Chongqing - For more than 40 years, Ran Guanghui has climbed up and down the steep stone steps of Chaotianmen, a bustling wholesale market district in this mountainous southwestern Chinese metropolis. On his shoulders, he has carried not only heavy bundles of fabric and boxes of goods but also the weight of his entire family.

He is a husband, a father of three children, and a bangbang - a traditional porter unique to Chongqing, a city known for its dramatic hillsides and staircases that have long challenged conventional transport. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, large numbers of rural laborers poured into Chongqing seeking work, and a distinctive profession was born: porters who roamed the streets armed with nothing but a bamboo pole, ropes and handcarts, ready to haul anything from household appliances to wholesale merchandise up and down the city's countless steps. The bangbang, named after the distinctive sound of their bamboo poles striking together, became an indispensable part of daily life in pre‑modern Chongqing. Their ranks grew so numerous and their presence so iconic that in 1997, a popular Chongqing dialect TV series -Bangbang in the Mountain City (山城棒棒军) -brought the bangbang community to national and global attention, turning these humble laborers into cultural symbols of the city.

In 2010, Ran Guanghui's life changed in an unexpected way. A university student and aspiring photographer named Xu Kangping spent a month documenting the lives of bangbang porters in Chaotianmen. One afternoon, Xu noticed a shirtless porter carrying an enormous green sack down a steep staircase - the man's back bent under the weight of the goods, his right hand tightly gripping the small hand of a young boy. He raised his camera and clicked the shutter, freezing a moment that would soon resonate across China. The photograph went viral on the internet, and netizens were deeply moved by the image of a father so visibly shouldering his family's livelihood while protecting his son's future. One widely repeated comment observed that “he was carrying his family on his shoulders and holding the future in his hands."

Ran and his son Junchao became an overnight sensation. Yet for Ran, fame changed little. "Famous or not, I still earn a living with my strength," he says. While some offered him opportunities to monetize his fame - to become a blogger or live‑streaming host - he declined. "I'm not highly educated. I'm not familiar with the internet. So I don't want to do that," he told a reporter.

Instead, he kept working. He earned a reputation among Chaotianmen merchants as the most reliable porter around. "Rain or shine, he's here almost every day of the year," one shop owner said. "If you call him, he'll always show up." Fellow vendors and porters look out for one another -Mr. Liu, a merchant who has worked with Ran for more than two decades, routinely heats up Ran's homemade lunch alongside his own, a small but meaningful gesture born of years of mutual trust. Every yuan saved on meals, Ran explained, becomes money he can send to his children - 300 or 400 yuan a month (roughly $44–59 USD) - enough to cover a week’s living expenses for one of them.

In 2016, Ran achieved a milestone that once seemed out of reach. He took out a bank loan and bought a second‑hand apartment of more than 60 square meters near Jiefangbei, Chongqing's central business district - a neighborhood not far from the Chaotianmen steps where he had hauled goods for decades. The purchase, financed entirely by his own physical labor over many years, transformed the family's living situation from cramped rented quarters to a home of their own.

In January 2026, Ran Guanghui received a formal honor that recognized what millions of online viewers had already felt for years: he was named one of the "Touching Chongqing" Person of the Year. The awards program, now in its 20th year, was launched by the Publicity Department of the CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee to honor ordinary citizens who embody perseverance, self‑improvement and moral courage. For 2025, Ran was officially cited as "The Indomitable Porter of Chongqing."

The title carries deep resonance. In Ran, people see not just an individual who endured grueling physical labor for decades, but a living symbol of Chongqing's resilient and optimistic character - a personification of the city's indomitable spirit. Official commentary accompanying the award noted that Ran's story "once again touched countless netizens and is hailed as 'the most beautiful footnote of strivers.'" 

Today, the bangbang profession is rapidly disappearing. With advances in transportation, expanding road and rail networks, and the rise of e‑commerce logistics, the need for human porters has sharply declined. Yet in the collective memory of Chongqing's residents and beyond, the bangbang hold a lasting place - a reminder of the city's steep geography, its port economy, and the gritty determination of the laborers who once carried its commerce on their backs. As one merchant who worked with Ran for over 20 years put it: "When we entrust our goods to him, we feel completely at ease." It is trust born of decades of reliability - trust that no matter how heavy the load or how steep the steps, the job will be done.

Now in his 60s, Ran says he will continue working as long as his body allows. "Unless I'm no longer physically able to work and have to retire, I will keep doing this job. As long as the family is happy, nothing is too difficult," he said with a smile. Photographer Xu Kangping, who has remained close friends with the Ran family for nearly 16 years, continues to document their journey. In a 2024 reunion, he photographed Ran and his son at the exact same spot where the original photo was taken. Little had changed about Ran himself: He's still the same hardworking bangbang as before.

The story of Ran Guanghui is more than a tale of one porter's perseverance. It is a microcosm of China's rapid urbanization - a reminder that behind the skyscrapers, elevated highways and booming e‑commerce warehouses, millions of ordinary workers have built better lives for their families one step at a time, one load at a time. In Ran’s own words: "As long as the family is happy, nothing is too difficult."

And so, every morning, long before the sun crests the hilltops of Chongqing, Ran Guanghui still straps on his bamboo pole, grabs his handcart and walks toward the market - a steady, unbroken rhythm at once humble and heroic, carrying on.

(Photos provided by photographer Xu Kangping.)

(Dong Baoxu and Mu Dimeng, as interns, also contributed to this article.)