Chapter 1384: Chapter 190: The Changhang Bureau’s Scheme
Seated in the spacious and bright office building with its clean windows, Han Yu unexpectedly began to reminisce about the days in the Changhang Bureau’s former two-story small building. With Director Qi heading to the Port Authority for a meeting, Han Yu casually took Xiao Yu along for a stroll straight to the Binjiang Police Station.
The original courtyard remained, with blue bricks and red tiles, and the outside walls of the two-story small building were covered with vines. Upon entering, it felt like time had flowed back to ten years ago, except that the sign for the Binjiang Port Police Bureau under the Ministry of Transport was no longer at the entrance.
Perhaps it was because I was shorter back then, or it could be that after seeing so many tall buildings over the years, the courtyard seemed smaller than before, and the building lower.
Han Yu couldn’t help but recall the days when he represented the Yanjiang Police Station here, participating in the crackdown on illegal currency exchanges, remembered Director Chen, remembered Zhang Junyan, and remembered his sister who once worked here.
However, ten years have passed, and everything has changed.
While he was lost in thought, Xiao Yu curiously asked, "Salted Fish, wasn’t your sister’s old apartment nearby?"
"Not far, just ahead is the old Port Authority’s dormitory area. My sister’s family used to live in the third row to the left as you enter the main gate."
"This place has a pretty good environment."
"Indeed, back then, being assigned to work at the Port Authority was something many people admired."
There aren’t many police officers in the Binjiang Police Station, yet their jurisdiction is quite large.
There were two auxiliary police on duty in the lobby. After walking around the courtyard and not seeing any police officers, they just saw a police van.
Han Yu didn’t wish to disturb their work, so he didn’t go inside the building, and instead took Xiao Yu to continue walking forward along the Port District, recalling the past while walking, unexpectedly reaching near the passenger pier.
Seeing the empty passenger ship berths in the distance, Han Yu lamented, "Binjiang Port used to be extremely busy and bustling, not to mention during the Spring Festival rush. Even during ordinary times, as soon as a passenger ship arrived, the docks and the square were filled with people, shoulder to shoulder, noisy and bustling.
People disembarking, buying tickets, meeting arrivals, waiting for ships, running small businesses, pedicabbing, riding motorcycles, and scalping tickets – all kinds of people, crowded and bustling, from morning till night it was crowded with people. Unlike now, when a passenger ship leaves, inside and outside become cold and cheerless."
Xiao Yu grew up at Bailong Port.
The Bailong Port passenger pier was very busy back then too, he could imagine how much busier a big port like Binjiang Port must have been.
The sights stirred his feelings as he reminisced about the busy scenes of Bailong Port, and he couldn’t help asking, "Salted Fish, were tickets at Binjiang Port hard to get as well back in the day?"
"Harder than tickets at Bailong Port ever were!"
Han Yu stopped and said, "At that time, fourth-class cabin tickets between Binjiang to Jiangcheng and Binjiang to East Sea were the most coveted, because Binjiang Port, unlike Bailong Port, did not have direct passenger ships to East Sea. Binjiang to Jiangcheng had no direct ships, Binjiang to East Sea had none either, all were merely stops made by the large liners ’Jiang Shen,’ ’Jiang Han,’ and ’Jiangyu’ on their routes.
Ticket availability depended on the passenger numbers at upstream and downstream transportation docks, only becoming clear after 3 p.m. daily, hence the ticket windows in the afternoon were always crowded and bustling, with many people waiting in line for two or three hours and still not necessarily getting a ticket, there were even instances of people fainting from heat stroke due to waiting too long in line."
Xiao Yu laughed, "Being a ticket seller back then must have been pretty popular."
"Of course, working at the passenger pier back in the day was a position everyone envied. The head of the passenger station was even more popular, with people constantly following behind, seeking favors to buy tickets through unofficial channels. Our school had many out-of-town students, and every year before the summer and winter breaks, the principal would have to invite the passenger station head to dinner."
"You mean they went through the passenger station head to help your out-of-town classmates buy tickets?"
"Yes."
Han Yu nodded and continued, "Later, we had a senior who transferred to work at Binjiang Port, and a teacher who was from Jiangcheng taught that senior and knew he was transferred to Binjiang Port, thinking it would be easy to buy tickets through him, so he personally visited to ask for help in buying tickets.
But the senior had just transferred to Binjiang Port and wasn’t in the same department as the passenger station, buying a ticket home for himself was very difficult, so he really couldn’t fulfill the teacher’s request and had to politely decline. One time he went to the Port Supervision Bureau on business and met Ningning and talked about this matter, mentioning how he saw the disappointment in the teacher’s eyes when he left and felt a deep sense of guilt and regret."
The late 1980s marked the peak period for passenger transport at Binjiang Port.
In 1987, passenger throughput reached a record-breaking 6.77 million people, becoming the second largest passenger port along the Yangtze River, second only to Hanwu Port.
Although Han Yu was still in school at the time, because his sister and brother-in-law worked at the Port Authority, he would come here whenever he had time, experiencing firsthand the busiest period at the Binjiang Port passenger pier.
Situations shape people, and back then, the staff at the Binjiang Port passenger station made outstanding achievements in enthusiastically serving travelers, with "Leifeng Car" providing free pick-up, delivery, and boarding services for the elderly, sick, weak, and disabled, moving countless people and cultivating moral stars like "Heroine Achievement Pioneer" Huang Hui.
Binjiang Port Passenger Company was rated as Jiangnan Province’s Civilized Passenger Unit for six consecutive years, and many times as the nation’s advanced transportation system collective, and was reported by media outlets including People’s Daily, Xinhua Daily, China Transportation News, Yangtze River Shipping News, Binjiang Daily, having a significant impact both domestically and internationally.
The then General Secretary even inscribed "Yangzi First Window" during an inspection of Binjiang Port, marking it as the highest praise from the central government for Binjiang Port.
However, as times change and society progresses.
With the deepening of reform and opening up, the establishment of the national expressway network, and the opening of three ferries in Binjiang, in the era when "time is money," the ways people choose to travel have become diversified, greatly impacting the Yangtze River Passenger Transport market which used boats for travel.
