THE recent announcement of an initiative by local authorities, involving a telephone-based system to pester people who have pasted illegal advertisements and fliers in the city, made 81-year-old Yao Suxiang thrilled.

Since 1997 the retired teacher living in the Putuo District has waged a war against the illegal fliers, which are satirized as "the city's psoriasis", removing the printed sheets from poles and walls along the streets around his home.

"I hope the new measure can help me to retire for a second time, so I can concentrate on exercises such as Taichi and jogging which would be considered more respectable by my family members," he said with a laugh.

Daily task

The illegal posters first drew the old man's attention six years ago. When he went out for a walk every morning, he would remove them as soon as he caught sight of the little sheets. However, the eyesore would appear again the next morning in the same places.

Soon, Yao discovered that people came out to paste the advertisements during the night, so he began rising earlier, to remove them before the glue had dried.

"It is not easy to get rid of them," he said, revealing his two most important tools: a small knife with a sharp blade and a water bottle.

Every morning, Yao would leave his home at 5:00am after breakfast taking his tools for his daily work - following a 2-kilometre route along two streets near his house and removing newly-pasted posters.

"I met several people pasting the advertisements with glue bottles and brushes," he said. "They fled as soon as I shouted at them."

The task would usually take Yao more than two hours every morning. Since the advertisements, especially those for medical service, are relatively large, removing could take quite a while.

"I sprayed water on them and then scratched them off after the stiff paper turned soft a few minutes later," he explained. "The security guards of enterprises nearby all know me, because every day I would ask them for more water to continue my work."

At first, Yao also went out into the streets every night, but he had to stop that due to family members' worries about his safety. His anxious daughter even bought a mobile phone for him specially, in case of emergency.

"What I do is just a personal initiative after all. When I was first interviewed by reporters, who wanted a photograph, my wife even asked me to disguise myself with a hat," he said with a smile.

To prevent any mishaps, Yao wrote down the telephone numbers of his own house, his two daughters and other relatives on his retirement certificate. He also kept his medical service card on him, because he has a serious heart disease.

Although his wife may still complain occasionally, the old man has not ceased his campaign. He has even added the habit of removing fliers with his knife, which is always in his pocket, no matter where he sees them.

Sometimes, when he went out with his wife, he end up being parted from her by his war against the fliers. Even when he was on the way home from a 15-day stay in hospital after a heart attack, he could not help taking out his knife and stripping off the little sheets.

Relentless struggle

At first, sanitation workers complained that he left waste on the street they had just cleaned. Some asked him to give up, saying it was impossible to win against those pasting the fliers.

"How can I agree with that? I am doing what I can, even though it is a relatively passive way of tackling the problem," said the old man, raising his voice.

"We cannot stop cleaning our streets just because some people will litter them again. Nor can we stop eating meals just because we will still need to eat again."

According to the old man, there is a special worker assigned to the task of scraping off the fliers in his community, yet "the great number of fliers overwhelms this one worker".

"I meet him from time to time," he said. "He is only able to inspect each street within the community once a week. That is to say, a flier can exist for six days without being removed. That's awful, terrible."

During this six-year war of attrition, Yao has memorized many details of these illegal advertisements.

Spreading problem

"There are around 10 underground clinics around, claiming to cure all diseases or just venereal diseases, and every day I see their posters," he added. Yao once even tried calling one clinic to scold them.

"Because I had never seen its poster before," he said. "I told them not to post any longer. I found out the clinic had just moved here from the Baoshan District."

When Yao made a second try days later, no one answered the phone.

"They had recorded my mobile phone number," he added.

However, what worries the old man is that the number of illegal posters has multiplied over the years. One day, he stayed out for five hours on the streets, from 5:00am to 10:00am, because there were so many fliers.

Furthermore, in addition to the medical service fliers, other types of advertisements have joined them, such as those for fake diplomas or job vacancies.

"I really hope this time the municipal government can make the new measure effective," he said.

In his eyes, his work is only a makeshift and not wholly satisfactory response, but he is still willing to work as a volunteer to help the government to battle the plague.

"The best thing would be if I could be laid off from my post," he joked. "That is my goal."