Road cleaners in China are being measured by a new and unusual method.

中国的道路清洁工们正在接受一种与众不同的全新考核办法。

City inspectors¹ have started weighing dirt found on the street, in order to determine how good a job the cleaners are doing.

为了确定清洁工的工作是否做到位，城市考核人员开始给街上的污垢称重。

The exercise started on Wednesday in Xi'an, the capital of the Shaanxi province. Inspectors draw out a random² square meter on the street, and sweep up the dust within, placing it on a weighing scale.

这一试行办法于周三始于陕西省会西安市。考核员在街上随机画出一平方米，把里面的灰尘扫干净放在秤上。

Streets which exceed 5 grams of dust per square meter will count as a strike against its cleaner. Three strikes gets the cleaner fired, and their supervisors³ will face disciplinary action too, reported the state-run People's Daily.

据中国国家媒体《人民日报》报道，街道上每平方米的灰尘超过5克，负责的清洁工就被记一次不合格。三次不合格的清洁工将被开除，其主管也将受到纪律处分。

A 62-year-old cleaner, Wang Guanhai, told China News Service that he's started having to work overtime⁴ in order to meet the cleanliness standards.

62岁的清洁工王冠海（音）告诉中新社，为了达到清洁度标准，他不得不开始加班。

He said he works from 4 a.m. to 6 p.m., and cleans the roads under his charge four to five times daily.

王冠海说，他从早上4点工作到下午6点，每天对负责的道路清扫4-5遍。

The new rules have drawn⁵ criticism from netizens, many of whom say it's unfair to the cleaners.

这项新规招来了网友们的指责，许多人表示这对清洁工不公平。

Some have pointed⁶ out that with the air pollution problem unsolved, it's a Sisyphean task for cleaners to prevent dust from collecting on streets.

有人指出，空气污染问题不解决，让清洁工保证街道一尘不染就是徒劳。

On Thursday afternoon, the air pollution level in Xi'an was 159 - unhealthy on the AQI scale.

27日下午，西安的空气指数是159，空气质量指数范围属于不健康。

One Weibo user said: "Are you trying to kill the sanitation⁷ workers? The air is full of dust, so they'll never be able to keep the roads entirely⁸ dust-free."

一位微博网友称：“你们想累死环卫工人吗？空气中充满了灰尘，他们永远也无法让道路一尘不染。”

"Don't you think the dust on the road is because of the dust in the air?" said another.

另一位网友说：“难道你们不觉得，路上的灰尘是空气中的尘埃造成的吗？”