The undated photo taken in the 1980s shows Yang Benli helping a senior passenger to get off her number 10 bus. [File Photo: The Beijing Times]

Yang Benli's hard work won the praise of passengers. In Guangdong, bus company counterparts recorded her voices as souvenirs, while foreign passengers asked to take photos with her.

Yang Benli also won a title as a Model Worker of China and her story has been recounted in training manuals for the public transport services.

In 1984, Yang took her spare time after work, pursuing her childhood dream of becoming a singer. She was successfully enrolled into the Beijing Social Academy of Music. Teachers there told her she got a beautiful voice and she had to give up her job as a bus conductor if she wanted to become a singer. However, Yang loved her job and did not quit, even though she continued her studies in the school of music. "I really couldn't leave my post as a conductor," she said.

Meanwhile, Yang Bensheng was trained to become a bus driver after distinguishing himself in his work.

Motto of Dong's Family in the 1990s: Always don't forget where you've come from!

In the 1990s, the rapid development of the Chinese economy made many people quit jobs and went into businesses. Yang Bensheng and his wife, who was a conductor on his bus, decided to open their own business.

Though Dong disapproved of her son's decision at first, she eventually gave her consent with the warning: "Always don't forget where you've come from."

Motto of Dong's Family Today: Be good and you will live a happy life!

Now, Yang Benli has retired due to illness and the glory of Dong's family has become a past memory.

"I don't care about the glory. It's more important for me that my children try to be good as I wished. I hope that they will live a happy life!" Dong Xiuyun said.

The customs picked up working for the bus company still affect Dong and her family today. The 71 year old often urges people to queue up in line to wait for a service at a bank.

Yang Bensheng who drove his taxi for years after he quit from his former bus company made a personal rule not to charge handicapped people or seniors because it was also a rule on a bus.

Yang Benli, now living in Haidian District, has owned her own car, but she usually takes the number 10 bus she once worked for, just to feel and see the rapid changes that have taken place along the bus route. "The bus is like another home to me," she said.

At present, Beijing bus system is much more complicated than before. By the end of 2008, there were over 860 bus routes and over 28,000 buses travelling in and around Beijing and bus conductors are now helped by electronic bus pass readers that make everything more simple and convenient.

(CRIENGLISH.com September 12, 2009)