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.