This morning as I walked to work, a Shanghai municipal worker was crouched down on her haunches, polishing a garbage bin. She had already carefully washed it down and was now rubbing shine into the metal containers with a suede cloth. It sparkled. The garbage can sparkled.
Near her, another municipal worker was meticulously piecing together his own broom, using the branches from some bushes nearby that he had just trimmed. The sidewalks of Shanxi Nan Lu were impeccable at 6:30am.
All traces of the previous day’s phlegm, snot, cigarette butts, baby poo and chicken bones were gone. Leaves were swept up with the recycled-trimming broom. It was shining.
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