Man Living At Airport Since 2008 Says He Wants To Smoke, Drink Without Family Meddling

People of all kinds are found at airports, some eagerly waiting to reunite with their loved ones, while others grab a bite or have a drink as they wait for their flight. But have you ever come across someone who is living out of an airport?

A Chinese man has been living at the Beijing Capital International Airport for the last 14 years because he does not want his family members meddling with his habits of smoking and drinking, NDTV reported.

The man from Beijing, identified as Wei Jianguo, currently in his 60s, left his home in 2008, and never returned, according to LadBible. He has since been living at the airport, which has three terminals, and Wei has made terminal 2 his home.

In an interview with China Daily in 2008, Wei said he was fired from his job when he was in his 40s and struggled to find a new job because he was too old. Wei took the decision to leave home after his family wanted him to quit smoking and drinking.

"I can't go back home because I have no freedom there," Wei said. "My family told me if I wanted to stay, I had to quit smoking and drinking. If I couldn't do that, I had to give them all my monthly government allowance of 1,000 yuan ($157). But then how would I buy my cigarettes and alcohol?" the outlet quoted him as saying.

Wei said he prepares his meals using an electric cooker he had brought from home and at other times, just goes around the airport to buy food of his liking. Wei said he is accustomed to living at the airport, so much so that he often has no idea what time of the day it is, and has no qualms about waking up to hundreds of travelers every day.

Wei's case is reminiscent of that of an Iranian man, Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who lived at terminal one of Paris Charles de Gaulle for 18 years until 2006 when he was hospitalized. He was forced to live there because the British authorities didn't allow him to enter the nation and French authorities had also refused his entry.