Editor’s note
Last year, the outbreak of the novel coronavirus epidemic upended annual Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations. Although China was successful in bringing the pandemic under control, recent outbreaks of new locally transmitted cases in parts of the country have raised alarm bells for public safety ahead of the start of the Year of the Ox on February 12.
This series explores how Spring Festival is shaping up in Shanghai.
“The amount of trash generated on New Year’s Eve has significantly decreased in recent years due to the ban on fireworks downtown,” Zhu said. “And the public is showing more respect for sanitation workers, which has raised the esteem of our jobs.”
On the first day of the Lunar New Year on February 12, Zhu, her colleagues and officials of the company where she works will share a noodle breakfast to celebrate the start of the Year of the Ox.
Many of her sanitation colleagues in Hongkou have been affected by coronavirus this year.
Song Shilong, 47, who drives a garbage truck in the Liangcheng area, had to delay his son’s February 7 wedding.
A native of Shandong Province, he has been working in sanitation in Shanghai for 14 years.
“We booked the wedding banquet at a hotel in Shandong, and the invitations were sent to about 200 relatives and friends,” Song told Shanghai Daily.
“The sudden recurrence of the epidemic caused us to change the plans,” he said. “It was not an easy decision, but it was necessary to prevent a large gathering. All the friends and relatives of the bride and groom expressed their understanding.”
Song said his wife, who cleans public toilets in the district, cried over the decision.
The wedding banquet will be rescheduled when public health condition allows.
Song and his wife will be working throughout the holiday. Their employer will be providing subsidies to migrant workers like them, who have chosen to stay put in Shanghai for the holiday.
Shanghai has about 30,000 sanitation workers, and most are out of town. The majority will stay in Shanghai during the holiday.