A green bicycle and a green mailbag are the only companions he has on rounds. But he doesn't actually ride the bicycle. He uses it to carry letters, parcels and newspapers. "The villages I serve are all on the top of steep mountains," explained Jin. "It's so steep I have to push the bicycle."

Jin works out of the Puwa Post Office, in the village of Puwa where Jin was born and reared.

Located in the Taihang Mountain Range, the village is 1,800 meters above sea level, and one of the poorest in the municipality.

Jin joined the army and was stationed in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, when he was 22. After retiring from the army in 1971, Jin was assigned to work in a military factory located in Qinghe, in northwestern Beijing.

"It took nearly a whole day for me to get home from the factory, with four changes of buses," said Jin. "So I could only go home during festivals or vacations to be with my wife and children."

To be able to live with his family was Jin's main impetus for choosing to be a mountain mailman.

When asked why he has stuck to the job for such a long time, Jin's answer is simple: "I just wanted to take care of my family."

Jin walks an average of about 75 kilometers every day. Six villages, dozens of factories and companies, and hundreds of people rely on Jin and his feet to bring them letters, remittances, parcels and newspapers.

Jin gets up at 5 o'clock every morning and doesn't get home until sunset.

Although in his 50s, Jin is still full of energy and climbs mountains like a young man. It takes him only two and a half hours to cover 10 kilometers in the mountains. "I'm used to it," Jin said.

"I think this is a rewarding job and I like it," said Jin. "I bring people happiness and I gain their respect." When asked how they felt about Jin, the villagers' all gave high praise:

"He deserves a medal for being a model worker." "He delivers our letters even in heavy rain or snow." "He never stops for lunch with us even if he comes at lunch time." "He is so dedicated. He should have a mail cart and a big bonus." "When he retires it will be hard to find a replacement."

The national 108 Highway is the road that Jin must travel every day. It connects all the villages Jin serves. The regular transport drivers on the highway all recognize him, as they have watched him for years trudging alone along the highway. Now they automatically stop to give Jin a lift when they can, which can save him several hours and let him get home a bit earlier. "But when winter comes, the steep and twisty road is closed, so I have to rely on my feet," said Jin.

Jin said there are two basic qualities required to be a competent mailman in the mountains. One is "toughness" because you have to handle fatigue, loneliness, darkness and even danger on the job. The other is "dependability" because you have to stick to your job even if you have to walk 20 kilometers to deliver one letter.

"I have worried about his safety every time I watch him leave home for over 20 years," Jin's wife Wei Shuting said. "His job is too dangerous.

"One time, a tractor he hitched a ride on plunged into a gulley. When I got to the hospital to see him, he had a bloody wound on his head, his leg was broken and he almost died!

"Another time during a heavy snow, he insisted on delivering remittances to people in several different places. He was out for a whole day and night! When I opened the door, I didn't recognize him at first. His face was purple with the cold!" she said.

Jin said he did it because he knew people needed the money for Spring Festival. "But the roads were too slippery to walk fast. I had dozens of slips and falls before I got home that time," he said with a smile.

When he is out delivering the mail, his wife looks after all the business in the post office such as handling remittances and parcels.

Working in the mountains of Beijing for about 20 years, Jin seldom goes to downtown Beijing, although the transportation is much more convenient than it used to be.

But his two children, a son and a daughter, have both left Puwa Village and are trying to fulfill their dream of finding a better life in the city.

"They don't come back home even for the Spring and Mid-autumn festivals when the whole family should be together," the wife said gloomily. "I know they don't like the life in village," Jin said.

Jin Yanming, 31, his son, has followed his father's career as a mailman. But he delivers the mail with a cart. He bought a house in Liangxiang, the central town of Fangshan District which is more prosperous than the Puwa Village.

"I moved out partly because of my son, " said Yanming. "I wanted him to get a better education.

"In Puwa Village, two grades of students shared the same classroom. But in Liangxiang, my son goes to a much better school and even takes extra classes after school."

In the son's eyes, his father is too much of a miser. "He asked mom to mend the socks I threw away and then he'd wear them!" he said. "He never gave us a penny when we were kids. Pickles were the only snack I ever got at that time.

"But once when he saw two beggars in the village, he brought them home, cooked a meal for them and gave them 2 yuan (US$1.25 at the rate then) when they left. Two yuan! I was extremely jealous!" he said.

"My dad thought his job as a mailman in the mountains was good and also stable. He never thought to taste any other kind of life," he said.

Jin Xiaoyu, the mailman's daughter, is 23 and has worked as a salesgirl in downtown Beijing for four years. She rents a house with three other girls.

"I love the city. I love shopping and buying clothes. I love eating hamburgers and pizza," Xiaoyu, dressed like a city girl, said excitedly. "But dad always scolded me for spending money extravagantly. He is a nice person, but his ideas are quite outdated."

When Jin hears this from his children, he is quite upset, "I skimped and saved money my whole life never spending it on myself. I just wanted them to know that earning money was not as easy as they can imagine.

"The 80,000 yuan (US$9,640) I gave my son to decorate his house took me 10 years to save. And I have to save some for my daughter's dowry," Jin said.

Jin has already reached retirement, but his head wants him to continue working until he can no longer handle it physically. "I will carry on as long as they want me," Jin said.

(China Daily March 11, 2002)