Culture
11:32, 04-Feb-2018
'Star boys' help guide passengers home during Spring Festival travel rush
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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.
A group of young men, known as "star boys," work at an altitude of thirty meters and are responsible for checking lighthouses at railway stations in southwestern Yunnan Province. Their name "star boys" is symbolic as they help light the way back home.
At 12:00 m.n. as the last train departs the station, the team make their way to work. They start at midnight, because checking lighthouses can only be done when there are no trains.
People go through the security checks in Kunming Train Station, China's southwestern Yunnan Province. /VCG Photo
People go through the security checks in Kunming Train Station, China's southwestern Yunnan Province. /VCG Photo
"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," said Dai Bing, one of the maintenance and repair workers.
The men have the added hardship of having 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 seems to be. And sometimes they can even feel the lighthouse shaking.
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.
Shenyang North Railway Station on Feb. 2, 2018 /VCG Photo
Shenyang North Railway Station on Feb. 2, 2018 /VCG Photo
"We may have survived a hundred or two hundred times from danger, but we may lose our lives once it goes wrong. This is really terrifying," said another worker Yin Chengkun.
Before the Spring Festival travel rush, these young men have to check the 104 lighthouses across Yunnan Province. However, working overnight has become a routine.
"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," said Zhao Xian, one of the repair workers.
At 6:00 a.m. the workers are finally able to return home with the lighthouses continuing to guide the way for those on the road.