City cleaner Ding Quan becomes emotional after being fired in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi province, Jan 31, 2015. [Photo/IC]

City cleaner caught by fire

It had never occurred to Ding Quan, a 58-year-old city cleaner, that warming himself by a fire on a bitterly cold winter day would make him lose his job.

Ding got fired by his company the very next day after he was found to be warming himself by a fire on a street in Xi'an on Jan 28, when the city was experiencing a cold spell after snow, dfic.cn reported. A 50-year-old superior official of Ding took a photo of him at the fire and yelled at him to extinguish the fire immediately.

Ding started to work at 6:30 am, and he was reportedly soaked in snow and shivering around 9 am and therefore warmed himself up around a fire which was set up by other people.

The news made an online sensation with most of Internet users supporting Ding. Most commentators denounced the "inhuman nature" of the employer.

Ding has been doing the job for almost a year, with a monthly salary of 1,550 yuan ($247.6).

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