New bulb cleaner steps into the light

China's fifth generation of its cleaning and maintenance vehicle for the lights along Chang'an Avenue started working in Tian'anmen Square on Wednesday afternoon in Beijing.

It is the only vehicle in China that is made merely for cleaning the lights along Chang'an, one of Beijing's iconic streets. This vehicle, which features light-cleaning, technical-monitoring and data analysis functions, was designed by the Beijing urban lighting management center.

On the vehicle's first working day, it attracted attention from many citizens on the road.

"This giant machine looks like a huge robot, especially its mechanical arm, which holds workers high to help with maintenance," said Wang Zhengtao, a 20-year-old college student.

He said before he saw the machine, the lights-cleaning vehicle was much smaller in his imagination.

"I never expected a maintenance vehicle could be so big and cool with so much technology," he added.

According to the authority, the new vehicle differs from the previous model in that it has automatic cleaning devices, which are much faster than the manual cleaning methods of the past.

Cleaning the lights along Chang'an is not easy. According to a report from Economic Daily, a team of 29 people are responsible for the cleaning and maintenance work of the lights. There are strict procedures for transportation management, vehicle operation, light globes assembly, cleaning, examinations and more.

Han Liangui, a team member, said their working environment has been improving as the country grows stronger and wealthier.

The fifth generation vehicle features sunshades and fans, which have helped improve working conditions. The vehicle also features built-in toilets for extra convenience.

At present, engineers at the control room of the lighting management center can receive instant alerts through a monitoring system when any light on the avenue has problems.

According to authorities, light cleaning and maintenance on the avenue's 6,000 lights begins annually in May and runs through September.

Jiang Peijin contributed to this story.