Modernization leaving out old-time porters
Source: Xinhua |
July 23, 2012, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
FOR more than two decades, Zhang Guangzhong worked as a self-employed porter in southwest China's city of Chongqing, carrying luggage, furniture and shopping bags up the city's steep hills in exchange for tips.
He searched for work at docks, train stations and department stores, carrying bags for tourists and locals on Chongqing's zigzagging roads and up the stairs of old apartment buildings with no elevators.
The job required no training or qualifications to speak of. Zhang's only limitation was how much he could carry on his shoulder using a wooden pole.
In his younger days, Zhang said groups of porters were often seen on downtown Chongqing streets, competing to offer their services to tourists and shoppers laden with goods.
"I often waited for business at community markets, helping old people carry loads of groceries through the narrow lanes," he said. "There were at least 30 others and we used to compete for potential customers."
The laborers were so popular in Chongqing that they became an icon of the city itself in the 1990s.
A TV series about the porters' lives, produced around 1997 - the year Chongqing, formerly a part of Sichuan province, was named China's fourth self-governing municipality after Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin - was a hit among Chinese viewers and made the workers famous nationwide.
But at the age of 57, Zhang is in danger of losing his livelihood. Few people demand the services of local porters.
"They all take taxis or drive their own cars," he said. "New apartment buildings are taller than before and are almost always equipped with elevators, so people don't need me to carry their bags." For several years, Zhang was the only porter on the old streets of downtown Yuzhong District. "My former colleagues are either too old to keep working or have left for other jobs," Zhang said.
Twenty years ago, taxis were not yet popular. Chongqing's streets were just narrow lanes.
Today, however, the city has a comprehensive transportation system consisting of highways, subways and light railways. Porters have apparently been left out of the city's urbanization drive. Zhang has turned to construction sites.
"Apparently this job has no future, but I'm proud that I once belonged to a group that was the city's icon," he said.
He searched for work at docks, train stations and department stores, carrying bags for tourists and locals on Chongqing's zigzagging roads and up the stairs of old apartment buildings with no elevators.
The job required no training or qualifications to speak of. Zhang's only limitation was how much he could carry on his shoulder using a wooden pole.
In his younger days, Zhang said groups of porters were often seen on downtown Chongqing streets, competing to offer their services to tourists and shoppers laden with goods.
"I often waited for business at community markets, helping old people carry loads of groceries through the narrow lanes," he said. "There were at least 30 others and we used to compete for potential customers."
The laborers were so popular in Chongqing that they became an icon of the city itself in the 1990s.
A TV series about the porters' lives, produced around 1997 - the year Chongqing, formerly a part of Sichuan province, was named China's fourth self-governing municipality after Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin - was a hit among Chinese viewers and made the workers famous nationwide.
But at the age of 57, Zhang is in danger of losing his livelihood. Few people demand the services of local porters.
"They all take taxis or drive their own cars," he said. "New apartment buildings are taller than before and are almost always equipped with elevators, so people don't need me to carry their bags." For several years, Zhang was the only porter on the old streets of downtown Yuzhong District. "My former colleagues are either too old to keep working or have left for other jobs," Zhang said.
Twenty years ago, taxis were not yet popular. Chongqing's streets were just narrow lanes.
Today, however, the city has a comprehensive transportation system consisting of highways, subways and light railways. Porters have apparently been left out of the city's urbanization drive. Zhang has turned to construction sites.
"Apparently this job has no future, but I'm proud that I once belonged to a group that was the city's icon," he said.
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