For a week, she has taken a bus to the No. 3 seaside bathing site in downtown Qingdao early in the morning and has put together pieces of algae washed onto the beach with a harrow so that other cleaners may easily collect them.
The hunchbacked old woman could certainly not work as fast as the young, and she was almost always drenched to the skin. "I'm just doing as much as I can. Together, we'll clean it all up," she said.
Shortly after their final test at school, Li Yanran, 15 and her cousin Ge Xuanxi, 7, joined the algae removing campaign. They collected algae from the sea and put it into plastic bags, which they emptied on the beach for other volunteers to take away. In the busiest days they worked from morning until late in the afternoon, bringing lunchboxes and bottled water.
Many Qingdao citizens voluntarily joined the cleaning campaign, bringing tools ranging from shoulder poles to spades and harrows to improve efficiency.
"What we can do is very limited," said Yuan Chengben, a 58-year-old worker. "But as citizens of Qingdao we're fulfilling our obligations."
Yuan and his wife brought a self-made shoulder pole, with which they carried baskets of algae to the beach.
TRAINING CONTINUES
On Monday, 308 athletes and coaches from 29 countries and regions were preparing for the Games in Qingdao.
"It's fine," said Michael John from the Australian team. He said his team didn't have to deliberately avoid contact with the seawater and the training went well.
Zhao Jian, a press officer with the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Committee, said the committee had not received any complaints over water quality.
By Monday, the clinic at the training base for the Olympic sailing event had not received any reports of skin or stomach irritations.
To prevent stomach irritations and allergies in the city known for its beer and seafood, the Qingdao health authority has handed out manuals on food safety, with health tips for the athletes and coaches.
Croatian sailor Marin Lovrovic agreed the algae in the water had been reduced greatly, saying "We'll concentrate on the training and hope you'll all watch our performances."
