Cleaner helps return vlogger's lost phone

A cycling vlogger with over a million online fans released a video recently, saying that he had lost his mobile phone on the streets of Shenzhen not long ago. Luckily, the phone got picked up by a sanitation worker and was returned to him shortly, Shenzhen Evening News reported.

The cycling vlogger (L) poses for a photo with a sanitation worker who helped him find his lost phone. Shenzhen Evening News

The vlogger, with the name “Chaoshan Aqiu (Cycling China),” is famous for cycling across China. From July 1, 2019, he set out from the Chaoshan area in Guangdong Province to travel around the country by bike. Currently, he has 1.319 million fans on short video platforms.

According to Aqiu, he arrived in Shenzhen recently and lost his mobile phone in Futian District. Liao Li, a sanitation worker, found the phone and returned it to him within three hours.

In a short video about the lost-and-found experience, Aqiu said: “The lost mobile phone was picked up by a sanitation worker. Thank you for returning it.”

The video showed that after shopping at a convenience store in Futian’s Xinzhou area, Aqiu sat down on the street to rest and his phone accidentally dropped out of his pocket.

When he returned to his lodgings, he discovered that his mobile phone, which contained many personal and cycling matters, was lost. Aqiu was extremely anxious and asked netizens to help him find his mobile phone. Liao Li, the sanitation worker, found Aqiu and returned his phone.

“I found the phone at the convenience store’s door at around 1 p.m. and there was no one around it,” Liao recalled. Since the phone was undamaged and the battery was not drained, she guessed that someone must have lost it, so she picked it up and planned to give it to her supervisor when she went to work in the afternoon.

At about 3 p.m., Liao found that the phone had several unanswered calls and text messages. “I immediately called the owner back and made an appointment to return the phone to him where he lost it,” Liao was quoted as saying.

Aqiu took out 200 yuan (US$29) in cash to show his thanks for Liao, but Liao refused, saying: “It was my duty as a sanitation worker to return the lost property.”

A netizen left a message on Aqiu’s video, sharing his own experience about losing his mobile phone in Shenzhen. The person who picked it up immediately returned it. Another netizen who had lost a handbag in Shenzhen was also touched with the residents’ kindness as three young people who found her handbag were waiting for her in situ.