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Woman cabbie steers efforts to give fellow drivers a voice

Li Aiju, 39, is known to her fellow cabbies as Orange and is the founder of an online discussion group that encourages taxi drivers 'to speak their minds, to talk about things and people around [them], and to share joy and sorrow'. Ms Li is also a single mother who has plied Beijing's roads for 11 hours a day for 10 years to raise her son.

How did you become a taxi driver?

I got married right after high school and spent all my time bringing up our son and taking care of the family. When my husband left me 10 years ago, the only skill I had was driving. I tried looking for jobs in offices or in shops for more than six months but was not hired either because of my poor education level or my age. Driving a taxi was quite a lucrative job back then. So along with some friends I went to take an exam and became a taxi driver.

What do you think of your job?

I did not expect it to be so tough. I am trapped in the car the whole day, and suffer from back and neck pain. It is not easy to be a woman driver. On average, our physique is really not as good as a man's. Also, when I first started I could bring home three to four thousand yuan a month, but now I can earn only 2,000 yuan even if I take off only one day a month. However, there is both pain and joy to the job. Despite the physical hardship I really enjoy meeting people from all walks of life. I like to learn things from my passengers, especially if they are from outside Beijing.

What are some of the main concerns of female drivers?

There are about 100,000 taxi drivers in Beijing and about one-tenth of them are women. The top concern of female drivers has to be finding toilets. I can now remember by heart where most public toilets are in the city. As a woman this is very important, especially during those special days of the month.

Another concern is safety. I try to stick to inner-city journeys and avoid long-distance trips. Also I won't stop at night if a group of three to four men is flagging me down.

I also would like to have more holidays so I can spend more time with my child and my parents.

Why did you start your own discussion board?

We taxi drivers normally work independently. But I want to bring everyone together and I chose to do this through the internet because I think sometimes people find it harder to say things face to face. I put up a notice every other day.

Before this I had been organising activities for fellow taxi drivers for nearly two years. I wanted to make sure we all drove safely, stood up for our rights and did volunteer work. I want to let Beijing know that we are an industry with a charitable heart.

We have so far arranged road trips for taxi drivers and their families, planted trees and collected donations to support the daughter of a driver who needed a kidney transplant. You can check out the photos on my discussion board. I also hope the taxi company can cut two days of rental fees from our monthly payments. Right now we have to pay rent for 22 days every month but in practice we almost work non-stop because otherwise we won't be able to earn enough.

We are also going to set up a taxi driver club soon to expand our volunteer work.

What do you think of the new rules about how taxi drivers should behave and look, for example, that female drivers should not dye their hair or have big earrings?

I think it's a good regulation. If we women drivers, especially those on night shifts, are too dressed up, passengers might get the wrong idea about us. Even if they do not initially have the intention to rob us, they might start thinking about it.

Also, we are like the name cards of the city. We represent Beijing, so we should look more respectable.

But I don't think it's fair to say that a lot of Beijing's taxis are dirty and smelly. For example, I wash my car and seat covers every day.

What do you think of the role of women in today's society?

The role of women has been elevated over the years. I'm a woman, but am I not also an organiser and manager of men? I also won a 'good taxi driver' award last year for having received no complaints, no tickets and having a clean approach. I donated the prize.

Has it been difficult for you to raise your child working as taxi driver and single mother?

It is difficult, but I have been fortunate. My son is now 17 and I think about him every day when I drive. I tell myself I need to work hard to earn money so I can see him graduate, and even study abroad. My friends say it'd take about 300,000 yuan to send a child abroad so I'm saving hard.

He has always been very independent in his studies. He's studying law at a university outside Beijing. We still chat online for up to half an hour every night.

When he was young, I didn't have time to spend with him, and I had to send him to a daycare in the early years. I feel that I owe him a lot.

My son says that after he graduates he won't allow me to work as a taxi driver any longer and he will take care of me and let me live in a comfortable flat. Last year on my birthday, he bought me a small hand-held electronic massager for my back with his pocket money.

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