Last weekend, we got our first bout of significant snowfall. Over the course of two and a half days, we accumulated around 4-5 inches. As much as I am dreading the long, cold months ahead, I enjoyed seeing our campus blanketed with snow for our first real winter experience in China.
As I was enjoying watching the snow fall from the warmth of our fifth floor apartment Friday morning, I spotted a large group of students assembling on the street below. Armed with shovels and brooms, they began clearing the snow off the road that had accumulated overnight. I marveled at such a sight, knowing full well that these students surely did not choose to labor merely out of the goodness of their heart.
After about an hour, they completed their work only to be followed by another crew assigned to a different patch of roadway. Although a snowplow could have done the same work in less than twenty seconds, the students were diligent in completing their task even before it had finished snowing, ultimately creating the need for another crew to clear the same area later in the day.
After speaking with my Chinese neighbor, Poppy, I came to find out that the students are, in fact, divided into classes and assigned a time and area where they must work. Even as an elementary student, she said she was forced to shovel the roads and sidewalks that surrounded her school. I can only imagine if college students in the States were forced to shovel snow on their campus: “Uh, yeah, nice try. I’m pretty sure my tuition covers that.” However, the students here understand that it is their duty, and though they don’t enjoy performing manual labor in below-freezing temperatures, they don’t skirt their responsibility.
Overall, China does not seem to be big on snowplows. I still haven’t seen one (though my wife said she did) and a considerable amount of roads and parking lots are still laden with packed snow and ice. (They don’t use salt here either as it is bad for the roads.) Instead, small armies of workers in orange jumpsuits are employed to clear major roadways with shovels and ice scrapers. Though maybe not as efficient, this method does seem sensible in that hundreds, if not thousands, of men can remain employed.
On a sad note, I heard that a few hundred people actually died from the snowstorm here in the Northeast as many families’ roofs collapsed due to the weight of the snow. Having seen some of the living conditions around here, I would imagine winter can be a rather uncomfortable, grueling time of year. I guess we shouldn’t complain when our radiators aren’t putting out enough heat as we might want.