via LIU JIN/AFP/Getty Images
In response to complaints from migrant workers like Huang Qinghong, whose open letter to the Railway Ministry has gained national attention, Beijing’s Internet Cafe Association has promised to provide assistance for workers who want to buy train tickets online but don’t know how to use the internet.
Of course, this doesn’t actually help Mr. Huang at all, as he works in Wenzhou. But it may help some of Beijing’s massive migrant population return home to celebrate the Spring Festival holiday with their families. It also may not. Many tickets are already sold out, and one of Huang’s chief complaints was that online and phone sales were opened days before brick-and-mortar ticket window sales, allowing white-collar workers to snatch up all the tickets before anyone else had a chance.
So, the whole thing may be a bit academic, but it is at least a step in the right direction, and the Beijing Internet Cafe Association has recommended that other internet cafes across the nation also promise to help people who want to buy tickets but aren’t computer-savvy enough to do it without a little help.
It’s not clear exactly what form the “help” will take, or what — if anything — the Association is doing to make migrant laborers and other potential ticket-buyers aware of this new program.