With the Olympic Games and the National Day holidays crossed out from his schedule book, Zhang Zhiqiang is now looking toward the high-profile Asia-Europe Summit and a meeting of the leadership of the governing Chinese Communist Party.
The sanitation worker of 30 years knows the exact dates of the two events that would set road maps later this month for advancing inter-continental cooperation and China's rural reforms respectively.
Zhang is the commander-in-chief of sanitation across Tian'anmen Square, a site of many events with diplomatic and political significance and also known as the "Gate of China."
When the Olympics was held for the first time in China in August, he doubled as the chief of a 1,500-person team to "beautify" the Olympic Green.
Gratifying news he has heard lately was that sanitation staff have beaten their peers, including those responsible for food safety and security, to rank first in a grading of local municipal authorities for fulfilling their jobs with distinction during the Games.
"Where we work is really an inconspicuous front, too far away from the reward podiums and with no applause," Zhang said. "But our job is more than sanitation and hygiene. It concerns social stability and the image of Beijing and the nation at large."
Tian'anmen Emergencies
Keeping Tian'anmen Square tidy and clean is no easy job. Five years of direct operations on this 280,000-square-meter area still make Zhang feel sanitary emergencies could happen "beyond imagination." His time-tested solution were contingency plans coupled with quick response.
A 30 person emergency squad has been posted there since his company, the State-owned Beijing Environment Sanitation Engineering Group (BESEG), took over the clean-up task five years ago.
"It would take us about 10 minutes to clean it out if advertisements and graffiti were found on structures," said the BESEG operation department director.
The latest test came on the Oct. 1 National Day Holiday when 190,000 visitors crowded in for the flag-raising ceremony and a grandiose celebration highlighting the country's top leaders laying flower baskets at the Monument to the People's Heroes.
"It's a blowout by any measure, but we're well prepared," Zhang said.
The removal of the weeklong Labor Day holiday in May and the ensuing traffic control imposed during the Olympics have also eroded, to a large extent, Chinese people's appetite for a Beijing tour.
With the word coming out the authorities wouldn't empty Tian'anmen Square as usual on the eve of the National Day, Zhang foresaw an explosion of visitors in the square and put the strongest-ever force of 480 sanitation workers and 20 cleaning vehicles on stand by.
In 15 minutes, the square closed for cleaning after the morning celebration and regained its grace and opened again to visitors; crumpled newspaper, disposable food boxes, mineral-water bottles, ice-cream wrappers and other garbage, about 86,000 tons in total, were all removed. The reopening came more than one hour ahead of schedule.
"Our goal is to offer visitors pleasant and comfortable sightseeing. We must act fast," Zhang said.
Apart from the massive clean-up crew, Zhang also put in place six temporary toilet facilities able to accommodate 488 people simultaneously.
"When nature calls while the queue is long, people may easily get bothered. What we can do is to defuse the risk of trouble and secure harmony and grace," he said with great decorum.
