On the road

"You can earn even more than university graduates as long as you work hard enough."

He can also have a day off whenever he wants to, he says, and he does not need to squeeze himself into a subway train or to punch a card when he arrives at work, something many people dream of.

"At the start of the month drivers hand over 3,500 yuan for rent on the taxi, and we need to get that back in the following 30 days. You can make a lot or make nothing. It all comes down to you."

He has considered many other job options, including driving buses in the morning and spending afternoons with his son, or going back to being a chauffeur on a fixed salary and working from 9 am until 5 pm each day.

He relaxes by going fishing on Sunday mornings. But while most of his fellow anglers lounge in chairs waiting for a bite, Hao, opts to do his fishing standing up.

Some cabbies have been in the job for 20 years, a lot longer than he has, but he feels his life has already been enriched after meeting people from all walks of life.

In the job, he says, he meets the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless, the pretty and the not so pretty.

"After seeing so many people and hearing many stories, you begin to realize what is important and what is not important," he says.