A train carrying 1,000 farmers heading to Sanjiang Plain departed from Sui Hua railway station at 16:04 on May 8. It marked the peak of the busy spring sowing season in the central area of Northeast China’s Heilongjiang province.

Irrigated by Songhua River, Heilongjiang River and Wusuli River, Sanjiang Plain is typical of China’s sparsely populated northern moorland areas.

However, the plain is also a major rice growing area, leading to a high demand for labor during the sowing season.

To help deal with the labor problem, a special train service has been launched by Harbin Bureau of China Railway. The new service is designed to transport chayangke (people who help transplant rice seedlings) from other cities in Heilongjiang to work on Sanjiang Plain.

It is estimated that around 45,000 chayangke from neighboring Suihua city will head to Sanjiang Plain on the new train service. The top five destinations are Xinyouyi, Jiansanjiang, Hongxinglong, Huanxintian and Jianjin town respectively.

It is the 19th consecutive year Harbin railway bureau has launched a chayangke train service. Since 2000, the train service has transported a total of 1.6 million chayangke to Sanjiang Plain.

Arrangements for the trains are as follows:

From April 20 to May 17 Suihua-Qianjin Town train

From May 2 to June 11 Qiqihar-Fuyuan train

From May 20 to June 10 Harbin-Fuyuan train

Chayangke board a train heading to Sanjiang Plain at Suihua railway station. [Photo/people.cn]

Chayangke wait to board a train to Fuyuan at Qiqihar railway station. [Photo/people.cn]

Chayangke wait to board a train to Fuyuan at Qiqihar railway station. [Photo/people.cn]