"My family told me if I wanted to stay, I had to quit smoking and drinking"

Mirroring Tom Hanks’ Viktor Navorsk in the 2004 movie The Terminal – where a tourist is forced to live at JFK airport – Mr Wei has a set up of his food, belongings, and sleeping bag in a waiting area.

He said he won’t return home because then, he’ll be forced to quit drinking and smoking – a habit he supplies with his monthly government allowance.

In 2018 he told China Daily: ‘I can’t go back home because I have no freedom there.

‘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 (£119.43). But then how would I buy my cigarettes and alcohol?’