There are 1,343 kilometers between Wuxi City in Jiangsu Province and Liquan County in Xianyang, and taking the train takes nearly 24 hours, but a young man from Liquan decided to walk home. Although he had to take a vehicle midway due to a leg injury, he still walked more than 1,000 li. He said he could persevere in walking in order to allow his sister to go home to visit their parents.
Decision
Walking home to see his child
Wang Gangwei, 27 years old this year, is from Dazhangzhai Village in Liquan County, and he will become a father in just over ten days.
In recent years, Wang Gangwei and his wife have been working at an electronics factory in Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province. On July 24, 2012, the two got married. After the marriage, his wife stayed at home because she was pregnant, while Wang Gangwei went to Wuxi alone.
Because his wife’s due date was February 10, 2013, which is the first day of the Lunar New Year, Wang Gangwei planned to work until February 4 to go home to take care of his wife and prepare for the New Year. However, the factory informed him that the holiday would only start on February 8. “There will be a lot of people then, and I might not even be able to go home. Even if I do, I won’t be of much help.”
Therefore, Wang Gangwei chose to resign. Once, while chatting with a friend, the friend jokingly suggested buying a tricycle and riding it home. Wang Gangwei thought cycling was not as good as walking, and thus the idea of walking home was born.
After making the decision, Wang Gangwei wrote on the Liquean Bar in Tieba: “My child is about to be born, and I’m about to become a father. But the child in me hasn’t completely disappeared. I, an ordinary person, am unwilling to be ordinary. I can’t achieve earth-shattering feats, but I crave excitement. At least I have years of experience in long-distance trekking. After thinking for two days, I finally made up my mind—before the child is born, before the Spring Festival, before turning thirty and settling down, let me play one more time. At the start of the new year, when everything is renewed, I want to experience that thrill from over ten years ago again. I plan to set off around the 12th and walk over 2,600 li home for the New Year.”
Journey
Resting by the roadside when tired
After deciding to walk home, Wang Gangwei bought outdoor shoes, a raincoat, a flashlight, and other items. On January 12, 2013, he set off on his journey home.
Wuxi City – Changzhou City – Zhenjiang City – Yangzhou City – Lingbi County – Suzhou City – Yongcheng City – Ningling County – Sui County – Tongxu County – Weishi County – Xinmi City – Dengfeng City – Luoyang City – Xin’an County – Yima City – Mianchi County – Sanmenxia City – Shanzhou District – Lingbao City – Tongguan County – Huayin City – Hua County – Weinan City – Gaoling County – Jingyang County – Doufuliu Village in Qiandong Town. This is the route map drawn up by Wang Gangwei. Because his wife’s family is near Doufuliu Village in Liquan County, he set the endpoint there.
After setting off from Wuxi, he didn’t reach the intended destination for the first two days. To lighten his load, he threw away all the extra items he was carrying. To make good time, he slept only six hours a day and finally reached the intended location on the fourth day, but he also developed two blisters on the soles of his feet. “There was no choice but to lance them and keep walking.”
“Sometimes I walk at night, and when I get tired, I cover myself with the blanket I carry and curl up by the roadside to rest.” Wang Gangwei said, “Near Tianchang City in Chuzhou, Anhui Province, I once slept twice in a graveyard because I was too tired, so I wasn’t very scared.”
Along the way
Walking and taking photos along the way
After leaving Tianchang City in Chuzhou, Anhui Province, Wang Gangwei met a scavenger. “I don’t know why he left his hometown, but seeing him walking weakly, I wanted to buy him something to eat, but there were no supermarkets nearby, so I could only give up.” Wang Gangwei said.
In addition to making his way, he also used his mobile phone to photograph everything he saw and heard along the way, “especially the scenery you can’t see in the north.”
On January 17, Wang Gangwei arrived near Hongze Lake in Jiangsu Province. Having never been here before, he decided to go to the lakeside. There were no main roads by the lake, so he walked along small paths. “Maybe I was walking a bit too fast and accidentally twisted my left leg.” he said.
By Hongze Lake, Wang Gangwei met an Uncle Wang. Uncle Wang has no children and lives alone. He is very hospitable. After hearing about Wang Gangwei’s story, he invited him to his home, “made some very thick sugar water for me to drink, and I secretly slipped a hundred yuan under his bed when I left.”
After writing about this on the Tieba forum, a netizen replied to Wang Gangwei, “Those who love others will always be loved in return.”
On January 17, Wang Gangwei unfortunately twisted his foot by Hongze Lake and also developed blisters on his feet, making it impossible to continue hiking. Xiao Wang felt that giving up hiking like this was truly regrettable, so he decided to take a vehicle for the section from “Lingbi County – Suzhou City – Yongcheng City – Ningling County – Sui County – Tongxu County – Weishi County – Xinmi City” to recover from his injury, and after healing, he would restart the journey from Dengfeng and walk all the way back home.
On January 21, he passed by the Shaolin Temple at Mount Song. On January 22, he arrived in Xi’an, Shaanxi. From there, Xiao Wang started hiking again, walking from Xi’an back to his hometown of Liquan. At around 10 a.m. on the 23rd, he finally arrived home. Although he couldn’t hike part of the way due to the injury, the total journey from Wuxi to Liquan in Xianyang added up to nearly a thousand li. In Xiao Wang’s words, “At least I haven’t disgraced the face of us Shaanxi people.”
Motivation
Hoping his sister will come home
Wang Gangwei has an elder sister named Wang Moyan, originally named Wang Aini, who is 36 years old this year. Due to a conflict with her family, she hasn’t returned home for many years. Wang Gangwei explained that their parents are now quite old, and their mother is in poor health. The elderly particularly miss their daughter and hope to see her.
“At first, my sister still kept in touch with me, but when I got married and invited her, she didn’t come back. After that, I don’t know where my sister went. My family initially looked for her, but now no one is looking anymore. But I know my parents want to see her, so I will definitely keep looking for her and persuade her to come home.”
“How can a younger brother feel at ease when his sister is completely out of contact? How can I call myself filial if I can’t share my parents’ deepest sorrow?” This is a line Wang Gangwei wrote on the Tieba forum.
Wang Gangwei said he decided to walk back from Wuxi, definitely not to enjoy the scenery, but just to attract media attention through this method, and then tell his sister through the media that their parents wanted to see her and hoped she would come home, “even if she only comes back to visit them once a year.”
As he began walking home, Wang Gangwei became famous on Tieba (a Chinese online forum), with many people following his journey. He also hoped more people would know about his story, “maybe my sister will find out too.” Along the way, he posted on Tieba via his mobile phone: “I’m now sleeping on a grave in the wilderness, enduring cold, pain, and danger that you can’t imagine. All I want is to beg everyone — tell everyone you know. Maybe someone knows where my sister is. Please get in touch with me. I will definitely keep going until the end, because my family doesn’t even have a single family photo together.”
Wang Gangwei said he would keep looking for his sister because he didn’t want his parents to be heartbroken, and he also hoped his sister would understand his good intentions. “As long as my sister can come back, I’d be willing to walk like this ten times, even a hundred times,” he said.