Out of his passion for reading, a Chinese library honors a garbage collector by erecting a statue in his memory

The Hangzhou Library in Zhejiang Province, eastern China, has honored one of its patrons, garbage collector Yu Sihuo, by installing a bronze statue of him inside the library, in recognition of his passion for reading and his humanitarian role in supporting needy students. This move reflects the library’s approach of making knowledge accessible to all members of society without discrimination.

According to the South China Morning Post, Hangzhou Library is the first in China to welcome visitors without requiring a membership card, opening its doors freely to everyone, including beggars and garbage collectors, which earned it the title of “the warmest library” in the country.

The report noted that Yu Sihuo was one of the library’s most regular visitors, known for his enthusiasm for reading books on history and politics, and for his careful habit of washing his hands before reading. A graduate of universities in the 1950s and 1960s, he worked as a high school teacher before retiring, but chose to continue collecting garbage despite receiving a pension.

After his death in a traffic accident in 2015 at the age of 77, his family discovered that he had been making financial donations to low-income students for nearly two decades, using a pseudonym to conceal his identity. His humanitarian story sparked widespread public engagement, prompting a community fundraising campaign that successfully raised the necessary funds to erect the statue in less than an hour.

The bronze statue, designed by artist Zhu Bingren, depicts Yu Sihuo reading a newspaper, with his work tools beside him.