Living with family can be overwhelming at times, and many feel annoyed and trapped by the constant harassment.
For Wei Jianguo, a Chinese man in his 60s, the solution was to move to Beijing Capital International Airport, where he has reportedly lived for 14 years, so he can smoke and drink as much as he likes.
A nod to Tom Hanks’ Viktor Navorsk in the 2004 film The Terminal — where a tourist is forced to live at JFK Airport — Mr. Wei has placed his food, belongings and sleeping bag in a waiting area.
Wei Jianguo (pictured), a Chinese man in his 60s, moved to Beijing Capital International Airport, where he lived for 14 years
Mr. Wei has placed his food, drink, belongings and sleeping bag in a waiting area of the terminal
He said he will not return home because he will then be forced to quit drinking and smoking – a habit he delivers with his monthly state allowance.
In 2018, he told China Daily, “I can’t go back home because I don’t have freedom there.
“My family told me that if I want to stay, I have to stop smoking and drinking.
If I couldn’t do that, I had to give them my monthly government allowance of 1,000 yuan (£119.43) in full. But then how would I buy my cigarettes and alcohol?’
Mr. Wei lives in Wangjing, about 12 miles from the airport. He moved in 2008 and has taken up residence in Terminal 2, which is “warmest”, but has previously told Pear Video he sometimes visits Terminal 3.
He started sleeping in train stations and airports after falling out with his family.
While he goes out when he needs to shop, he doesn’t like to leave the airport because “he doesn’t get cold here,” Mr. Wei told Pear Video
Mr Wei said he will not return home because he will then be forced to quit drinking and smoking – a habit he fulfills with his monthly government allowance
The man said he gave up looking for work and was fired from a job in an internal combustion engine factory in his 40s because he was “too old”.
While he goes out when he needs to shop, he doesn’t like to leave the airport because it “doesn’t make him cold,” Mr. Wei told Pear Video.
The outlet also spoke to staff at the airport, who said Mr. Wei was harmless even though he was a loud drunk.
A worker said that Mr. Wei was encouraged to leave a few times, but “every time we mentioned it, he got drunk and lost his temper.”
He added that the airport resident does not bother other passengers and – since the terminals are warm – does not “freeze” during Shunyi District’s cold winters, when temperatures can plummet to -13 °C (8.6 °F). .
According to China Daily, Mr Wei is not the only resident at the airport, and in 2018 up to six people like him were believed to be living – with a man who was “notorious” for blowing Chinese opera music from his radio.
The world’s most famous airport resident is Iranian Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who lived in Terminal 1 at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport for a whopping 18 years – from 1988 to 2006, when he was hospitalized.
Refugee Mehran Karimi Nasseri, on whom the 2004 film The Terminal is based, was forced to settle at Paris airport after being sent here, his last port of departure, by the British authorities because he was trying to get to France Britain had failed.
The French authorities also refused him entry and left him stuck in the terminal.
While 18 years is a long time, Turkey’s Bayram Tepeli spent an amazing 27 years at Ataturk Airport, where he moved in 1991 due to issues with his family, before closing in 2019, according to Daily Sabah.