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China Elevator Stories
All the Garbage in Siping
Siping is one of China’s not-so-clean cities.
25/11/2025
Ruth Silbermayr
Author
I remember China a few years ago, and also how it was back in 2005, when I first set foot on Chinese soil during a visit to Beijing.
The contrast between certain cities then and how they are today couldn’t be greater.
Many large, international cities, provincial capitals, and even some tourist favorites have become remarkably clean in recent years.
Some have organized neighborhood cleaning groups in which each person is responsible for maintaining a specific area nearby.
As far as I know, most participants are retirees, though other cities may rely on different types of volunteers or workers.
Some of these cities are now so clean that they surpass many European cities. While cleanliness has declined in many European cities—along with increasing waste production—cleanliness in many Chinese cities has noticeably improved.
Unfortunately, this is not the case in Siping in Jilin Province, where I live.
But it is the case in Changchun, which is remarkably clean. There, even a cafeteria may charge 1 yuan for a take-away plastic bowl that used to be free.
It’s a good incentive for people to dine in and use less plastic. Since plastic take-out containers are extremely common in China, they probably account for one of the country’s largest sources of plastic waste (if not the largest).
These photos show the garbage in Siping (I did a similar post here)—I walked around one neighbourhood for two hours, and honestly, I could’ve kept taking pictures for months because there’s just so much of it.
Have you ever experienced a not-so-clean city?