A life of public service
Shanghai worker becomes role model by going beyond the call of duty to help city’s residents
In metropolitan Shanghai, Xu Hu is one of the household names.
If you trawl the Web for city hotlines, a list will pop up linking Xu’s name with property maintenance. A further search will find the worker had been bestowed the rare honor of being cited by all three top leaders of the country in the past three decades.
Xu has become well known because of his daily but whole-hearted service as an ordinary worker involved in household water and electricity maintenance.
In the 1980s, Xu used to cycle around Shanghai’s Putuo district almost every evening with his tool kit, offering free repair services for residents during off-work hours. This was on top of his day job as a plumber and electrician at a property management company owned by the Shanghai-based West Group.
While many wondered why this young man was devoted to such simple routine, he remembered a line from his father: “We’re born ordinary workers; whatever we are working on, we’ve got to do it well.”
Xu had been committed to his post since 1975 after finishing his studies largely on subsidies granted by a school. His parents often reminded him that he should pay back others for the help he received.
Still, the first assignment at work took him by surprise.
That day one of the 6,000 households in his company’s neighborhood asked for help with a home toilet. The moment Xu opened a small door, the young man was not only struck by the smell, but was overwhelmed by a floor of foul water mixed with paper and waste that left him no dry place for a foothold. He turned to the host, saw his anxiety, and carried on.
After he set everything tidy and restored the toilet for use, the host offered hot tea and a cigarette, which was a luxury at that time, and plenty of thanks. Moreover, Xu’s company manager soon received a letter of gratitude from the household praising the young employee.
That incident struck a chord in him, Xu recalled. He thought he was merely performing a duty as he should but the residents poured out their love, which touched his heart.
The job is somewhat dirty, and tiring, but finishing it well made me happy, he said.
“Back then, when phones or the Internet weren’t widely available, appliance technicians did not work at night or during weekends. When residents had emergencies like clogged toilets or broken lights (during weekends), they had no choice but to wait till the next week to get the problem solved,” said the 71-year-old.
To address the issue, Xu, in 1985, set up three boxes around the neighborhood, allowing residents to lodge repair requests. He would check these boxes every day at 7 pm before starting his “second shift”, simply to ease local residents of their homely worries at inconvenient hours.
The simple joy and belief of offering satisfactory service kept Xu performing these voluntary tasks for 13 years, racking up some 8,600 hours of service.
It was not easy to keep the daily routine going on.
On Lunar New Year’s Eve in 1988, Xu was glad to find no paper note in his service boxes when he opened them at the set time, thinking he would have free time for a family gathering on the festive occasion. Xu’s daughter was also happy, asking him to burn firecrackers together at midnight.
Yet by around 10 pm, a knock at his door brought in news of an emergency: 18 households in a nearby building had water supply cut off. Xu took his kit, rushed down, climbed up a roof and fixed the water system. By the time his daughter saw him, it was well past midnight. Still, she was most delighted to find her father, who then held the girl’s hands tight and lit up firecrackers with her.
Since the boxes were put up, Xu had earlier spent three such festive evenings away from home — fixing a bathroom broken pipe in 1985, resuming water supply for a company office building in 1986, and helping with three families in 1987.
He went to work during four of the next five Lunar New Year’s Eves as well.
His efforts did not go unnoticed — Xu won the Shanghai Model Worker title twice and the bigger accolade of National Model Worker five times.
“Electricity and water load is generally the highest during the holidays and this usually meant problems with the appliances. Residents needed me,” he said.
In 1997, he was met by then Party leader Jiang Zemin in Beijing at a national congress.
The job had taken a toll on Xu’s physical health. Working regularly in dim lighting conditions, he developed short-sightedness. Not that Xu is particularly bothered about the problem.
“This is all worth it because I got to provide convenience for thousands of families,” he said.
Following the accolades, Xu was in 1998 promoted as deputy head of the property management company. In light of the change in his duties, he decided to pursue a diploma in business management at East China Normal University to enhance his knowledge.
But he did not simply apply this newly acquired knowledge to his job — he once again yearned to be of service to the public, and he did so by writing articles that shared insights into property management.
In 2002, one of his articles was published by local newspaper Jiefang Daily
and reprinted by other newspapers.
“The real estate industry had transformed over the years and residences started to have professional property management groups. I was hoping that my thoughts on how to reduce costs while improving management skills would be useful in multiple fields like the management of large factories, hospitals and schools,” said Xu.
Xu’s articles were so well-received that his company later launched a special column in its internal newspaper for him to share his insights on a regular basis. The company even set up a 24-hour “Xu Hu hotline” in 1996 to serve residents in Putuo district.
He would receive calls from residents at his home as well. This service was eventually replaced by an official city-wide hotline for property management.
At a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, then top Party leader Hu Jintao met Xu Hu and other model workers.
Even though he retired in 2010, Xu has never stopped offering advice on appliance maintenance and property management for the employees in the company.
“There are companies that specialize in tasks like cleaning, security, and landscaping … but for other fields like electrical equipment or water appliances maintenance, I realized that residents usually don’t know who to look for when they need services. This is especially so for those living in neighborhoods built before the 21st century as property management in such places is poor,” he said.
“I hope to build market-oriented professional teams in each specific field regarding property management in the city. Anyone with an outstanding reputation in different industries can be a role model, as long as they are serving people and meeting the needs of the society.”
During a Labor Day celebration in 2013, Xu’s name was among a list of honorees cited by Party General Secretary Xi Jinping when Xi met with a young generation of model workers in Beijing.
Motivated by Xu, many employees of Western Investment have followed in his footsteps to perform public service. To date, eight individuals from the company have been awarded the title of Shanghai Model Worker.
Among them are two who are around Xu’s age. Feng Baorong, 69, received the title in 1995 after he put into action the idea of launching mobile services for home appliances repair in Putuo district. There is also 70-year-old Wang Xingxing, a landscaping veteran who won the award in 2001.
The other title winners are much younger. Among them is Yang Huafeng, 39, a winner of the Shanghai Youth May 4th Medal in 2018 and a 2019 Shanghai Model Worker. Yang became a plumber at the company after graduating from high school.
Although Yang’s hands already have calluses because of the nature of his job, he is constantly motivated by Xu to work even harder.
“Xu always cares for us in life and work. He also imparts his experience in tackling difficulties to us,” he said.
Dong Suming, former chairman of West Group and a recipient of the Shanghai Model Worker award in 2003, noted that the world has changed from the agricultural to digital era but the nature of model workers never changes.
“They work for the needs of the public and lead the development of a nation, just like Xu Hu who acts as a bridge between the government and the people,” Dong said.
Although Xu retired from his position of property management director at West Group at age 60, his stories and those of other fellow model workers are depicted in 360 photos and 132 items at the renovated Xu Hu Exhibition Hall, which was inaugurated in Putuo district in 2019.
“I hope the hall, as an education base, will attract more visitors, especially students, who will realize that they can succeed in whatever they do through hard work and a desire to serve the people,” Xu said at the inauguration ceremony.
“Whatever we are working on, we’ve got to do it well.” XU HU
Model worker from Shanghai