Zhang Minghua and her husband, Zhao Xiandong, work as toilet cleaners outside Lama Temple in Beijing.[Photo by Wang Zhuangfei/China Daily]

In the early hours of the day, Zhang probably cleans the handle of the door more than a hundred times. Toilet users, of course, may not notice the hard work she has put in.

11 am: After her four-hour morning shift, Zhang takes a two-hour break. It is her time to relax a little. She and her husband cook a lunch of sauteed shredded pork with cucumber and rice. They talk about the money they have saved for the year and plan to send to their 25-year-old son.

Zhang says that they live a better life in Beijing than in their village and that they haven't visited Sichuan since 2009. By raising more money, their only child, who recently finished a contract with an architectural firm and is currently engaged to a farmer, can build a home in the next two years. They want to furnish the son's house, look after future grandchildren and enjoy family time later in life.

Zhang and Zhao say they don't have many friends. Sometimes they cook together with another couple who clean a toilet some 200 meters away.

1 pm: For Zhang, the arrival of many tourists at the temple in the afternoon makes her work harder. She has to pick up used toilet paper and sanitary tissues from the ground for hours.

"I must stay here for the whole afternoon. Otherwise, this place will be dirty in 20 minutes," she says.

Mornings are easier.

On full-moon days and weekends, when visitors turn up in high numbers, Zhang needs to stay in the toilet for the whole day. Since taking up this job, she has come to understand that patience and persistence are important.

3 pm: A middle-aged woman spits on the ground. When Zhang tells her politely that she could spit into the squatting pot the next time, the woman shouts at her: "Who do you think you are? Your responsibility is to clean this."

Zhang lowers her head and replies in a low voice: "Sorry, I will clean it."