Immigration officer looks to sign off in style at Games
Veteran will end her career after helping to ensure border security at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Yang Zekun reports.
After spending three hours conducting immigration inspections on a hot July day in Beijing, Li Min and her colleagues returned to the disinfection area and removed their protective gear.
They took a short break wearing their sweaty uniforms before turning their attention to other tasks.
Li is an immigration officer at the Beijing Capital International Airport. Like tens of thousands of her peers on the front line of border control during the COVID-19 epidemic, the Beijing native has stuck to her post to ensure the security of the facility, rather than applying for a transfer to another department or requesting leave.
The 59-year-old’s team is responsible for handling exit and entry procedures for business passengers and chartered planes, overseeing the clearance and inspection of international cargo flights and chartered jets that have been transporting epidemic prevention materials since the outbreak started last year.
Strict containment measures to curb the entry of infected people have seen a fall in the number of inbound international passenger flights, but the number of cargo flights is much higher than before the outbreak.
Li’s team used to check about 20 cargo flights a day, but now they need to handle about 60 a day, with the peak reaching 150.
There are about 50 people on the team, which has an average age of about 50. Whenever there is a task to do, seven people form an inspection group. They don protective suits, goggles, masks, face shields and two pairs of gloves, then drive across the tarmac to check each plane and its crew.
“The planes are usually kilometers apart, so we drive over 100 km in the airport every day to conduct inspections. In summer, temperatures on the tarmac often exceed 50 C. The sweat soaks our clothes and mist forms on our goggles in about 10 minutes. In winter, the temperature can fall as low as -20 C,” Li said.
“We usually work for more than three hours each time, wearing the protective gear. We need to climb up and down the planes’ steps to check. We don’t dare drink water during the work period to avoid needing the toilet and having to take off our protective gear. That’s quite challenging for us older personnel.”
As they are unsure whether members of the crew or any items on board have had contact with infected people, Li and her colleagues run the risk of contracting the novel coronavirus every time they board a plane.
“We worry about getting infected, so we are very cautious during inspections, especially since the emergence of the more infectious Delta variant, but none of us complains about the conditions or wants to give up the work,” she said.
Father’s encouragement
During her 41 years on the job, Li has witnessed the development of the immigration system and border inspections in Beijing.
She has taken part in inspections and clearance operations for every big event in the capital since 1980, including the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in 2014.
“I have worked in border inspection in Shanghai and Tianjin, and then back in Beijing. I am so proud to have witnessed China getting stronger — for example, the airport accepted more and more passengers from all over the world after it was officially opened and thousands of Chinese returned after the outbreak,” she said.
Li’s role model, her veteran father, often urged her to be meticulous in her work and to achieve something, no matter what job she did. That advice has had a huge impact on her attitude toward her life and work.
“My father often told me, ‘A soldier never retreats a step when the bugle calls.’ His generation greatly influenced me, making me persist in following in their footsteps to become the sort of person they described — someone who spares no effort to work for the country and the people,” she said.
“The epidemic has been a fight for all of us, so there is no reason for me to withdraw from this battlefield. I have a special feeling about the job, as it has been a part of my life and it echoes my beliefs.”
Like other officers, Li had to pass a test of foreign languages, study the relevant laws and immigration issues and stay physically fit, because immigration-related information is constantly being updated.
After Chinese New Year in January last year, when the domestic epidemic situation was severe, Li and her colleagues insisted on staying at their posts. She worked day and night, even though she was not in good health and faced a high risk of coming into contact with infected people.
Because she could not avoid meeting inbound passengers and goods, she chose to stay at the inspection station’s dormitory in February last year to avoid close contact with her family members.
That meant she was unable to go home to visit and care for her 88-yearold father, who died suddenly last year, while she was on duty.
“My father was in good health, and his death was unexpected. It happened just three months before my father-in-law passed away. My father was a member of the aviation wing of the People’s Liberation Army Navy, and he liked to travel by plane. I promised him that when I retired, I would travel around the country with him. It’s a great pity that we couldn’t do that,” she said.
Li will retire next year. She plans to spend more time with her family as she hasn’t been able to offer them much help in recent years. Even though she had the chance to retire a number of years ago, she chose to work for five more years.
One of her last big assignments will be to help with the border inspections for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, which she regards as a bonus and a fitting end to her career.
“As long as I am at my post, I will do my best to safeguard the border,” she said.
The epidemic has been a fight for all of us, so there is no reason for me to withdraw from this battlefield. I have a special feeling about the job, as it has been a part of my life and it echoes my beliefs.”
Li Min, immigration officer at the Beijing Capital International Airport