COVID lockdowns upset the rice bowls of China's commuter workers

FILE PHOTO: A woman attempts to get onto a bus with other commuters in the early morning, near a border checkpoint with Hebei province, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Beijing, China April 13, 2022. Picture taken April 13, 2022. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo

When the town of Yanjiao near Beijing was suddenly plunged into a COVID-19 lockdown last month, taxi driver Dong Tiejun was forced to drive hundreds of kilometres to avoid roadblocks and get a passenger to Tianjin, a metropolis on the northeast coast.

As an unlicensed, long distance driver, Dong relied on a network of regulars travelling in and out of Beijing via Yanjiao, in Hebei province just east of the Chinese capital. Yanjiao's lockdown from March 13 to early April took away much of his income.