Some kids from a primary school in the city of Changchun, Jilin province, took it upon themselves to go out and give some glutinous rice balls, a traditional treat for the Lantern Festival, to hard-working street cleaners, a day ahead of the festival, on Feb 21.

They used some precious pocket money by selling second hand-items at a school flee market and from adults during the recent Spring Festival.

The kids got enough funds together to purchase 200 packages of the rice balls, which prompted one street cleaner who received them, named Li, to explain that they work hard to keep the city's streets clean and that getting this traditional treat made them very happy.

A group of primary school students in Changchun, Northeast China's Jilin province hand packs of sticky rice balls to local street cleaners, one day ahead of the traditional Lantern Festival, on Feb 21. [Photo by Lan Yang/365jilin.com]

In response, one of the givers, Li Siji, who saw the rough fingers and skin of some of the street cleaners, explained the rice gifts by saying, "I just feel that the job they're doing is not easy."

The pupils got some help from a student supervisor, Chen Liang, who says that he wanted to make his students more aware of the tough work environment that the street cleaners face every day and added, "These kids now live al rich life of material goods, and they need some real experience to better understand the tougher side of life."