China’s ‘family bridge’: Courier reconnects elderly parents with children working abroad

Over 110 million Chinese live and work far from home, often leaving elderly parents behind in remote villages. For one former courier from Hubei Province, that distance became a mission.

Tian Rui, 39, spent years delivering parcels through the mountain hamlets of Yichang. Along the way, he built close personal connections with many elderly residents whose children had moved to big cities or overseas for work.

Last year, Tian decided to offer a new service — acting as a middleman between the isolated seniors and their distant families.

So far, he has made over 200 trips across the county on behalf of sons and daughters living far away. Sometimes he brings groceries, medicines or birthday cakes. Sometimes he just comes to check in and have tea.”What they really want is to know their children are thinking of them and to have someone to talk to,” Tian told Jiupai News. His most distant client, he said, lives in Bolivia.

Before each visit, Tian confirms the address, finds out what the senior might need, and then records video of the entire visit. He edits the footage and sends it to the family. He doesn’t charge for short trips, only asking for fuel reimbursement for longer ones.

In one case last December, he visited an elderly man and spent several hours with him. The videos he sent to the man’s family would be the last time they saw him — the man died four months later.

In another visit, Tian met a 100-year-old woman on behalf of her grandchildren. Spry and sharp, she insisted he stay for dinner and recounted the birthdays of all 16 of her grandchildren.

For many seniors, loneliness is the biggest challenge. Many ask him when he will return.

With his stories going viral on mainland social media, Tian has been praised as a “family bridge” — using delivery routes and social media to reconnect severed family ties.