A group of physicians, lawyers and entrepreneurs in Ilan County hosted a dinner party Sunday in honor of public cleaners and garbage collectors who have toiled in Ilan City and Ilan County over the past year.
Some 300 cleaners and garbage collectors were entertained with a lavish banquet at an Ilan City restaurant that was jointly sponsored by orthopedist Lee Chian-cheng (
A similar feast was to be held last night -- sponsored by another group of philanthropists including doctors, business and industrial leaders, and local government officials -- as a token of thanks from the Ilan public for a year of hard work by the cleaners.
Cleaners and garbage collectors in the Ilan areas have enjoyed such annual feasts since 1982, thanks to Lee's initiative.
Lee was inspired to act by an experience he had two days before Lunar New Year that year.
As he was arriving home at around 3am on a cold and drizzly night, he was surprised to see three men moving things from the gate in front of the building in which he lived.
Lee assumed that the trio were burglars and confronted them, only to find that the men worked for the city and were there to clean up garbage and remove discarded furniture.
Deeply moved by the men's efforts, Lee offered the cleaners his thanks and NT$30,000 in cash.
The cleaners turned down the money, saying that it was their duty to do the extra work of cleaning up ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.
Upon hearing this, Lee felt that he and all the city's residents owed the cleaners a lot for having to work overnight to finish in time for Lunar New Year.
So first thing the next morning he went to see the mayor to try and find out who the three men were so that he could thank them again.
Then mayor Lin Chian-jung (
Lin suggested that Lee use the NT$30,000 to host a Lunar New Year's Eve dinner for all the city's cleaners.
Lee accepted the mayor's advice and asked his friend, Dr. Chiang Chi-liang (
Chiang was also one of the co-sponsors of Sunday's dinner.
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