Last Train Home Analysis

The film I watched told the story of a rural migration family in Sichuan through the experience of railway spring transport and the family conflicts. Migrant workers are also called "farmers-turned-workers" in China. Those people were born in the rural areas in peasant origin family and most of them go to cities for works today. This film is not a drama but a documentary that reflects the real and tough life of most migrant workers and their families.
As the title of the documentary "Last Train Home" shows, there are many scenes in Guangzhou train station. The Spring Festival is a traditional day for family reunions, and the tradition causes the transportation during Spring Festival as a typical Chinese phenomenon is known as the largest annual

movement of people around the world every year. The experience of Spring travel usually leaves a horrible impression on everyone that has gone through it. Zhang Changhua and Chen Suqin bought train tickets and waited for trains there every year they went out for work. The documentary was filmed in 2008, and there was a rare heavy snow hit the southern China in February that year. The snowstorms in 2008 added pressure on the railway travel rush. Many trains were stopped by the snow and caused millions of people to be stranded in the train station. The government even sent police to hold back the crowd and many people got hurt. An impressing scene that all the people were pressing to the carriage of a train regardless of their images. It is easy to image how many people were in that overcrowded train. The environment in trains was messy and unsafe before Spring Festival, as we can see that three to four people shared one hard sleeper in the film. However, workers wanted to go home badly after a year of hard work, getting a ticket was lucky enough for a migrant worker.
I found that the conflicts were very serious in this family through this documentary. Zhang Changhua even beat his daughter heavily in front of the camera. One factor that causes conflicts is that Zhang Changhua and Chen Suqin expected too much of their children. Every time they came back home, they told their children to study hard. They did not have another common topics besides education when they gathered together once a year. I am impressed when Chen Suqin said that she would rather work harder than have her daughter drop out of school. The mother appeared so sad and worried when she heard that Zhang Qin worked in a factory instead of attending school. Today's migrant labors in China work not only for improving their own living conditions but more importantly, they want to create better educational opportunities for the next generation. Nevertheless, most people fail to consider their children's feelings, they give out their love and expectation the way they want regardless of kids' hobbies.
Although there are conflicts in this family, the problem is certainly not caused by lacking of love. The safety, happiness and future of children were also things that the parent cared about. Zhang and Chen did not want their children to work when they were so young. They knew how hard their work as migrant workers were and expressed their worry about Zhang Qin after she decided to work. The parents worked in a factory, where we can see from the scene that the working conditions and sanitation were poor. They believe that only good education can lead them to get better jobs instead of repeating their life.
Besides the high aspirations for their kids, another reason that causes the conflicts in the family is their lack of communication.

Zhang and Chen could only return home for the family reunion once a year at most. A number of migrant workers in urban China cannot get even a single ticket to go home, which means those people do not get a single chance to communicate with their family face to face in a whole year. The parents went to Guangzhou and left their one-year-old daughter behind because they believed that going to cities can make more money and earn their children a happier life. However, no matter in China or foreign countries, children need more care and company from their parents when they are little. Zhang Qin enjoyed more communication with other workers in the factory. Also, her parents came to visit her more than once while she was in Guangzhou. Although people can enjoy peaceful and comfortable life in the countryside, the choice between working for their family and living with their family was very tough for this family under the harsh realities. The parents were in the position of having to take care of an elderly parent along with two children. Finally, Zhang Changhua and Chen Suqin choose to work in cities for their next

generation.
Overall, even though those workers give up a lot and devote their efforts to change the situation for the next generation, the possibility of changing life is extremely difficult for workers of peasant origin.