Garbage Collection
The hutongs are very narrow, so garbage collection is a coordinated effort by these hard working collectors who call out as they cycle through the rabbit warren of tiny lanes and alleyways, then shovel up the refuse from outside the houses. They then deliver it to the large truck waiting in a larger street nearby. Plastic bottles and clean cardboard are salvaged and sold at a recycling centre just down the street from us. No neatly packaged garbage in plastic bags or nice wheelie bins here!
For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. A... ... read more 
