Last Train Home

We know that there is a large working class in China and they produce a lot of goods
for the world. Every year, 130 million workers try to return to their homes on Chinese
New Year. This is the world's largest migration. During this period, most people try to
catch the trains with their suitcases and toys, phones, etc. they bought for their
children. At that time, these people still lived in the cities as poor. It is possible to see
children where their parents work. Children study and play here. In the documentary,
we see children sleeping on jeans and on tables where they sew clothes. We see the
parcels carried by the workers on a stage. On these boxes, it says "Made in China".
These boxes go all over the world. Well, one asks whether these people can benefit
from the goods they produce and carry. We see that it is very difficult to benefit from
their clothes and houses as far as we can see. Now showing a textile factory. The
conditions are very bad, they stay in the dirty rooms where they wash their clothes.
Here we can see the value given to the working class. At the same time, as we see
children playing, we see that they have been imprisoned in a factory since childhood.
When they grow up, they will also work in these factories.

It's a big deal to get tickets for trains that they only take once a year and go home.
Workers are talking about the lack of tickets on the table. Even getting tickets for
workers who work every year, perhaps for this time of the year, is a very difficult
matter.

Qin’s and Yang’s mother: We will have to wait until the holiday starts before
looking for tickets.

Another worker: It will be too late then

Qin’s and Yang’s mother: We don’t have a choice

I think it is very sad that they do not even have time to go to buy tickets under the
working conditions they are in. It is very painful to wait for a holiday even to be able
to buy tickets to a place they can go to once a year. It is difficult for them as well as for
their families. Hearing that the Qin family, who are the daughters of this family, still
can't get tickets, she hangs up the phone. They buy tickets and go on a journey, even if
there are barely any expensive tickets left. The journey takes two days.

Qin’s and Yang’s father: When we are home we don’t even know what to say to
the kids.

This sentence really hurt me when I heard it. They never really know their children
whom they see once a year. This is the price of the sacrifice they made for them.

Meanwhile, in the village, their children, Qin and Yang, are engaged in agriculture and
animal husbandry with their grandmother. Qin mentions that now only the elderly
remain in the village and very few people can go to the school. The rest go to work in
the factory like everyone else. There is a lot of pressure on children that they have to
study and finish their schools constantly. This is the only thing the family talks about.
Because studying in the village means getting rid of this cycle.

We can see that the conditions of the trains are very bad compared to this long road. It
is very difficult for people to even find a place to sit. Even though everything is very
difficult and daunting, getting on this train is really important for them. The family was
so poor that their only dream was a good job and money. For this reason, they got on
that train, leaving their children and everything behind. Even if the longing was too
hard, they accepted their fate.

They reach the village. Even though the phone they bought for their daughter does not
replace the love they cannot give them, there is nothing they can do. It is the future of
their children that has made this family endure so much torment. They constantly ask
children about their lessons. Maybe they don't even know what else to talk to them
about. After the family dinner, they set off to return to the factory.

The grandmother also wants them to study and leave here. He attaches great
importance to making them hard-working individuals. We can even understand this
from this dialogue. One day, grandmother, Qin and Yang are having dinner.

Yang: Why don’t mosquitoes bite you?

Grandma: Of course they don’t bite me.

Qin: That’s because she is not dirty.

Grandma: They don’t bite me for I have been a hardworking woman.

Their daughters start working in a factory where their friend works without the
permission of their family members and drop out of school. She talks about freedom
brings happiness despite the circumstances. She talks about the school being a cage
and here at least she earns her own money. I think this means not accepting the fate
they have set for her because of her anger towards her parents. Her family is
devastated because the dreams they've had for years, everything they've worked for is
wasted. The girl is getting used to the city more and more. She goes shopping, gets her
hair done. He also questions why the goods they produce are not in the stores. His
family, on the other hand, persuades him, albeit hard, to at least go home in the new
year. This time, we see that it is much more difficult to get on the train compared to
last year. People wait outside for days because of the broken train track. The reason
why people don't give up is because there is only one time zone to get on this train.
After waiting, they can get in somehow. Perhaps all of the workers are in an
awakening and questioning. They are aware that they are producing for America and
that they do not receive it in return. Somewhere they question why they can't cross
America.

When his parents return home, Yang's superiors fall even more because their son is
their only hope now. The mother no longer works and wants to take care of her son.
Qin, on the other hand, says she lied that such a thing would not happen. Maybe there
is some jealousy here. Her mother, who hasn't been with her all this time, now wants
to stay with her brother. They start arguing with her father and Qin curses. They get
into a physical fight with her father, and Qin says to the cameraman filming them:

Qin:You want to film the real me. This is the real me. What else do you want?

Here, perhaps, she is fully showing her resentment and hatred towards her family. The
disintegration of the family gradually starts from here. The world financial crisis in
2008 also affects China. Many factories were closed and workers were laid off. Qin
started working as a waitress in a club. His mother's desire to take care of her son was
increasing more and more. She returned to her village, leaving all the burden on his
husband’s shoulders unfortunately.