Chinese cleaner with movie-star looks goes viral, drawing comparisons to top actor Hu Ge

After a 55-year-old Chinese cleaner went viral for his handsome appearance, he said he would continue doing his job with a down-to-earth attitude.

Chen Jingfu, a cleaner at a high-end shopping centre in Shenyang, in northeastern China’s Liaoning province, shot to fame overnight after footage of him at work went viral.

Many compared him to Chinese actors Hu Ge, known for TV series such as Blossoms Shanghai and Chinese Paladin, and Yan Yikuan, whose looks are often described as “God’s work”.

Some also nicknamed him “the Chinese version of T-Bag”, after the classic villain in the American drama Prison Break, played by Robert Knepper.

In the viral videos, Chen goes about his work as any other cleaner would. But they sparked a wave of hilarious comments suggesting he looked like a powerful man working undercover.

“He looks like a company president worth hundreds of billions who goes undercover as a cleaner to secretly find out whether his son’s girlfriend loves him or his money,” one online observer quipped.

“I don’t believe he’s a cleaner at all. He must have been framed by his stepbrother, forced to leave his company and lost his memory. One day, his memory will return and he’ll take back everything that belongs to him,” another said.

A third referenced a recently popular theme in Chinese short dramas: “A domineering billionaire falls madly in love with me, an ordinary cleaner, and becomes a cleaner himself to get close to me.”

Some commenters said his smart appearance and elegant demeanour even made his cleaning equipment look classy.

His sudden fame led to an invitation to a Liaoning Super League football match. The deputy mayor of Shenyang was seen walking alongside him and joked that his job at the event was to “look handsome”.

Netizens joked that they could not tell which of the two was the mayor and which was the cleaner.

Responding to his overnight popularity, Chen remained humble. He said he would not quit his job and would continue to work responsibly. He reminded himself to stay “down-to-earth and not get carried away”.

Chen was also modest about his looks. He said people considered him ugly when he was young, and that he married “late”, at the age of 25.

The Liaoning native said he was not of mixed race and had inherited most of his features from his mother, who is originally from Shandong in eastern China.

Chen was hired by the shopping centre last year as a front-of-house cleaner. He earns 1,000 yuan (US$150) more than the average cleaner, bringing his monthly salary to 5,000 yuan.

He said he was content with his life, and that his wife also reminded him to stay true to himself.

Chen’s attitude earned him further praise online.

“He’s being very smart. The attention is temporary. A peaceful and steady life is more important,” one commenter said.