Keeper shines at lighthouse

Photo provided to China Daily

There are three people stationed at the lighthouse, and they take shifts on the night watch.

Wang moved his family to the lighthouse in 1994, and now his home is only few steps away. Wang even installed a skylight above his bed, so he can see the light operating even when he is not on duty.

"Although the ships now are all equipped with radars and automatic identification system devices, the lighthouse is still important. It is a symbol of home," Wang says. "When sailors see our light, they know they are home."

"People joke that I have an obsession with light," Wang laughs.

"Indeed, it's difficult for me to fall asleep when I can't feel the beam from the lighthouse."

Loneliness is the biggest enemy for the lighthouse keeper. In order to kill time, Wang writes poems. Over the years, he has written more than 500 poems. Some of them are about his life at the lighthouse, others are about current affairs.

"In the past we only had radio, but now we have television and Internet. We are well informed about the country and the world."

In his spare time, Wang has made dozens of small inventions and improvements to this century-old lighthouse. He installed a small fan to cool the lighting lamp, so as to prolong its service life. He also invented an alarm that will send out a warning if the light goes out.

With only an elementary school education, Wang picked up his knowledge of physics and electronics through trial and error. He has set aside a special room in his home as a workshop for experiments.