By Malcolm Moore,
Beijing,
Daily Telegraph
After nearly four decades of hard labour as a farmer, cook, lorry driver and
street sweeper, a sudden million pound windfall might tempt sweet thought of
retirement.
But 53-year-old Yu Youzhen
has a rather more unbending work ethic.
Five years ago, her family
land in Donghu village, near the city of Wuhan, was bought by the government
for a property development.
She used the compensation
money to begin building a property empire which now includes 17 apartments
worth some 10 million yuan (£1 million), according to the Wuhan Evening News.
Nevertheless, six days a
week Mrs Yu dons an orange coat and goes to work as a street sweeper, earning a
monthly wage of £142.
“Work is not just about the
salary, it makes one focused. Laziness gives rise to all sorts of bad habits,”
she said, to the Chinese newspaper.
The head of her cleaning
team, Fu Guoju, noted that Mrs Yu had never been late for work and had only
asked for three days off in the last 14 years in order to attend the funerals
of her mother-in-law and father.
Mrs Yu’s dogged attachment
to her orange jacket appears to stem partly from habit and partly from a
nagging worry over her feckless children.
Her 33-year-old son, Liang,
has had a chequered career, working selling lottery tickets for a while and
spending long spells at home, lounging on the sofa.
“I want to be a role model
for my children,” said Mrs Yu. “I do not want to sit around idly and eat up my
fortune”.
“My son once stayed at home
for two months, and I kept scolding him during that time. Now he is doing
pretty well. He said to me later I was right. I was worried he would hang out
with bad people and ruin our family.”
Her son is currently
working as a driver in her home village for £120 a month while her daughter
mans the kiosk at a cinema for £200 a month.
Since the Chinese
newspapers revealed Mrs Yu’s work ethic she has become a minor celebrity. The
Communist party’s propaganda machine has also been quick to pounce on her as an
example of a model worker.
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