Seeing China Through Noel's Lens

06/06/2026

China's Street Cleaners: Who They Are

Street cleaners in China are generally known as sanitation workers (环卫工人, huanwei gongren). They are responsible for keeping streets, sidewalks, parks, public squares, and other urban spaces clean. Their work includes sweeping roads, collecting litter, emptying public bins, removing leaves, cleaning public facilities, and, in some cities, operating mechanized street-sweeping vehicles.

Who Are China's Street Cleaners?

The workforce is predominantly composed of:

Middle-aged and older workers, often aged 50 and above.
Rural migrant workers who move to cities for employment.
Retirees seeking supplementary income after leaving their primary careers.
Workers with relatively low formal educational requirements, although some machine operators receive additional training.

During my travels around China, I spoke with a number of sanitation workers. What struck me was that many of them took genuine pride in their work. Although the job is often viewed as having low social status, they saw it differently. They believed they were contributing to their country, helping to keep their cities clean, and playing a small but important role in making China a better place.

24/04/2026

Fun 1hr photo session with a Canadian model at The Prada RongZhai in JianAn, Shanghai.

30/03/2026

Five years ago, back in 2021, I happened to be in Hangzhou on March 27–28. That was my first visit to Lingyin Temple and XiHu (West Lake).

This year, 2026, I found myself in Hangzhou again on the exact same dates—completely by accident, no planning involved.

I went to XiHu hoping for a quiet, relaxing day, only to discover it was just as packed as it was five years ago. My friends from Hangzhou told me this is simply how XiHu is now: crowded 24/7, 365 days a year.

So if you’re thinking about visiting, just be prepared.

05/03/2026

On 7th November 2021, I experienced snow for the first time at the Forbidden City.
The scenery there is always stunning, but the snowfall added a magical atmosphere that made the moment unforgettable.
Since arriving in China, I’ve been working on portrait photography in various locations, with the Forbidden City being one of the most popular.
Tickets during the snowy season are extremely difficult to obtain, which made the experience all the more meaningful.

25/02/2026

In March 2021, I had the chance to visit Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou. I arrived around 2 p.m., and the entrance was incredibly crowded — it was still during the pandemic, so I remember feeling nervous and holding my mask tightly as we squeezed through the packed gate. But the moment we passed the entrance, the crowds seemed to vanish, and everything suddenly became calm and peaceful.

The temple closes at 6 p.m. so the monks can begin their evening reading session. I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of them heading into the hall and even managed to take a few photos. Where one of them was lucky enough to be nominated by 1839 Awards.

08/02/2026

Air Pollutions was one of the heavily talked about topic before I headed to China.
I was told by people who visited back in the 80s/90s (mainly my dad's generation) that it is smoggy in Beijing and Shanghai, I will need a mask 90% of the time.
During my 4 years in Beijing, I do get heavy pollution from time to time, but it was not as horrific as people who described it, most of the time AQI only hit 250 max. The only time where the air pollution goes to severe (AQI 500 or above) were at the time of sand storms, which happens almost once a year around March.
This is due to the wind from the North-West bringing desert sand into the East from Mongolia and the Gobi Desert.
As to the air pollutions everyone were talking about, Beijing and Shanghai have closed most of their heavy polluted factories since the early 2000s, and the air pollutions are now heavily monitored all across the cities, so I guess those smoggy days people kept telling me about are now in the past.

Pictures were taken during the sand storm on the 15th March 2021.

08/02/2026

Phones are like the most essential thing when you are out on the streets in China, as almost everything in China are now operates via phone apps.
Cash are still acceptable due to a law forbidding shops and merchants not accepting cash, but people here are now so used to the cashless ways, most of my friends dun even carry any cash when they are out. (I still carry RMB200 in my wallet just in case)
WeChat and AliPay are the 2 main app in China, personally, as an expat living in China, I find Alipay to be more friendly to use.
With these 2 apps, you can book tickets for entertainments like the cinemas, attractions like Forbidden City, pay for you meals, buy tickets for public transports and lots more.
As phones are super essential in China, power banks are also one of the main thing to have around.
China have rental power banks all over the cities, you can use WeChat or Alipay to scan the QR code on the station, rent one for couple of hours to charge up your phone while moving, prices ranging from RMB3-6 (£0.30p) per hour, then return the power bank at any other charging stations by plugging it into the empty slots.

22/01/2026

During the pandemic, I stayed in touch with my parents in the UK, and our weekly conversations often began with them saying, “We heard on the news that Beijing is on lockdown again.”
Yet the streets were full of people, and shops remained open.
Lockdowns did happen, but only when someone tested positive for COVID-19, in which case their entire building complex would be locked down.
From what I’ve observed, this approach works in China because its urban planning is unique, cities are divided into sections, and each building complex is isolated from others, making it possible to lock down specific areas or a single complex to contain infections.
These photos were taken on the streets of Beijing between January and February 2021.

16/01/2026

My landing into China during the pandemic

When I decided to head to China, the first thing was to see which airport was available to fly in from London, as during the pandemic, ALL International flight in or out have been stopped for Beijing Capital International Airport and DaiXin International Airport, so there were no international flight going into Beijing at all at the time.
Therefore I choose Shanghai as my landing point into China.
When I landed, it does feel like going into some sort of a refugee camp, you queued, you get tested, you get transported.
When I got on the transportation bus, the destination hotel was unknown, you will only find out once you get there. I was lucky to have been given the Hampton by Hilton at HongQiao Area, around 30km away from PuDong International airport on the other side of the city of Shanghai.
Before heading up to the rooms, we were taken to the car park for check in, we paid for the rooms, meals and tests (Around RMB3000 (Approx GBP300) for the whole of 14 days).
For the first 14 days in Shanghai, I was in the hotel room, temperature check every day, PCR test every 3 days, and continuous testing for the last 2 days (Day 12 and 13), all of these were done at the hotel room door by medical staff to limit cross contaminations between visitors from different rooms. So there was no leaving the room at all.
On day 14, once the test result from evening of Day 13 came out as negative, I was given a letter to proof I was all clear. Then I was escorted out of the hotel with no problem at all.
Once I was out of the hotel, it was just like normal. You can see people out in the streets, you can see shops opened, everything was just 'normal'.

16/01/2026