Taxis join the queues at Hongqiao Airport in Shanghai. Bad traffic conditions, rising rental and fuel charges make it harder for cabbies to make a decent living. Provided to China Daily

Hangzhou: West lake dreams

Hai Liang cannot remember how many times he has made a stop at Hangzhou's majestic West Lake since he started driving a taxi here six years ago.

"At least once every day," the 39-year-old cab drivers says.

And all those times he dropped off tourists visiting the World Heritage site, he had hoped that, one day, he could get out of his little cab and join the sightseers so he can take a photograph to send back to his family in Henan province.

"They say those who fail to visit the West Lake have not really seen Hangzhou.

In that case, I'm really not a 'qualified' resident," Hai says, tongue-in-cheek, although he can drive his passengers to every restaurant, hotel, or even public toilet around the lake.

There is no time to linger.

"All I do is work and sleep," he explains.

"If you do not forge ahead, you are driven back. And in my case, if I take off even for a single day, I will lose 300 yuan at least."

Like the other nearly 20,000 taxi drivers in Hangzhou, Hai works 12 hours a day, seven days a week, year-round. In return, he can bring home 3,000 yuan or so a month.

"I have to pay 300 yuan to the company and 100 yuan for gas every day, which means I will start making money only after the first 400 yuan," he says.

But for Hai, who comes from the most densely populated province in China, life in Hangzhou is more "isolated" and "monotonous".

Since they arrived from Henan in 2005, Hai and his wife, a cleaner in a motel, have not had time to visit any of Hangzhou's many scenic attractions, nor have they enjoyed any of the city's famous cuisine.

They have no time to make friends with the locals.

Their biggest joy is a phone call once a week with two teenaged children back home who are about to finish high school.

Hai is only one among thousands of Henan migrants who live and work in Hangzhou who account for about a quarter of the total number of taxi drivers in Hangzhou.

Hai was told Hangzhou offered better opportunities, but he's not too sure about that now, especially where the living conditions are concerned.