City Hero, the Factory Cleaner (Afterword: Q&A)

August 31st, 2024:

Q: As you said, life in the countryside has been getting better and better since China’s economic reforms. Why do you still feel the need to go outside of your hometown and work in the cities

A: Well, in life, you’ve always got to look forward. People have to look forward, aim higher. You have to work hard and strive for a better life.

Q: What kind of work do you do in the factory now?

A: I’m mainly tasked with cleaning the factory buildings, the dormitories, and the cafeteria yard. Every morning, after breakfast, I pack my lunch and head out to the factory at 7 AM. The factory has two five-story buildings – one for the workshop and the other for the dormitory. I’m responsible for all the cleaning in these areas, plus the canteen yard, along with another coworker.

Q: Does the factory set specific standards for your cleaning work?

A: Yes, they do. Every day, we have to sweep the floors, stairs, and hallways in the workshop more than once. We make sure there’s no dust on the doors, windows, handrails, and walls. There should be no spider webs in the ceilings or corners, no trash or spit on the floor, so stains on the tiles or marks on the walls. The same goes for the dorms. Outside of the factory’s buildings, we also clean around the factory ground, the factory entrance, the area around the dorms, and the cafeteria yard, keeping visible garbage from these surfaces at all times. The bathrooms need to be cleaned – sweeped and washed – at least once a day. Once a week, we use disinfectant to clean the toilets and urinals, making sure there’s no buildup in the squat toilets, no dirt in the urinals, no spots or marks in the sinks, nothing on the floor, and no smell in the bathroom. So floors mopped, sinks wiped, and toilets scrubbed to ensure they’re free of odors or buildup – we do that once a week. We also empty all trash bins in the workshop and dorms every day, replace the bags, and make sure there’s no garbage inside or around the bins. Sometimes, when the boss has guests over for a meal, I also help out in the kitchen, washing and chopping vegetables, cleaning up, and keeping things tidy.

Q: That sounds like a lot of hard work – it must be quite exhausting. How do you feel about the way the factory treats its workers?

A: It’s alright, not too bad. I’ve heard this factory used to be owned by a boss from Hong Kong, but later it was taken over and run by someone from Hunan. There’s another cleaner who has been working here for 17 years. And there’s this electrician who also lives in Dankeng Village; he’s been working at the factory for over 30 years, moving along with it whenever and wherever it relocated. A lot of long-timers stay here. If the factory wasn’t good, or at least decent, it wouldn’t be able to keep all the people. They would’ve sought another job. Work is work, and as far as work goes, the more you do, the more you get paid. They pay for our social insurance plans and offer dorms for the workers. If you work overtime late enough, they get you free dinner in the cafeteria. I’m over 50 now (50 is the legal retirement age of women in China), so I can’t pay into the social insurance here in Shenzhen anymore, but if I were younger, the factory would be covering their share of the cost for my social insurance too.

Q: In terms of benefits like housing and living conditions, do you get the options from the factory as the workshop workers?

A: Pretty much the same, the treatments are very much equal. I could live in the factory dorm if I wanted to – for just 60 yuan a month. But I chose renting a place outside because the dorms don’t have private bathrooms and cooking in the dorms is inconvenient. We don’t get a housing allowance from the factory, but I do get a 100-yuan bonus for collecting trash. When we first rented in Longhua, we stayed in an old tile-roofed house because it was cheap, for around only 200 to 300 yuan a month. Then the government reclaimed the tile houses and the land they sat on, so we moved to our current rental. The rent here started at 410 a month, and over the years we lived here, that number increased from 410 to 470. With water and electricity, it comes out to over 500 yuan.

Q: What do you usually do on weekends if there’s no overtime at the factory?

A: Oh, I scroll on my phone, haha! WeChat, short videos, that sort of stuff. But to avoid staring at my phone all day, I try to find other things to do, to keep busy. Like, I grow some vegetables on the windowsill. You saw that fish mint (Houttuynia) plant at my place earlier, right? We Sichuanese (people born and raised in Sichuan province) love that stuff as a cooking ingredient, and it’s super expensive back home. I also have some pothos plants. I got that pot of pothos for free, in fact. Lihua Factory used to be much larger than it is now. Lihua Factory used to have two dorm buildings. Around the time I started working here, I heard that orders [from downstream retailers] were shrinking, the number of workers there was decreasing, and the factory owner basically told the remaining workers to move into one of the two dorm buildings, and rented the empty one to another manufacturing company. After the workers’ all moved out, I had to go clean the empty building, and there I found a few pots of green that the owner probably didn’t want anymore. So I took a pot of pothos back and placed it on my windowsill.

Most of the time, I look for side jobs, like cleaning at a tutoring center near a school. I work an hour each time for 30 yuan and do that five times a week. I also clean a dance studio three times a week, earning 35 yuan each time. So with these side gigs, I make over 1,000 yuan a month extra. If I add my factory income, altogether, if I work hard enough, I can pull in over 5,000 yuan a month given that nothing goes wrong.

Q: You’re so inspiring! You’ve really got the spirit of this city – you know what they say, Shenzhen people are always searching for new opportunities, always working hard, and always willing to fight for a better life and a brighter future.

A: Haha, well, staring at my phone hurts my eyes, and it’s such a waste of time. Might as well find something productive to do.

When I worked as a sanitation worker, I would look for extra work – side jobs – after my shifts. There was this time when I saw these volunteers, at a traffic intersection, dressed in red volunteer vests and holding small red flags, directing traffic. I went up and asked how I could apply to be a volunteer, and they told me to join a community WeChat group from the street office. There was a sign-up link where you could volunteer for two hours at a time, and they pay 15 yuan per hour. So I signed up and earned some money with that for a while. When my husband and I both worked as sanitation workers, I worked the afternoon shift while he did mornings. On days when we didn’t have overtime, I’d go to the cleaning company boss and ask him for extra work, like cleaning at the metro station. My husband and I would alternate shifts there too – I’d work for three hours, and he’d do five. Metro station cleaning on top of our main jobs as street cleaners, we each worked about 11 to 13 hours a day.

Q: You both work so hard. If more young people had your work ethic, they’d be able to achieve so much. I’ve interviewed a lot of factory employees, but it’s rare to meet someone like you. You’ve really filled your life with meaning, and I admire how you’ve made the most of it.

A: Haha… Over the years, we’ve saved a bit of money. In 2018, we bought a 120-square-meter apartment in our hometown. It has an elevator but no property rights [property ownership certificate]. It cost over 140,000 yuan, and we paid it all at once. A relative of ours bought a similar-sized apartment in the county, one that’s given an official property ownership certificate. But he bought it with a loan, and it cost over 600,000 yuan because it has official property rights.

Q: Auntie, you bought a house by working hard as a cleaner. That’s amazing!

A: Haha – I guess.

Q: Are you happy with your life, as it is now? Do you feel like society has treated you unfairly in any way?

A: I’m quite content. I don’t feel like there’s injustice, or anything’s unfair. Our parents’ generation barely had anything to eat or wear. When we were young, our family was poor, and even rice was a luxury. I remember that sometimes, all members of a household might share one or two pairs of trousers – whoever had serious things to do outdoors wore the trousers, and the rest were left with broken rag covers. You can’t even imagine that. Life is so much better now. And honestly, you can only do as much as your abilities allow; you should only aim as high as it permits, really. We don’t have much education; growing up, we didn’t have the chance to study much. So, we work within our limits and just do what we can. There are always people better off, but there are also people worse off, when you compare yourself to others. We’re better off than some, but not as well off as others. Those who have the skills can go after bigger things, but for us, it doesn’t help to think too much about it.

Q: Some workers I’ve interviewed feel quite dissatisfied with society. They think their circumstances are caused by the social system at large, and they’re not the ones responsible. They believe their hard work isn’t properly rewarded and that they deserve a better life.

A: Well, it’s up to each person to create their own life! You’ve got to create your own opportunities. Everyone wants a good life, but you have to consider your abilities and situation. You need the skills to create that kind of life. I didn’t even finish middle school, and my husband didn’t even make it through elementary school. We don’t have the skills, so we have to accept that.My two sons, they don’t listen. My oldest is already 27 and still lazy. The younger one, when he was in school, would run off with his friends for days without coming home, nearly driving me crazy! I was so mad I could’ve died. If only they had been more disciplined and obedient, and focused more on their studies, our family would be in a much better position. My eldest wanted to buy a car. He knew a second-hand car wasn’t the best option, and there’re a lot of risks of buying secondhand; it might be water-soaked before, and the engine would be half broken, for example. But he still went ahead and bought secondhand, because that’s all he could afford. No matter what you buy, you’ve got to think about your own situation, your own means. Take my brother, for example. He started working in 1997, and now he’s a chef in a restaurant in Pinghu, Longgang district, Shenzhen city, making over 10,000 yuan a month. He’s brave, willing to learn, and picked up a skill. That’s why his life is so much better than ours now.

Q: It sounds like you and your husband really support and take care of each other. You seem quite happy together.

A: Yeah, we’re okay. It’s not bad. My husband, well, he’s not much of a talker and doesn’t actively seek out opportunities, but whatever I ask him to do, he’ll do it. He’s not particularly skilled or very capable, but he treats me well and takes good care of me. During the pandemic, when I got COVID and he had to be quarantined in a hotel, I was left home alone. It was so lonely at home. It was tough; I wasn’t used to it at all.Some people might have a lot of money and success, but their marriages are a mess. They fight with their wives all the time. What’s the point of all that? So, you see, it all comes down to your situation, to what kind of life suits you. I’m short, so I married someone who matches me. As long as a family is peaceful and gets along, that’s what matters. My only regret is that my two sons aren’t ambitious and don’t push themselves. They recently started working at a sugar factory in Quanzhou, Fujian. I can’t control them anymore, but I told them, “Whatever you do, whether you’re rich or poor, never break the law.”

Q: Do you have any plans for the future?

A: We’ll just keep working here in Shenzhen. If our sons get married and have kids, and they need us to help out, we’ll go back home and take care of the grandchildren. If they don’t need us, we’ll stay in Shenzhen and keep working until we can’t anymore. Right now, we’re saving up for our future, for our retirement, and to help our kids financially. You know the couple that lives right next door to us? The old man is over 70, and he’s still collecting scraps and recyclables here in Shenzhen to make a living and save money. They work really hard, saving every bit they can.

Q: You are the unsung heroes of this city!

A: Hahaha…