In the oppressive summer heat of the morning of July 18th of 2014, Ye Liansheng, hailed as the “most beautiful old man” because of picking up more than 200,000 cigarette butts, carrying a plastic bag in his left hand and holding a self-made “magic tool” in his right hand, appeared again at the side of the canal. But the difference this time was that he was followed by a group of volunteers from the summer training class for student cadres of Zhejiang RTVU. In half a day, led by Mr. Ye, the students picked up thousands of cigarette butts.

Ye Liansheng is 83 years old this year. Every day he goes out to pick up the cigarette butts discarded at the side of the canal. By doing so, he hopes to reduce the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and selflessly contribute his own power to cleaning up Hangzhou. 

At 9 o’clock in the morning, 37 student cadres of the RTVU met Mr. Ye in the conference room of the Gongshu District Government. Mr. Ye brought with him his standard equipment for picking up cigarette butts: plastic bags and pliers. At that time, the pungent smell of cigarette butts was already emanating from his plastic bag. It turned out that Mr. Ye had already begun picking up a lot of cigarette butts on the way to the District Government. Picking up cigarette butts is Mr. Ye’s habit.   

In the conference room, Mr. Ye told stories, from how the original idea of picking up cigarette butts began, to his experience of picking up more than 250,000 cigarette butts, explaining his own personal feelings and his expectations of the volunteers. His plain words deeply touched the students at the site and they were eager to join Mr. Ye’s team to pick up cigarette butts. 

Moved by the example of Mr. Ye, the volunteers came to the side of the canal. With bare hands, they picked up the cigarette butts one by one, which gave off the smell of nicotine. Just like what Mr. Ye had said at the meeting ceremony: “Although the strength from one person is limited, picking up one more butt will still make butts less.”  With a bow and bend, the student cadres called for all citizens to contribute their own efforts for the World Heritage Site of the Grand Canal of China and to build up the beautiful Hangzhou city, by means of their own practical actions. 

To help “harness five rivers” and share blue sky and clean water is one of the important principles of the summer training class for student cadres of Zhejiang RTVUs. The purpose is to safeguard the World Heritage Site by means of volunteer service to promote students’ environmental awareness, social responsibility, and team spirit. 

By Chen Huan, Shen Chunjia, Hangzhou Network