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CHINA DAILY Friday, March 31, 2017 CHINA 7

City in Anhui appoints ‘toilet chiefs’ teamBy ZHU LIXIN in Hefeizhulixin@chinadaily.com.cn

Chaohu in East China’sAnhui province has appointed39 “toilet chiefs” to ensurehigh standards at all publicrestrooms, with Hu Qisheng,the city’s Party chief, taskedwith overseeing their work.

“As the city has 280,000urban residents, we shouldhave at least 100 public toilets,

but we’re still far from thatgoal,” Hu said, adding that thecity has abundant tourismresources and is receiving anincreasing number of visitors.

“Clean and easily accessiblepublic toilets are a window toa modern and civilized city.Just increasing the number oftoilets is not enough — it’s alsoimportant to improve the san­itation standards at the oneswe already have.”

The toilet chiefs, who wereappointed in September, areall officials with the city’surban administration depart­ment, according to Zou Da­yong, the city’s environmentalsanitation director.

Zou, who is the toilet chieffor Xiexiuyuan Park, said he isrequired to visit the toilet atleast three times a week. “Acleaner arranged by a localproperty management com­

pany will always be present atthe toilet,” he said. “The toiletshould always have runningwater and free toilet paper,and be free of foul odors.”

The city government plans toinvest 18 million yuan ($2.61million) in building and reno­vating 91 public restrooms inurban areas. In addition, facili­ties in 21 city buildings havebeen opened to the public.

A shortage of public toilets is

an issue faced by China, whichhas vowed to develop its tour­ism sector. The country’sso­called toilet revolution ispart of a 2­trillion­yuan invest­ment plan announced late lastyear to develop tourism by2020. In response to com­plaints about the sanitary con­ditions of such facilities, about100,000 new public toilets willbebuiltacross thecountrydur­ing that period.

Zhang Junli (second from right) appears on a program on Channel 3 of China Central Television in Beijing, in 2014.PHOTOS BY SUN RUISHENG / CHINA DAILY

Zhang makes an oil painting in bed at home near Taiyuan, Shanxiprovince.

Painting picturesthrough the painArtist who hasbeen bedriddenfor 30 yearsfinds solace inher work

By SUN RUISHENG inTaiyuan and LI YANG in Beijing

With her withered limbsand meager muscles, ZhangJunli looks more like a sicklyteenager than a 39­year­old.

She has chronic infectiousarthritis, an uncommon con­dition that had paralyzed herby the time she was 9.

For the past three decadesshe has been bedridden, butdespite being barely able to lifta paintbrush, she has spentthat time perfecting her art.

Zhang has created thou­sands of pencil sketches andwatercolors, hundreds of oilpaintings and has even writ­ten two books: a full­lengthnovel called The Blazing Girland an autobiography titledMy Existence.

Born in a village near Taiyu­an, North China’s Shanxi pro­vince, in 1978, she first showedsymptoms of the conditionthat would later take away hermobility at age 6.

Her parents, rural middleschool teachers, could barelyafford the medical bills andexhausted almost all their sav­ings paying for their daugh­ter’s treatment.

“Oneday,whenIwas9yearsold, I woke up and had pierc­ing pain in all my joints,”Zhang said.

“I found I could not movemy body. The pain has accom­panied me ever since. It evenkeeps me awake at nightsometimes.”

Due to her condition, regu­lar schooling was not anoption. She did try to attendthe village primary school atfirst, but dropped out after sixmonths because she found thephysical act of attending classagonizing.

Treatments prescribed byvillage and county doctors didlittle to alleviate Zhang’ssymptoms, so she stayed athome, in bed, and taught her­self painting, as her parentstaught her the basics of read­ing, writing and arithmetic.

“I know my parents wanteda boy when they had me, butthey always treasured me,even after I got sick,” she wrotein her autobiography.

“Despite that, for a longtime, I was very depressed.Sometimes, I felt I was on thebrink of collapse.”

Zhang’s love of art was whatkept her going and eventuallypropelled her toward herfuture career.

“I have loved painting sincechildhood, it makes me calmat heart and my pain evenseems lessened while paint­ing,” she said.

Her big break came in 1996,when Zhou Xiaolu, her sister’sclassmate, first saw Zhang’spaintings.

Zhou’s father, an establishedscience fiction novelist, waslooking for an illustrator forhis latest story, which wouldbe serialized in a renownedChinese fiction periodical.

So Zhang, age 17, read thetext carefully and drew morethan 20 pictures for Zhou’sfather, who commended herwork, noting her “comprehen­sive ability to convey a writer’smost delicate thoughtsthrough the discourse of fineart”.

All of the artwork wasaccepted for publication bythe periodical’s editors andZhang received 600 yuan($87) as remuneration, almostthree months’ income for herfamily at that time.

With that revelation, theyoung artist decided shewould strive to make a livingfrom her art.

She was encouraged in herendeavors by a number of theperiodical’s readers, whobecame her pen pals.

One of them — a womanfrom Luzhou, Sichuan pro­vince, named Yu Yimei — stillkeeps in contact with Zhang tothis day.

It was Yu who, in 2014, per­suaded Zhang to take up oilpainting, because “traditionalChinese ink sketches andwatercolor paintings alwaysmake the bedclothes dirty”.

By watching online videos,reading books and copyingthe works of Western mas­ters, Zhang was able to teachherself how to paint with oils.In 2,000 hours, she has creat­

ed more than 200 oil paint­ings.

Her younger brother sug­gested she sell some online.

“I thought it was a goodidea, as there was no place tostore them at home and moreimportant, I thought it couldbe a reliable source of incomefor my parents, who still haveto work to support me,” Zhangsaid.

Her e­commerce store“Lily’s Easel” opened in Febru­ary on social networking appWeChat and she sold her firstpainting on the second day, for360 yuan.

The buyer was captivated bythe artwork and told Zhang hewould cherish it, a comment

that moved her to tears.In the first two months, she

sold dozens of paintings andalso started to receive customorders.

Not all the buyers knewabout her condition at first,but after finding out they havebeen universally encouraging,Zhang said.

Still, her physical conditionworsens day by day and she ismentally prepared for the end.

“I pray to God every day formore time. I am not greedy, Ijust want to have painted for10,000 hours. That is mydream,” she said.

Contact the writers atliyang@chinadaily.com.cn

Offeringdisabled peoplemeaningfulemployment

A pair of disabled entre­preneurs in Southwest Chi­na’s Guizhou province areoffering hope and employ­ment to others who sharetheir predicament. Ma Zhi­guo, 52, lost four fingers onhis right hand at age 19while operating a machinethat made coal briquettes.

He met 39­year­old ShiKunjie, who lost his eyesightat age 11, at a conference fordisabled people in 2012. “Iused to make a living by sell­ing vegetables and tofu at themarketafter I lostmyfingers.It was very hard,” Ma said.

Inspired by an advertise­ment he saw on television,Ma asked Shi, who wasemployed as a blind massagetherapist at the time, to be hispartner in setting up a com­mercial laundry and potwashing business.

“More and more Chinesecareaboutthesanitarycondi­tions in hotels and restau­rants. They want cleanerbedsheets and tableware. Wedo a good job,” Ma said.

Supported by the local gov­ernment, the pair were ableto secure a 4 million yuan($580,000) bank loan andraised a further 3 millionthemselves.

Construction of their two­story business began in 2015on a barren piece of land neara sewage treatment plant, farfrom the closest residentialarea.

The company providescleaning and disinfecting ser­vices for more than 300 res­taurants and over 40 hotelsand hospitals in Guizhou’sYuping Dong autonomouscounty. It has earned about 3millionyuansinceoperationsbegan in February last year.

Among its42employees, 17are disabled.

“Washing dishes or bed­

sheets does not take muchskill. People can be qualifiedto work after a few simpletraining sessions,” Shi said.

In the company’s mainbuilding, a banner carryingthe slogan “Your trust makesus work more diligently”hangs on the wall.

“Disabledpeople find itdif­ficult to secure jobs. Manyhave to stay at home,” saidWu Yongying, a dishwasherwith an injured leg who livesin the company dormitory.He eats at its canteen for freeand earns more than 2,000yuan a month.

Yang Xinwen, 48, who ispartially sighted, works forthe business during the dayand learns massage at night.“I don’t feel tired as long as Ihave chance to work diligent­ly,” he said.

There are about 85 millionpeople living with disabilitiesin China and about 70 per­cent are in rural areas.

Poverty among the disa­bled is not a new problem,and China has poured enor­mous resources into address­ing it in recent years.

According to the local gov­ernment, companies in Guiz­hou can be exempted fromtaxesifmorethan25percentoftheiremployeesaredisabled.

Moreover, the local disabil­ity federation provided a100,000­yuan subsidy to Maand Shi’s company last year.It also organizes annualtraining sessions to teachinformation technology skillsto their disabled employees.

The next step for Ma andShi will involve hostingrecruitment tours to expandtheir business and hire moredisabled employees. “Weshould not forget where weare from and where we aregoing,” Shi said.

XINHUA

LIAONING

Jealous husbandgives himself upA man in Shenyang askedpolice to place him in deten­tion on March 23 for beatingup the boss of his wife’s formerclassmate. The husband, sur­named Zhang, had becomejealous of his wife, surnamedLi, after she spoke with theformer classmate, surnamedJia, at a high school reunionparty. Wang accused Li of stillhaving feelings for Jia, whichresulted in the two men hav­ing an argument. Later, Jia’sboss — a woman who wasdressed in man’s clothes —approached Zhang, who beather up, mistaking her for Jia.

SHENYANG EVENING NEWS

Former fugitive soldstolen babyA court in Dalian has upheldthe jail sentence of a farmer,surnamed Luo, who sold a14­month­old baby to a couplefrom Fujian province for 3,000yuan ($435). Luo, who comesfrom Sichuan province, encour­aged a fellow villager, sur­named Zeng, to steal the babyin April 2005. He was detainedin Shanxi province on July 7after 11 years on the run andwas subsequently sentenced to10 years and six months in jail,which was upheld by DalianIntermediate People’s Court.

DALIAN EVENING NEWS

CHONGQING

Man shootsneighbor’s cookerA man in Fuling district has

been put under detention forthree days after he shot aneighbor’s rice cooker with anair gun. The man, surnamedLi, bought the parts for thegun online and retrofitted itwith a powerful pressurizedair canister. He said he shot hisneighbor’s rice cooker after thegun went off accidentally. Liwas detained for illegally own­ing a weapon and the air gunwas seized.

CHONGQINGNEWS.NET

Kidnap claimsparks false alarmA 10­year­old boy who wasafraid of being scolded by hisparents for staying out latecaused the police to be calledout after he claimed he hadbeen kidnapped. The boy’smother, surnamed Liu, imme­diately sought police helpwhen her son returned homeand said he and a classmatehad been abducted. The boysaid they were only able toescape by outwitting their kid­nappers, but police soon sawthrough the lie.

CHONGQING MORNING POST

JIANGSU

Hero dog rescuesdrowning childA dog in Haimen has been hail­ed as a hero after it rescued ayoung boy from drowning in ariver at noon on March 22. The

boy, aged 4 or 5, had fallen inthe water from a cargo vesselthat was owned by his fatherwhile playing with one of itsfenders. The dog respondedimmediately, breaking free ofits leash and jumping into theriver to fetch the boy. It swammore than 10 meters back tothe vessel, pulling the childalong by his clothes. The fathersaid the dog had lived aboardhis boat for three years andwas very loyal.

MODERN EXPRESS

Police arrestsuspected con manA man from Anhui provincehas been detained in Nanjingon suspicion of defrauding 18people of more than 3 millionyuan ($435,000). The suspect,surnamed Zhang, is accused ofroping in his victims by claim­ing his father was a senior gov­ernment official who couldpurchase premium cellphonesat cost price. One of the vic­tims, a man surnamed Zhuwho works in the mobilephone business, said he hadgiven Zhang 280,000 yuan.

YANGTZE EVENING NEWS

HUNAN

Woman driverwrecks luxury carA woman who drove her car

off a 8­meter­high embank­ment in Changsha on March22 walked away from the acci­dent unscathed. The incidenttook place on a housing estatein the city’s Yuhua district atabout 11 am. The luxury carbeing driven by the womanoverturned as it went downthe slope and hit an SUV thatwas parked at the bottom,though fortunately no one wasinjured.

REDNET.CN

SHAANXI

Homeowner findsunwelcome guestA man in Xi’an has beendetained on suspicion of bur­glarizing a house by hiding ina vacant upstairs room forthree days. The suspect, sur­named Wang, was discoveredby the house’s owner, sur­named Zhao, on March 21.Zhao, who lives on the thirdfloor of his four­story home inthe city’s Chang’an district,had intended to rent out thefourth floor but had yet to finda tenant. Wang told officers hehad remained undiscovered

for so long on the empty floorby using only his mobilephone for light at night andfrequently visiting a localcyber cafe during the day.Police found two stolen mobilephones and a selection ofclothes, shoes and socks fromZhao’s home in Wang’s posses­sion.

HUASHANG DAILY

SICHUAN

Suspect accused ofchicken theftsA man in Chengdu has beendetained after he allegedlystole more than 20 chickensfrom a research center at Sich­uan Agricultural University.Police said the suspect wascaught breaking into the cen­ter’s feeding area one night. Hetold officers he had stolenchickens from the buildingpreviously and sold them atthe local market for 150 yuan($22) each. A researcher fromthe university said the chick­ens were actually worth about500 yuan per head and thattheir theft represented the lossof a host of invaluable researchdata.

CHENGDU COMMERCIAL DAILY

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