Pictures

An Elderly Chinese Street Cleaner with His Granddaughter

by on Monday, June 20, 2011 72 comments comments

In China, an elderly sanitation worker sits on the side of the street enjoying a moment of happiness with his granddaughter.

From RedNet:

Sanitation worker nuzzles granddaughter on street, the brief tender moment of true love captured becoming famous on the internet

Internet post: Happiness and one’s position in society are unrelated

June 3rd, evening, Jin Yunzhong posted a photograph titled “Happiness” on the Fengniao.com discussion forum, featuring an elderly man wearing a sanitation worker vest sitting on the cement wall beside a roadside green belt, his hands cupping the face of a young girl, the two of them smiling and laughing as they touched their noses together.

The poster at the same time said that city cleaners/sanitation workers belong to a group of people who are considered at a very low level of society, who often are discriminated against, and even face safety risks. However, they have their own happiness, and as his grandchild sits on his knees kissing him, a smile and happiness is instantly written across his face.

An elderly Chinese sanitation worker enjoys a happy moment with his granddaughter.

An old Chinese sanitation worker smiles and laughs with his granddaughter on his knees.

An elderly man and his granddaughter share a moment in China.

An elderly sanitation worker laughs with his granddaughter on the side of a street in China.

Comments from Mop:

猫我爱扑:

Happiness has no conditions.

智狐狸:

Sanitation workers are also people…without them, we would be living in piles of garbage.

大大老鼠82:

Very touching.

萱萱轩轩:

Wish them happiness~ The small touching moments in our lives are often the most real!

什锦砂锅:

The greatest people in China are these people at the bottom/grassroots level of society.Without them, could the people above so comfortably eat, drink, and be merry?

潜水员5566:

Respect for the hardworking people of any profession.

爱种菜栽花养母牛:

The most real [genuine, sincere] is the most moving.

忘了给上帝开门:

Love.
My eyes are blurred with tears from looking at these.

佛法無邊:

What a touching moment!
Such sincerity cannot be purchased no matter how rich one is!!

操蛋的未来在哪:

Looking at this photograph I’ve truly began shedding tears, so touching.

一踏起:

This kind of simple happiness is exactly what Chinese society is lacking these days. Everything has become about the material. Going to any lengths for [material] benefit/gain.

A wrinkly old Chinese man smiles happily as his granddaughter sits on his lap.

Tender moments. Personals @ chinaSMACK.

  • http://www.ethansenglishcafe.com Ethan

    It’s the simple things in life that make people the happiest.

    • Boris

      The Chinese comments say it all. The warmth and kindness of these people one meets in the streets on a daily basis is truly touching.

      • xmcx

        He seems to be slacking off, no?

        • fouManChu

          Ya he only “seems” to be a slacker. This is one area where north american municipal workers leave no ambiguity, we have equipped them with extended cab pickup trucks which accommodate 4 sleepers comfortably and 6 on a rainy day emergency.

          On second thought how do we know this is his real grand-daughter. Is that some kind of chinese lingo for generic female under the age of 8; the way sister feng is not really my sister?

          Come here grand-daughter, you can ride my horsey.

  • http://www.qq.com/1325279774 Kedafu

    Song of the Article

    Wonderful World
    Louis Armstrong

  • http://www.tx123.org Justin

    Aspiring billionaires will never have what he has. Hopefully his granddaughter doesn’t grow up to be one.

  • ##BlothaLonely##

    It’s not happiness, just plain loneliness…

    • mark

      agreed, you can always tell when my wife and baby have gone for a few months, i half adopt some of the kids at school. haha.

  • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

    Not only is he the happiest sanitation worker in China, but he is the sanitation worker with the cleanest hands in all of China.

    “Granddaughter, let me put down my filthy dustbin and broom that are so obviously mine because they are right next to me, the person wearing a sanitation uniform, so that I may rub my hands across your cheeks during the middle of my shift!”

    That’s so uncanny.. in that last picture, it’s almost as if they knew that there was a photographer there, like as if they were posing! I know that in my own instances every time that I’m with a loved one, I make sure to face the fictional fourth wall so that my ideal life is made even more so!

    • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

      There’s such a difference between the believable first three pictures to the Hallmark-moment last three pictures that if there were more pictures in the set we would see:

      Picture #7: The happy couple, but zoomed out to allow us to see Chinese Oprah dabbing at her eyes with a tissue at the photograph’s edge while a young child by her side holds a candle

      Picture #8: The above, but zoomed out more to see people waving miniture flags and Liu Xiang running by carring the Olympic torch while supported by WIRES

      Picture #9: The above, but zoomed out further to allow us to see the new aircraft carrier at sea in the background with a jet taking off while one already in the sky draws a heart

      Picture #10: The above, but it is revealed that all the previous pictures are just a reflection in the eye of a giant panda

      • Boris

        Pah! Your gibberish is entertaining, and the LSD obviously helps. But on the down-side it’s making you paranoid. D’you think gramps is going to be the next Lei Feng? “…tirelessly sweeping the streets he continually recites the mantra ‘Long live the thoughts of Chairman Mao’”. “Run over by a speeding Audi, forever shall he remain in our hearts as a symbol of purity.” -A new campaign perfectly timed to counter the rampant materialism and spiritual poverty of the nouveau riche? -And, by Christ, it’s NICK CAVE, not Nick (The Rock) Cage who sings about bees in his face! Don’t quite know what to think of him. Blixa Bargeld on guitar is definitely a plus. But he also rhymes ‘confetti’ with ‘machete’ -which in my book is just this side of evil.

        • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

          Taking it at face value, you have some touching photos of an old dude and some young girl (not literally). There is no infomation about the two, no context to put them in. But, there is text about streetsweeper blah blah harmony, and then as you see from the Chinese comments, what you see here is part of a national design.

          China, like the empire it is, has its citizens see things in a broad “ideological soup that they’re in” (thx Jon Stewart!) so that this isn’t just an old guy showing his love for his daughter, he’s showing his love for his country/his country’s ways/his country’s leaders jia you jia you JIA YOU!

          That said, there are no accidents; everything is planned. Have you ever seen Chinese show this much attention in public? It’s because they don’t. Six photos of intruding upon someone else’s very personal moments without asking nor a reaction in the principles? If there’s six, why aren’t there over a hundred shots? (I’m saying there are, don’t let the question mark fool you)

          For the record because humans were meant to listen to music on CD’s so artificially clear, I do think its a grandpop with his own grandkid (because anything else would be too weird), I do think they love each other, and I do think grandpa’s dentured smile is real I also think the tripod the camera is mounted upon is real, just like that round silver diffuser thing that reflects light is real that’s being held off camera, those guys sitting at the end of the street telling people “bu fangbian” are real and the camera crew and make-up people are real.

          And by Christo-magic, isn’t it Nick (The Rock) Cage who said, “Jabroni, put the bunny back in the box, can’t you smell that the Rock is cooking it?”

          • Tengu

            ’tis Nick Cage, he said it in “Con Air”

            Garland Greene – “One girl, I drove through three states wearing her head as a hat. “

    • Cool Matt

      Wait, are you saying they saw someone taking a photo of them and as a result knew they were being photographed? Unbelievable!

      • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

        No, I’m saying they were called over, one at a time by the photographer/director, to look at the distance behind the camera. Lisp or not, someone was crying out “Piao liang! Piao liang! Now gimmie more passion!” all throughout these.

        • Tengu

          You could be absolutely correct. BUT considering the depth of field i the photo it seems like it was taken with a zoom, from a distance, but I also agree about the “affection gap” which is prevalant in China.

          Maybe I’m being overly rational since I’m a guy who spent Father’s Day in Costa Rica because my daughter hasn’t talked to me or let me see my grandson in three years. (Calm down all of you…I can hear your snickering already!)

          • Boris

            Hi Tengu. Sorry to hear about the family stuff. Hope it all works out. Couldn’t resist commenting on displays of affection in China. Almost every day I eat in a Muslim restaurant. It’s a tiny place with a huge family running it. The adults cook and serve while the children run around like lunatics. When the adults get a break they spend all their time cuddling and playing with the children. When I’m there the kids (who I refer collectively to as ‘the terrorists’) poke, slap and generally harrass me pleasantly. I’ve taken to tickling them and patting them on their heads. I don’t know where you come from, but if I did that in Britain the police would arrest me -after a posse of do-gooders had lynched me! I’ve seen so many parents really display fantastic parenting skills here -much better than what I usually witness in Britain. On the downside, Chinese dogs must be the least affectionate on the planet. All the breeds here are incredibly stupid. Pekinese -thick as fuck! Lhasa Apsa -equally stupid! Sha Pei -bigger than the afore-mentioned two, but still brain-dead. The Chow -possibly the most stupid dog in the world. Pugs have a lot of charisma, but still aren’t wildly bright. If countries were run by their dogs, Germany would be the sole super-power.

          • Lang Lang

            Boris…..I disagree about the dog thing. I have 3 dogs. They are your basic garbage dump scavenger mutts that I’ve rescued off the streets, injured, hungry and scared. When I arrive home they are so thrilled to see I get knocked on my ass regularly. They’re now very affectionate, tail-wagging, happy and healthy dogs. If girls or American friends they are very friendly but they won’t let any Chinese men anywhere near the house. They growl and bark and would tear their limbs off if they had the chance. Most of the men I see walk around with “vanity” dogs(large huskies, malamutes, samoyans,etc) and don’t treat them as pets but as possesions and symbols of their “mastery” over animals. I often walk around my village at night with a few packs of meat sticks and hand them out to strays that are always thrilled to see me and rollover to get their belly scratched. I wish I could do more for them but 3 dogs are already too many.
            On a side note…. At the Hangzhou Zoo there is actually a dog zoo(Hand of God) It’s heartbreaking to see these dogs in those cages. I’ll get close to them….let’em sniff my hand and I’ll be scratching their ears in no time, only to have them start growling and gnashing their teeth as soon as a Chinese guy enters the area. There’s no shortage of these shitheads teasing and kicking the dog cages as attempts to show their manly prowess to their girlfriends. No wonder you don’t find alot of dogs being affectionate here.

          • Foreign Devil

            Hey don’t feel bad. . if I had the choice I’d rather spend Fathers Day in Costa RIca too!

          • Boris

            Lang Lang -hello again. Agree totally about the mongrels. I was refering specifically to the pedigree pooches. Now there’s a question: why are there so many Huskies in China?

          • Lang Lang

            Boris: I’ve asked myself that same question. And in Hangzhou there are ALOT of Huskies living in apartments in the downtown. Hell…even my ugly little mutts have a large courtyard for running around but I live in a small village far from the downtown. You constantly see guys walking these dogs by the riverwalks. My own impression is that it’s a form of “peacocking” for the owners, the husky being some sort of symbol of virility and show their mastery over those beasts by whacking them on the nose until they lie down on all fours thereby impressing the hell out of and tickling the fancy of any Chinese females in the vicinity and making them moist. But I could be wrong. I think we can agree China is Hell for canines.

          • Tengu

            From US.

            In China quite a bit, back to Shanghai on July 1.

            Just remarking about the affection issue because I was dating a woman/professor from Wuhan, when in China…no PDA, holding hands, arms around her or kissing in public.

            In US…different story…we dry hump in the streets!

            Now she had been divorced for three years. Parents are a professor and doctor from the north. When she went home for the holidays she still had to make the pretense of being married because her parents never told the neighbors/associates their daughter was divorced.

            So just some odd first hand observations.

            Now agreed we were talking about grandparents. I saw many grandparents displaying affection. I heard this same affection is not shown by the intermediate generation..just what I hear.

            I’m Italian…everyone kisses each other, even the guys.

            From afar we may sometimes look “…as gay as a treefull of robins.”

          • Tengu

            @ Foreign Devil…I highly recommend The Sportsmen’s Lodge in San Jose.

            If you want to see beaches, monkeys and rain forest…not so much!

  • http://candosino.wordpress.com terroir

    terroir’s troll-template tip-time:

    CHINA DEFENDER: “Harmony, prosperity, happiness… proof!”; “I cried because my heart is pumping true blood of red”; “Are your streets so clean that it is the elderly get swept into old-age homes?”

    CHINA ATTACKER: “Propaganda is a four-letter word”; “Grandpop’s going to lose his job, grandkid’s not going to get one”; “This is chinaSMACK? Where is the sex, racism and suicide stories?”

    The middle line: “Uh, I wasn’t sitting in front of the computer crying.. I was watching Oprah, yeah, that’s it..”

  • Kyle

    The poster at the same time said that city cleaners/sanitation workers belong to a group of people who are considered at a very low level of society, who often are discriminated against, and even face safety risks.
    —————————————-

    All the Chinese people I’ve met here in America are good, smart, and hardworking folks. I’m sure the Chinese people in China are the same. They shouldn’t treat each other badly just because someone has a low level job.

  • Cleo

    What Chinese society would demean or look down upon a street cleaner? In NYC Chinatown, a lot of people would want that job. And I didn’t grow up around Chinese adults who thought there was anything to be ashamed of for being a street cleaner. That makes no sense unless we are a society of psychopaths. People with superiority complexes are rightfully despised as they are in the Stephen Chow movie about the space alien little buddy.

    I think some of these posts aren’t even by real Chinese people. Probably Japanese people who are fluent in Chinese are posting on the forums. Thank god, China is going to require real identification for internet posters. That day cannot come soon enough.

    • 山炮 ShanPao

      It could also be added that its demeaning that these pictures are even an internet sensation. I mean after all he is a human being, are people surprised that he loves his granddaughter just because of his job? Why not show a black man loving his granddaughter or maybe a Chinese man loving a black woman.. wait… been done… now I understand China.

      I also agree with terroir that the picture is very conveniently poised.

      • Kong

        I believe you misinterpreted. The purpose of the post was to show that wealth does not equal happiness. It has nothing to do with the specific people involved. People are not surprised that he loves his granddaughter. They are pleased that one position in society does not preclude life-affirming moments of happiness (as shown via a child).

        Studies have shown that beyond a certain amount of income increase, people generally do not report a significant increase in happiness. Many people actually report less happiness, because they *expected* greater happiness with more money, but were disappointed.

        • 山炮 ShanPao

          I understand your point, but my point still stands. For me, if you love your granddaughter you will be happy to see her even if your life is terrible… wealth is not represented at all in this article (for me anyway.)

          • Breaking News!

            Import of a touching family moment photograph grossly misunderstood as demeaning. Point soundly overturned but declared to be still standing. Heads explode.

          • 山炮 ShanPao

            I didn’t say the photo was demeaning now did I… sounds like someone “grossly misunderstood” a legitimate point of view.

            Go and troll somewhere else, I wont be responding to you again.

          • Breaking News!

            Individual with suspiciously phallic self-appellation confirms previously observed poor reading comprehension ability, still misunderstands import of touching family moment photograph, is ridiculed.

          • 山炮 ShanPao

            I did say I wouldn’t respond to your baiting, but when I saw this comment I just had to. You claim I have poor reading comprehension and fail to realise the importance of the touching family photos. Hmm, conversely it would seem your reading of my comments is pretty poor… I understand these are touching photos and what they are supposed to represent… but I also see that same expression in my fathers face when he spends time with my niece and nephew… my father being a former private school headmaster in the west is a long way from this sanitation worker in terms of social position… its clear to me these pictures only became famous because this man is a sanitation worker… thats the overriding theme.

            My original point was… the fact that this has become an internet sensation is down to this mans job and no other reason, there is also no link here to this mans life, he is simply a sanitation worker to us, and happy at the moment the photos were taking as he was embracing his granddaughter. You would not find a similar story about a banker and his grandchildren though I suspect the love would be equally the same. Is this story a surprise to those who made it popular, can a poor man not have love, is the love of a poor man any different to a rich man?

            Yes it is somewhat touching, but my point, is it any more touching than any other man with any other job showing affection to his granddaughter? In my opinion, no.

            Furthermore, I understand using google translate may lead to you coming to the conclusion that my name has some phallic meaning. However, chinese is not that simple. The meaning of 山炮 is actually closer to ‘village idiot’ than any phallic reference. Clearly by calling myself that name I am not worried about whatever you have to say about the name i anonymously hide behind on a random comments section in cyberspace.

            I’ve read many of your comments on other users posts. Your really not as clever as you believe yourself to be. After all, nobody here is declaring anything, but simply sharing an opinion (often misunderstood by yourself.) The internet is a big place, lots of people say a lot of things. Try not to get so worked up about each any everyone you disagree with, especially if your trying to be humorous.

          • Kong

            I get what you are saying, but I feel you may be reading a bit too much into it. I suspect the purpose was not to blow people’s minds with a shocking never-before-seen image. It’s just a sweet photo that people like.

    • Just John

      Cleo, you honestly are deluding yourself.
      There is always a socio-economic gap.

      Let me ask you, how often do you chat with your office janitor?
      Do you go out shaking hands with your garbage man?
      Would you invite the local mortician to dinner and discussion?

      You claim a conspiracy theory and try to blame the Japanese?
      Need to get off the crack, it is really hurting your thinking ability.

      Maybe we should just blame those space aliens while we are at it? Who do you really think you are fooling?

    • dim mak

      Cleo’s shitspamming across every China related blog has proven he’s got mental problems, disregard on sight.

  • 老外

    I envy him.

    But my comment is too short.

  • Ray

    Don’t mind me, this just looks fake.

    • Boris

      I beg to differ. To me, those smiles seem totally genuine.

    • Boris

      Chinese scientists create the first entirely synthetic pensioner!

    • George

      I was thinking that too. He wears a nice shirt, considering he plans to spend the day sweeping streets.

      • Boris

        Do you put soiled nappies on your baby because the condition is inevitable? Sorry -I meant ‘diapers’. Forgot about Suez for a moment.

        • George

          Yes, good point; I don’t put soiled nappies on my baby. Now, if you’ll please excuse me, I need to go gardening in my tuxedo.

          • Boris

            Don’t eat the mushrooms out there, or your gnomes may dance a sailors’ hornpipe.

          • Boris

            And wait till the sun rises, or the neighbours may start to talk.

  • nonchalance

    salt of the earth. all people in the service trades have my utmost respect.

  • MadeInChina

    Are we sure that’s even his granddaughter?

    • donscarletti

      He’s too poor to be recruiting future 二奶, so I guess so.

  • Appalled@everything

    Who cares if it is a set-up or not.

    I hate the line in the article “city cleaners/sanitation workers belong to a group of people who are considered at a very low level of society, who often are discriminated against…”

    Forgetting for a moment how condescending that line is; by the author’s logic, because these types of worker are ‘considered’ low in social standing, it is therefor simply an amazing and wondrous sight to behold a man of this caliber cuddling his younger relative?
    And we are supposed to be uplifted by this condescension?

    What utter garbage.

    Is this what people are taught in journalism class nowadays?

    Maybe if they had followed these two home to see where they live and provide an insight into their living conditions and the hardships they (presumably) face, this might then be a meaningful story..

    • Breaking News!

      Individual lives up to nickname, accuses observation of social perceptions as condescension, suggests simple moments of happiness amongst members of the lower classes not meaningful next to exhibitions of their living conditions and hardships.

      • Appalled@everything

        More Breaking News!

        Idiot thinks he is clever and leaves asinine replies to poster’s comments.

  • Sam

    Heart Touching Feeling – That’s call true love.

  • Alexander

    I wish people in China could just leave other people alone…… Why are there so many people always getting into other people’s business? Why is it people always want to get into people’s private business, but they never want to help when there is a real emergency?

  • Forrest

    A sweet moment, indeed.
    I predict the next article would be even more touching.
    A 19 year old girl’s kiss saved a man(not her boyfriend or relative)who was trying to commit suicide on the verge of a footbridge in Shenzhen on June11.
    http://news.sina.com.cn/s/2011-06-21/120122678876.shtml

  • dim mak

    Every generation will grow stronger and wealthier, so too will this family. Looks more like a grandson though.

  • http://www.makeyourownpheromones.com Michael Hughes

    Some really great photos

  • 尚若嫣

    It’s moving,exactly.No one has right to discriminate any kind of professions though we won’t do that,because we have other choices. Work is a honor,no one can deny that.

  • Brett Hunan

    He’ll probably get fired when his boss sees he took a break

  • SuperJun

    why are the chinasmack comments so much different …

    • Chad

      Because this is a troll haven

  • Tengu

    You know I travel a lot and take thousands of pictures…hobby.

    Just realized if it’s posed, fake, real or a sudden little snippet into life…it’s a nice picture.

    Kid’s affectionate, nicely framed, man has a great smile and a wonderful face!

    Who gives a shit if it’s staged…

  • OKnapman

    Dunno if anyone has pointed this out already but how many street cleaners do you see at that age with teeth in that condition? looks a bit fishy to me.

    If they knew how to cut down on the cheese then they could have made this a convincing piece. It’s a pity for them that authenticity is not something that can be copied so easily.

    • tengu

      You know you’re right about the teeth…he has a great smile.

      He has the face of (please do not kill me) Tsutomu Yamazaki from “Tampopo” and “Departures.

  • Meh

    All I have to say is … Awwwww!

  • phranky

    True happiness is something money can’t buy!

  • kai chang

    priceless moment… glad someone captured this :D

  • http://www.echinacities.com Earthworm

    Gary Glitter’s really let himself go.

    Glad to see he got his hair back though, the wily rogue!

  • Sieta

    Very very sweet indeed. So wonderful to see something sweet like this.

  • Tufan

    The wrinkles on the wonderful face of the worker say it all: how it started and how it ended for the working class in China.

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  • linette lee

    These photos are so loving make me cry.

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