Chinese man goes viral for travelling 320 km daily to be with his wife, netizens call it 'love'

The Chinese social media is praising a newly married man whose story of spending six hours daily commuting from his office to his house and vice-versa has gone viral. 

The man has been making a 320-kilometre round-trip to ensure that he is back home for his wife, as reported by the South China Morning Post.

Lin Shu, 31, shared his videos on Douyin, a Chinese version of TikTok, and spoke about his daily journey which he called “the longest commute distance”.

The man wakes up at 5:00 am (local time) and starts his journey from Weifang, Shandong province in eastern China at 5:20 am (local time).

It takes him 30 minutes to reach the station with the help of an e-bike and then he boards a train at 6:15 am (local time).

The man then reaches Qingdao in Shandong's eastern part at 7:46 am (local time) and finally boards a 15-minute underground subway to reach his office.

He gets some time to have breakfast in the canteen of his company before he starts his work at 9:00 am (local time).

After finishing his work, he again travels for three or four hours to reach his home.

Lin's wife is from Weifang in Shandong province and hence they decided to purchase a flat there so that she can have a “sense of security”.

However, the man said that he will not be commuting like this for his entire life as his wife is searching for a job in Qingdao and they may settle there if everything goes as planned.

He further said that he did not find commuting difficult because of “the convenience of intercity transport”. 

The social media users appreciated the man for commuting for so many hours to live with his wife and said that the hard work was worth it “because of love”.

One of the netizens calculated that commuting must cost the man around 1,600 yuan (US$220) every month.

Lin's video received seven million views on Douyin. “Six hours a day. He must love his wife very much,” said one person.
“How much does he earn a month to keep up a lifestyle like this?” asked another.

Meanwhile, another person said that Lin’s commute time is not unusual, “there are so many people who travel so far every day who work in Beijing and live in Tianjin or Hebei.”