While many in China are on the way home during the Spring Festival travel rush, some are working around the clock to make passengers' journeys safe. Today, we meet a bunch of young men, who work at an altitude of thirty meters -- certainly not a job for the fainthearted! They are responsible for checking lighthouses at railway stations in southwest Yunnan Province. They are called "star boys", as what they do is to help light the way back home. Natasha Hussain has more.

12 p.m. As the last train departs the station. These young men are on the way to work. They work at midnight because checking lighthouses can only be done when no trains go by. And the very first thing for them is to get there in the dark.

DAI BING MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR WORKER "It feels different when you work in the dark. You can barely see anything. So when we are at the top of the lighthouse, we only feel lonely and scared."

But before they feel lonely and scared, these young men still have to climb 140 steps to reach the top. The height of the lighthouse is thirty meters. The higher they go, the thinner and more precarious the structure. And sometimes they can even feel the lighthouse shaking.

DAI BING MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR WORKER "When we work, we have to move, and then the lighthouse will shake strongly. So we have to be extremely careful. Sometimes even talking and coughing makes it shake."

Their job is to check the 600 bolts on each lighthouse. They have to stand on each lighthouse for two to three hours, or even longer, to get the work done. There is no denying that it requires both physical fitness and mental strength. Working up high comes with immense risks and huge pressure, and sometimes it's even more than that. 

YIN CHENGKUN MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR WORKER "We may have survived a hundred or two hundred times' of danger, but we may lose our lives once it goes wrong. This is really terrifying."

Before the Spring Festival travel rush, these young men have to check the 104 lighthouses across Yunnan Province. Working overnight has become a routine. However, it seems now they are used to the work.

ZHAO XIAN MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR WORKER "I really have mixed feelings while facing the lighthouses. I shall say I'm still scared, but as I gradually get the work done, the lighthouses become like my old friends."

6 a.m. When a brand new day comes, these young men return home fatigued. And the lighthouses continue to guide the way for those on the road. Natasha Hussain, CGTN.