China’s Magic Travel Weapons: Body Stands, Ostrich Pillows, and Neck Braces

Everybody who has ever traveled has been here: You’re riding on a bus or in a seat on a train for a long journey. You begin getting a little drowsy, your head starts to teeter, and all of a sudden you feel your face fall upon either the shoulder of the passenger sitting next to you or crash into the window. What is perhaps worse is when a fellow passenger’s head falls upon your shoulder and you need to find a way to artfully knock it back into an upright position.

But now, thanks to a few new inventions, this uncomfortable side effect of travel may be a thing of the past. They were specifically designed for China’s annual Spring Festival Travel Season, which is a forty day period that sees two billion trips on public transportation across the country that is often dubbed the world’s largest human migration, but they could actually be used for travel anytime, anywhere.

The first tool is said to be the most popular. It’s called the Hard Seat Gem: a fold-able metal stand upon which a weary travelers can rest their tired head and chest. Apparently, all you need to do is fold it out and set it up like a sheet music stand, and then you have a place to sleep while riding hard seat on a train.

If propping your body up like a puppet isn’t your thing, then try the Ostrich Pillow. Yes, it’s really a pillow that covers your entire head. From what I can tell, you stick your gourd into it like an ostrich sticks its head in the mud when the hustle and bustle of travel becomes too much to bear. You can also stick your hands into the holes on the side to get the full effect.

But if you’re more of a refined sort of traveler, then maybe the Travel Sleep Bracket is your thing. It’s exactly what it says it is: a brace that supports your head and neck while sleeping on the road.

Chinese netizens have dubbed these products Chunyun Magic Weapons (春运神器), and, apparently, they are what’s propping up Chinese gadget-philes as they pack themselves into trains and buses like livestock as their bodies are transported all over the country.