Overworked cabbies find plenty to complain about

This Lunar New Year most Beijing people enjoyed a week-long holiday of eating, drinking, visiting friends and family and taking their children to the fair.

But one group of people had no holiday and saw nothing to celebrate - the city's taxi drivers.

For a reason no one can explain, the Government designated taxis as 'a special profession', which means drivers are not entitled to the statutory holidays everyone else enjoys. Given the huge surplus of cabs, this designation seems ridiculous.

'I have not had a day off since 1993,' said Wang Hongjun. 'The economy is getting worse, more and more people are being laid off, but we have to pay the same amount every day to our bosses. So I am working each day of the New Year holiday, to stay on top of the payments.

'There is nothing to celebrate. This year will be no better, as spending is dropping. Of course I would like to stop doing this job but I cannot find anything else. The number of unemployed is too high,' he said.

'We joke that they give a taxi licence to everyone who loses their job.' Like many locals, cabbies complain that Beijing at New Year is too quiet, because of the ban on firecrackers, which is enforced more strictly here than in other cities, with 120,000 officials prowling the streets on Lunar New Year's Eve, ears cocked for illegal noises.

'It does not feel like New Year at all,' said Liu Qiang. 'I do not know why the Government does not select special areas for letting off firecrackers, under official supervision. That would be better than nothing. As it is, this week feels just like any other.' Mr Liu said that he managed to take one day off, to visit his wife's family and other relatives and give them fruit, liquor, lai see and cooking oil in large plastic containers, at a total cost of 2,000 yuan (HK$1,860).

'But I have to say that it does not feel the same as when I was a child. Feelings between people are becoming weaker. We are more and more preoccupied with money. We ask if we will benefit from visiting someone. If it is the sick wife of our manager, we go, but, if it is a retired relative whom we have not seen for a long time, then we do not,' he said.

'When I was young, everyone was poor except during New Year when everyone was rich. That was the only time of the year we spent money, so it was something special.

'Now the difference is less, which means that we eat and drink better the rest of the year.' The drivers said that the presents people give at New Year point to the widening gap in income between social classes.

Huang Min said: 'The unemployed, at the bottom of the ladder, give nothing, because they have nothing.

'We cabbies, in the middle, give cigarettes, fruit, liquor - and lai see for children. For business people and high officials, it could be an imported watch, jewellery or even a foreign holiday. That is a small investment if that person has the power to give you something you need.' This growing gap is something that jars with people in their 40s, like Mr Huang, who worked for 20 years in a state-owned steel firm for less than 1,000 yuan a month before he was laid off.

'People like me are falling behind. By the time I retire, my factory will probably not exist and so will pay no pension or medical benefits. So I must buy pension and insurance of my own. But I am nearly 50 and will have how many years to pay?' He looked around at the cars waiting in front of his. 'Look at the Lexuses, BMWs and Mercedes. How much money do those people have and where did it come from?' At the junction are two cars that have collided. One is a Charade, one of the cheapest vehicles on the market, and the other a white Mercedes with a red 'Jia' (first) character on the licence plate, indicating it belongs to the General Staff of the PLA.

'No need for the police to investigate who is responsible for that collision,' said Mr Huang. 'The army car was in the right. They are always in the right.'