Ear-Pickers and People's Park
You can hear him coming. A metal twanging. It's the ear-picker and he makes music as he walks around soliciting the unusual business of cleaning out people's ears.
Not sure how well this particular career plays out at parties. My guess is it's an eyebrow raiser.
"What do you do for a living?"
"Oh, I'm an earwax remover."
 Yi Minority Group On the streets of many U.S. cities, guys trying to make a buck wash your car windows, oftentimes without asking.
In Chengdu, the capital city of the Sichuan Province of China, men wash your ears, though thankfully they ask first.
The practice might be unique to us but is quite common in Chengdu, particularly in or around tea houses.
"Green tea and an ear-cleaning please."
I first crossed paths with a professional ear-cleaner on my first full day in China while visiting the People's Park, located near the city center.
The hard-metal tunes were created by a long pair of metal tongs and a long thingamajig with a cotton ball at the end -- a glorified Q-Tip, really.
Neither were going to be entering my ears. I was hearing fine, thank you. The fact those instruments were long enough to go in one ear and come out the other was beside the point.
Ear-cleaners weren't the only ones making music in the People's Park, a 250-year-old, Chin Dynasty creation once reserved for top officials.
A group of 200 or so men and women, mostly elderly, gathered under a covered picnic area to sing songs. Some used nearby shrubs as music stands. They seemed happy and the locale had much to do with it.
The People's Park is an escape from everyday life. It's a place to relax, exercise, enjoy the scenery, feed the koi, dance, play Mahjong (a tile game), row a boat, practice Taichi (a slow, meditative and physical exercise designed for relaxation, balance and health), visit with friends, drink tea and clean your ears.
If the Chinese were into country western, you'd no doubt see them doing the Texas Two-Step. Everywhere you looked, people were dancing, batting a shuttlecock back and forth with badminton racquets or doing something else to exercise.
"Chengdu is known as the most relaxed city in China," said Yan Liao, one of our hosts.
The People's Park helps them relax, especially the elderly. Retired people visit the park every day. Those 60 and older can buy annual passes.
Chen Sisi and Zhang Fengyou were among the many couples dancing to the music on the day of my visit. Everyday between 8 and 10 a.m., they are at People's Park, enjoying the exercise and the spirituality.
"You'll look younger if you do the morning exercise," Zhang said. "Spiritually you'll be happier. Because we're all mostly retired people, it keeps us busy in a way."
The sights and sounds of People's Park were delightful and unique -- not what you'd see in Central Park. Especially the ear-pickers.
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