton-padded clothes, knee pads, raincoats, cotton blankets, gloves ... On that day, a group of "armed" migrant workers rode motorcycles and went home in the rain, on the 2 10 national road, heading for Nandan County, Guangxi. According to reports, this motorcycle returning team composed of dozens of people set off from Guangdong on June 65438+1October 17, and prepared to travel nearly 2,000 kilometers back to Guizhou for the New Year. Xinhua News Agency reporter Huang She

Wuzhou and Hezhou, located at the junction of Guangdong and Guangxi, are two important stops for the "motorcycle army" to return home. Every year in Spring Festival travel rush, many gas stations here will be transformed into temporary Spring Festival travel rush love service stations, where relevant government departments, caring enterprises and social volunteers gather to provide services for returnees.

Jiang Yingming (left), an employee of China Petroleum Guangxi Hezhou Branch, helped Li Caimei, who returned from work in Guangdong, to take care of his children during the rush hour in Spring Festival travel rush (photo taken on 20 17+65438). Xinhua News Agency reporter Cao Yuming photo

2017 65438+1October 19 When we met Li Caimei, she was sitting in a temporary tent at a service station in Spring Festival travel rush Peak, eating gingerbread jiaozi sent by volunteers. In order to save some travelling expenses, Li Caimei, who works in Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province, rode a motorcycle alone with her two-month-old baby to his hometown in Hezhou. "It was so cold that all the children caught a cold." It is more difficult to go home by motorcycle than Li Caimei expected. Thanks to these warm service stations along the way, Li Caimei can constantly replenish her "energy" and courage, and successfully walk home.

February 20 13, I followed Zhou Sheng and other five "motorcyclists" who worked in Guangdong to return home. From Foshan, Guangdong to Jingxi, Guangxi, this motorcycle team completed the ride of 1000 km after two days and one night, which lasted more than 30 hours. Zhou Sheng, who rode home with his lover at that time, calculated an account for the reporter. Compared with taking a bus, one-way cycling home can save about 1 1,000 yuan.