Outside a skyscraper near the Beijing World Trade Center, several men move up and down its surface, fastened by a long wire rope -- making one think of the classic comic book character Spiderman.

But instead of the famous Spiderman suit, the men wear different uniforms and carry buckets and brushes. They are actually high-rise cleaners.

With the National Day holiday approaching, these Spidermen have recently been frequent visitors to high-rise buildings and large mansions in Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities to clear them of dust and dirt for a clean, new look.

This has been a busy time for high-rise cleaning companies in Beijing.

"We have been busy for two months," said Jia Yuecheng, manager of Beijing's Xibeilong Cleaning Co Ltd, whose business is mainly high-rise wall washing.

"We have had to work every day recently, while ordinarily we work only 20 days in a month," Jia said.

The company has a staff of 40 responsible for high-rise cleaning.

Beijing's Chang'an Avenue is creating plenty of business, Jia said, as most companies and institutions along the street are having their buildings washed in advance of National Day on October 1.

The avenue is where the National Day parade is scheduled to pass in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of New China.

"We've recently had several customers on Chang'an Avenue where buildings need more attentive cleaning," Jia said.

It's been so busy that some high-rise cleaning companies are turning away customers due to full workloads.

"Many customers came to us, but we couldn't take their orders because we've got work to do for National Day," said an executive manager of Dailao Cleaning Co Ltd who gave her surname as Yan.

Many high-rise washing orders these days also are coming from small office buildings that are not regularly cleaned.

"Regular customers tend to have their buildings washed at a certain interval. Random ones -- for example, small companies and institutions -- usually require cleaning services before big festivals," said Meng Zequan, manager of Yongmeijie Cleaning Services Co Ltd.

"The increase in orders usually comes from these customers," he said.

Meng said the busiest months for high-rise cleaning companies traditionally are April and September, when people are preparing for May Day or National Day.

He said his company, which has more than 20 employees, usually generates a profit of about 10,000 yuan a month. During busy times, profits can rise by 10 percent to 20 percent, he said.

"But after the economic crisis, we don't earn as much as before, so part of the increasing business is offset," Meng said.

Industry experts are more optimistic than Meng, recently telling the Shanghai-based Jiefang Daily that Shanghai, for example, has at least 4,000 high buildings, of which 1,900 have more than 20 floors each.

If large bridges, railways, airports and other large public infrastructure are included, infrastructure surfaces that need cleaning annually in Shanghai alone now cover more than 500 million square meters, the experts said.

And considering the cost of 2 yuan for cleaning each square meter of a high-rise surface, Shanghai would need an investment of more than 1 billion yuan annually.

The huge number of the country's bit-city skyscrapers and other large structures is fueling the rapid development of the infrastructure cleaning industry, experts said.

In Beijing, the municipal government has formulated a rule that mandates all high buildings and large structures be washed at least twice a year to clear surfaces of outside dust.

To cope with rising market demand, cleaning companies have sprung up like bamboo shoots in spring, but most are small with less than a dozen workers.

More competition is inevitable, industry experts said, calling for more professional skills development and safety training.

Market demand also is growing for environmentally friendly cleaning products, experts said.

(China Daily September 28, 2009)