Related News
‘Bang-bang army’ may be a spent force
Print Edition
WHEN Li Ming left the countryside and moved to the city to look for work more than 30 years ago, manual jobs were plentiful.
Three decades later, the 56-year-old is still hauling goods up and down the hills of Chongqing as one of the southwestern city’s “bang-bang army,” men and women equipped with nothing more than bamboo poles or carts, and muscle power.
China’s economic boom was largely built on the backs of people like Li, who had little or no education and earned low wages but were able to provide a marginally better life for their children.
They are among the last remaining vestiges of the start of China’s rise, and have been largely replaced by delivery men with trucks and electric scooters.
These days most “bang-bang” are over 50.
“I don’t have enough education to change jobs, this is the only work I’ve known since I came to the city,” Li said. “No young people want to do this work, it’s too hard, so all the ‘bang-bang’ are very old.”
A study by Chongqing University in 2010 put the number of “bang-bang” at between 300,000 and 400,000, but some bang-bang say there are no more than 10,000 still working, with sharp declines in recent years as logistics companies have expanded.
Li said when business is good he can make as much as 80 yuan (US$12) a day, lugging goods up and down hills, with most trips costing just 15 yuan. But recently he has only managed to earn about 30 yuan a day.
Competition is ever present in the streets of Chongqing.
Boxes for household appliances, bedsheets, shoes and electronics are piled high on the pavement, waiting to be transported by electric tricycles or delivery vans.
“The young people that work for the courier companies are lazy,” Li said. “A ‘bang-bang’ is always there when you need him, but a courier will deliver things only when it’s convenient for him.”
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
