During Spring Festival in 2005, Zhang Wannian and his 50 companions from Sichuan, who visited Shanghai for work, 
managed to get tickets for hard sleepers. Each had bought a ticket from a scalper for 400 yuan (nearly US $50), more than double the normal price of 145 yuan (US $18). Such profit margins-more than 200 yuan (about US $25) create hardships for poor migrant workers. That can be them amount of their monthly food and clothing bills, or even the amount of their children's tuition per term. Even though they suffered great losses, they had to swallow hard, as they had no choice. If they failed to get their tickets, they would have to pay the charge for staying, which would have been more expensive.
In China, many migrant workers hoping to return home during Spring Festival have similar experiences while trying to buy train tickets. For a whole year, they toil in large, strange cities, and when they are finally on their way home to spend time with their families, they have to "give" their hard-earned money to merciless scalpers.
