Khaberni -Chinese officials forced cleaning workers to dig through tons of garbage looking for a watch, an incident that sparked a wave of outrage and widespread criticism online amid questions about the use of public resources and strenuous human efforts for an "insignificant" purpose.
In early July, a Chinese woman visited the city of Datong in Shanxi province in northern China with her child by train. During the trip, the mother "accidentally" placed her child's smartwatch in a trash bag next to their seat and then left the train without noticing.
According to "Red Star News", it was later revealed through the watch’s tracking feature that it was still inside the train station. The mother turned to a Datong government hotline for help in retrieving the watch. The city transferred the request to an environmental company, only to discover that the watch was thrown in a large trash container that held about 8 tons of garbage, which was later transported to a waste transfer station. Instead of just reporting the lost watch, the authorities decided to proceed with trying to find it. Two cleaning workers were asked to search through the garbage with their hands, under temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius, for 4 continuous hours until the watch was finally found.
The local authorities celebrated the story, presenting it as evidence of the city's hospitality and quality of public service. However, this narrative did not receive wide acceptance online. Social media users quickly criticized the incident severely, considering the efforts to be excessive since the watch sells for less than 1000 yuan (about 140 US dollars).
Many also questioned the fate of the workers who exerted this effort, and whether they received any reward for their hard work.
In response to the criticism, Xiao Qigang, deputy director of the Datong Urban Management Office, defended the government's actions, saying: "What is considered worth caring about and what is not? We just do what we need to do... as long as there is a request from the citizens, we must fulfill it." However, the official’s statements ignited controversy as some considered them evidence of the neglect of the suffering of the cleaning workers who were exploited to promote a positive tourist image of the city.
In an editorial published by the "Southern Metropolis" newspaper from Guangdong province on July 14, the story was described as a "waste of state resources and exploitation of workers", arguing that the authorities deliberately ignored any mention of reward or appreciation for the workers, using the story for publicity only.
