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The year 2008 is a strong stroke in the history of China's national fortunes, and its particularity is self-evident to every Chinese.
This year, the Wenchuan earthquake and the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing are still impressive.
But at the beginning of the year, something bigger happened, around mid-January, when the provinces and regions ushered in a "wave of homecomings".
However, no one expected that at the peak of the Spring Festival, a sudden snow disaster swept through most of China.
Even the south, which rarely snows, has ushered in a rare heavy snowfall, which is a great disaster for migrant workers who are eager to go home and reunite.
Many people choose to give up driving because of icy roads, and trains become their last hope.
On January 26, 2008, there were still more than ten days before the Spring Festival, and the people who finally grabbed the train tickets were already waiting in the station.
I originally wanted to have a good year, but unexpectedly ushered in the most tragic lesson in the history of the Spring Festival, 400,000 people were trapped in the station for 11 days, and the central government urgently ordered 40,000 military and police to rescue.
So, what really happened to the Spring Festival that year, and how did people deal with it in the end?
All content in this article is based on official and reliable sources, and the specific information is detailed at the end of the article
Only in but not out
"If you have money or not, go home for the New Year" was a mantra at the time, and most people wanted to go home after a whole year of hard work.
At that time, the Internet was not as developed as it is now, and most people bought tickets at the service window of the train station, which was crowded and troublesome.
As the Spring Festival approaches, many people are trying to find ways to buy tickets, and there are even scalpers who resell tickets at the train station.
Although it was illegal to resell tickets back then, there were too many scalpers, and the repeated prohibitions did not stop, so the public security police could only do a good job of propaganda at the railway station.
For those who can only go home once a year, whether it is a scalper ticket or something, as long as they can go home, it is a good ticket.
On January 10, the Meteorological Bureau issued a severe weather warning, and 20 provinces across the country, including Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, and Hubei, ushered in a cold snap.
This means that a large area of cooling is coming, and all parts of the country may be affected by heavy snow and freezing rain.
In order to do a good job of prevention work in advance, the National People's Congress also held many meetings, but I did not expect that just halfway through the meeting, some areas were affected.
In some places, there are problems with electricity, and even street lights cannot be illuminated, and in other areas, freezing rain occurs, roads are icy in large areas, and the roads are full of car accidents.
For a time, electricity and transportation were paralyzed, trains were also affected, and many lines had to be suspended due to snow.
The hearts of the people are hanging, not knowing whether they will be able to go home for the New Year, let alone when the heavy snow will stop.
On the morning of the next day, tens of thousands of sanitation workers were dispatched to the streets to clear the snow, and some high-speed sections had been frozen into ice mounds, which needed to be removed by forklifts little by little.
At this time, the train line was basically paralyzed, but due to the delay in information, many people did not know the situation outside and were still crowding into the train station.
You must know that Guangzhou Railway Station was relatively large in the country that year, which could accommodate 40,000 passengers.
So at the beginning, people didn't notice the crisis coming, and they squeezed into the train station one after another.
But there was a large influx of passengers, and there was no train to receive them, so they had to wait in the waiting room.
As you can imagine, the train station was crowded with people in the next few days, and a railway employee said that he had not seen a crowded situation at the Guangdong railway station for so many years.
On 20 November, bad news struck, with a short circuit in the high-voltage power grid of the railway section covered by thick ice, burning out the infrastructure.
This failure prevented more trains from starting and could only wait in the station.
At this time, the Guangdong railway station was close to saturation, and the people entering the station could be said to have no place to put their feet.
On the other hand, the passengers who have already purchased tickets are anxious, after all, the holiday is short, and if they continue to wait like this, I am afraid that they will not even be able to catch up with the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner.
The lack of transportation and electricity has made disaster relief work in various parts of the country more difficult, and the whole society has become a mess.
On the 21st of December, there was still no movement of the train at Guangzhou Railway Station, and the passengers felt very anxious.
Even so, there was a glimmer of hope that few people were willing to leave the train station.
Due to the lack of chairs, passengers snoozed directly on the ground, and some people spread sacks under the chairs and fell asleep at night.
The Guangdong station in '08 was very cold, there was no heating and no strong air conditioning, and many people were shivering from the cold.
The worst thing is that there are very few food sold in the train station, and the only instant noodles and mineral water in the small supermarket have long been snatched up by everyone.
At this time, the migrant workers were still relatively optimistic, carrying large bags and small bags on their backs, and eating everything they could eat.
On the 23rd of the lunar month, the passenger flow of the railway station once again reached a new record, not only the waiting room was crowded with people, but even the entrance of the railway station square was flooded.
The public security police seem to help the people in the station, but they can't squeeze in at all, and sleeping at night has become a problem, and there is not even a place to lay on the floor.
In the evening of the same day, the CCTV news column broadcast the latest situation at the Guangdong railway station, calling on passengers not to go to the railway station to avoid a stampede.
However, the people at the train station quickly ran out of dry food, and everyone was on holiday at the end of the year, and it was difficult for the shops to get the goods.
Whenever = disaster strikes, there are always people who take the opportunity to make a fortune, people see business opportunities, and a large amount of water and food comes in from other places.
On the 24th of the lunar month, people can already see instant noodles and ham sausages sold near the waiting station, but the price is very expensive, just a bucket of instant noodles, it costs 10 yuan, and if you want boiling water, add 4 yuan.
Such a price, even today, is very outrageous, not to mention that most of the passengers who rushed the car at that time came out to work, and they didn't have much money on them, and they were reluctant to spend it.
There is no way to be reluctant and can't let people starve to death, so instant noodles and ham sausages have become the best-selling foods in Guangdong Railway Station.
In less than half a day, the instant noodles were sold out after layers of price increases, and the speculative merchants soon realized that the supply exceeded demand and began to buy in large quantities.
This time, the goods they bought were stored in small trucks, and in order to create the illusion of "out of stock", only a small part of them were sold at a higher price at a time.
Later, there were too many people who bought it, and the merchants began to sit on the ground and start the price, and a bottle of ordinary mineral water was directly sold for 30 yuan.
Instant noodles are even more expensive, costing 50 yuan for a bucket, which is more than ten times the normal price.
Don't look at the price of these things, you may not be able to grab the goods, especially the people inside the station, waiting in groups to buy food.
It was crowded for several days, and the toilet near the station was already paralyzed, and there was no place to put your feet.
Some people didn't have time to queue up and simply solved it on the spot, and some people pulled into their pants, and the whole station was in a mess.
The people in the waiting hall are the most uncomfortable, they can't walk if they want to, they can't get out, and the air is filled with the smell of feces.
The worst with a child, crying in the hall, the people around me feel extremely anxious, and they can't wait for this year.
In fact, the staff has been trying to evacuate the passengers, but there has never been such a serious gathering before, and the on-site management is very chaotic.
On the 26th of the lunar month, three power workers received a notice from the unit that there was an emergency fault to be eliminated, and the time was tight and the task was heavy.
Originally, these three employees had already taken a holiday to rest, and it was time to reunite with their families, but they didn't expect to have to deal with work during the Chinese New Year.
The three of them soon came to the 500 thousand volt line tower of the substation, and when they were de-icing, they fell to the ground from a height of more than 50 meters because the line was too thick and the tower was overwhelmed.
The accident caused Zhou Jinghua to die on the spot, and Luo Haiwen and Luo Changming were rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment, and finally died.
The accident notice was issued that night, and the power department said that such a thing should not happen, and immediately set up an accident team to carry out an in-depth investigation.
But no matter how you investigate, the lives of these three people will never come back, and it is really distressing that there was such a big accident during the Chinese New Year.
At this time, there are only a few days left before the Spring Festival, and a large number of people from other places are waiting anxiously, but the snow disaster has also caused damage to the electrified catenary of the Hunan section of the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, the main railway artery connecting the north and south, and the driver cannot run the electrified train at all.
For a time, many trains were postponed and cancelled, and the running trains had to be pulled by diesel locomotives.
In addition to the trains, a large number of domestic flights have also been cancelled, and the mood of people waiting to return home is high, and any small thing can become the last straw for violent conflict.
Those who experienced the Spring Festival recalled that in the days leading up to the Chinese New Year, everyone was angry, people pushed each other, grabbed each other's turf, and quarreled and cried.
Such a large-scale pushing and shoving caused a serious stampede, and many people were squeezed to the point of dulging.
In order to maintain public order and stability, the central government dispatched tens of thousands of military and police officers overnight to the railway station to evacuate the crowd.
"Stay, Guangzhou is also your home!" the policeman stood on the steps and repeated it with a high-powered loudspeaker.
Some people realized that there was no hope for the New Year's train, so they chose to leave the train station and celebrate the New Year in Guangdong.
But there are also people who want to reunite with their families, they usually don't have time, and the Spring Festival train for the New Year is their only chance.
Even if there is no food, they have to stay here, for them, a place with family is called home.
Armed police officers and soldiers opened a life channel for the scene, first transporting people in need of medical treatment, and then distributing food and supplies in an organized manner.
The disaster lasted for 11 days before the 400,000 passengers trapped at the Guangzhou railway station were completely evacuated and the trains began to operate normally.
It can be said that this is the worst accident in the history of China's Spring Festival, and after that, we learned a lesson to avoid similar things from happening again.
Text: Uncle Luo Ying
Edited by Uncle Luo Ying
Resources:
Chinese Government Network - "The Ministry of Public Security Announces Road Traffic Accidents and Motor Vehicle Drivers in 08" 2009.1.12
Civil Affairs News - "Ministry of Civil Affairs Reports on the Recent Low Temperature, Rain, Snow and Freezing Disasters and Disaster Relief Work", February 24, 2008