'Cliff cleaner' and 'tree guard' awarded for high bravery
This is the 23rd year for Li working as a cleaner who collects garbage on the cliffs of Huangshan. Every day Li and the cleaning team negotiate steps up the mountain and then use the ropes to access areas where rubbish has been discarded.
Li and the team collect trash wearing ropes and straps like mountaineers, which is, of course, what they are.
It is a dangerous and laborious job. Fully equipped, Li negotiates the cliffs about five times a day.
With its peaks reaching a height of 1,864 meters, Huangshan Mountain is listed as a UNESCO cultural and natural heritage and a world geopark.
"Although I don't easily scare, my first time cleaning the cliffs was terrible. I couldn't control the shaking while facing the cliffs, about the height of a building with dozens of floors," Li recalls.
