Not talking trash

A garbage collector with a flair for English savors his online celebrity in Beijing and Hangzhou, Zhang Yue reports.

Kuang Zhiqi, a Beijing resident living near Nanluoguxiang hutong, met Li Jing'ang, a trash collector, amid a small crowd on a street in Beijing in early September. Li was talking to a young woman from Belgium in English. Kuang saw "a little, very plain-looking man in bright orange uniform on the street, with a large garbage truck behind him." He found the scene to be a bit funny, and thought, "Is this man a fraud or something?" It was so surprising to see a street cleaner speaking such good English.

Nanluoguxiang is a transformed hutong street that attracts many foreigners.

One month later, the trash man soared as an online celebrity as a video of him talking to foreigners in fluent English, and eagerly teaching pedestrians oral English, became an online hit in China's popular social media platforms, especially Sina Weibo.

That was just one among Li's many friendly, vigorous conversations that he started with people around him since he left his home in suburban Zaozhuang, Shandong province, for Beijing on Sept 3.

He describes his visit to Beijing as "travel to the capital city and to meet more people, especially foreign people because Beijing is an international city."

This was not his first visit to Beijing. Li recalls that during his days being a teacher, he was invited to a student's wedding in Beijing 10 years ago.

Before working as a trash collector in Beijing, Li, who graduated as an English major in 1981, had been working as an English teacher in his hometown Zaozhuang in Shangdong province for more than 10 years before he became a grassroots official in 1993. Even then, in his spare time, Li still had a private class at home, teaching about 20 students English with his wife teaching mathematics. The classes took place after day school and during weekends. In his class, Li insists on speaking English.

Li attributes his passion for English to his college teacher, "so great" that he fell in love with the language.

In 2003, when his son was in high school, Li bought a desktop computer for his son so the boy could broaden his knowledge through the Internet.

And for the elder Li, the Internet quickly became a vital tool for his English lessons.

"I love watching CCTV News, BBC and CNN," he says. "My favorite programs on CCTV are Dialogue and Culture Express. The anchors all speak very good English. I like Yang Rui most. He looked very calm and objective on the program. I presume he must be a very kind person."

Kuang, the man in his late 40s who met Li the second day he arrived in Beijing, says he appreciates Li's persistence very much.

"I think he should not earn a living by working as a trash collector," Kuang says. "It's hard labor for him. I invited him to my home and he gave my 16-year-old son several English lessons, and they worked out quite well."

Now Kuang Weihao, the 15-year-old son of Kuang Zhiqi, studies with Li every day after school. Li comes to Kuang's home and assists the boy in homework for one hour or two, with an hourly salary.

"For most of the time, he reads and speaks in English and quickly explains it in Chinese," the boy says.

Li now has five students to teach, including a woman in her 50s, and two 7-year-olds. He teaches in a spare room at Kuang's house.

During the month he worked as a trash collector in Beijing, Li shared a dorm with other nine cleaners. He got up at 3 am, studied English for one hour, and started working at 4 am like his colleagues.

"We all consider him a great, great person," says Li Guicai, who used to share the dorm with Li. "When he got up at 3 am, he studied English under the street lamp. We just do not understand why he wants to work as a cleaner."

Matthew Homes, a man from the UK who met Li recently on the street, does not find him to be that surprising.

"He came up to me when I was walking my dog," he recalls, "And he started to talk to me about Shakespeare. It was quite interesting. But I did not know he had such strong popularity online for speaking English. Every one has the access to learn."

As he worked on the street, Li would find chances to start up conversations with passing foreigners.

"They are very friendly to me," Li says. "But I have never seen a middle-school student start conversation with a foreign person on the street. I do not understand why. There are so many foreign people in Beijing, and you can practice yourself! In my hometown, there is no chance you can meet so many foreigners."

Li says his first conversation with foreign people took place in a small restaurant in his home city Zaozhuang 10 years ago, when several older foreign women were eating dumplings.

"It was very rare to meet foreign people in a small, third-tier city like Zaozhuang," Li recalls.

Very excited, he introduced himself to the table and gave them recommendations on Chinese food.

"I was very happy for the rest of the day," Li recalls with a proud, contented smile.

On Oct 31, the man's persistent passion in English learning may have brought him the most pleasant surprise ever.

He was invited to Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, by Chinese Dream Show, a popular Chinese talent show produced in Hangzhou that aims to support the dreams of grassroots Chinese. On the stage, Li chose to sing the song You and Me in English, which was the theme song of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

He won massive support from the audience, and is about to have his dream come true: He is heading for a trip to the UK, home of William Shakespeare, sponsored by the program.

This will be Li's first time to travel outside of China, and "it would be good to go abroad for a look."

"I will still come back to Beijing after the trip," Li said over the phone on the day he finish the program in Hangzhou. "When I come back, I will continue to teach my own English training class in Beijing, and by that time I believe I will have much more to share with my students."