What changed
Gao Ru has been named one of China’s 2026 top 10 sanitation workers, after 32 years on Changchun’s streets. She leads the Yingbin sanitation team in Lvyuan district, where workers remove cigarette butts and scraps from fallen leaves along the Route 54 tram corridor without clearing the leaves themselves.
Gao joined sanitation work in 1994, became a team leader and, in 2016, returned after surgery for thyroid cancer. She is the only sanitation worker from Jilin province to receive the honour since the selection began in 2025.
Why it matters
Changchun’s “do not sweep the leaves” route sounds simple until someone has to keep it clean. On Chun Cheng Avenue, the leaves stay for the scenery, while workers crouch down to find the rubbish hidden underneath. That turns ordinary street cleaning into careful, almost forensic work.
Gao’s team also watches the boundary between a good photograph and a dangerous one. Visitors gather near the tram line, so her instructions put worker and visitor safety first. The route’s appeal depends on preserving the autumn view without treating the street as a backdrop free of practical risks.
The award recognises more than Gao’s personal endurance. It puts a name to the quiet labour behind a city attraction: keeping the leaves in place, removing what should not be there and reminding visitors where the tram runs. Gao says the honour belongs to the whole Yingbin team. Her own next task, she says, is still to lead it.
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