Volunteers who refuse to look away

Across China, a growing number of young people are spending their weekends doing something most hikers would rather avoid: picking up other people's trash. They crawl down steep slopes, sleep in tents in the wilderness, and haul soiled diapers and rotting food scraps from trails that regular cleaners cannot reach.

Their reward is not recognition or compensation, but the satisfaction of seeing the mountains a little cleaner than before. It is not about persistence; it is simply something they want to do.

Wang Zhonglei's cleanup journey began with a hike. A resident of Nanjing, Jiangsu province, 38-year-old Wang previously worked in cross-border e-commerce, selling products ranging from toys to clothing, and also taught Chinese as a second language.

A nature lover, he spent his weekends hiking in the mountains. "When I started hiking in late 2023, I noticed there was so much trash along the trails. Cleaners can't get to those places," he said.