As Mr Huang was going about his business in Shenzhen’s Huaqiangbei area, he decided to stop and get his shoes shined. He sat on a stool and said to the worker who squatted before him, “Shine my shoes” and the worker complied.

After the worker began shining his shoes, Huang noticed a badge on the worker and his colleagues’ uniform which said “Volunteering Public Official.” Huang asked, “Are you public officials?” The official replied, “yes, we’re doing this for free.”

Huang expressed discomfort at having a public official shine his shoes, and tried to take his foot away, but the official said, “Sit still, I’m nearly finished,” according to gmw.cn. Huang then joined several onlookers in taking a photograph of the scene with his mobile phone.

Zheng Danjiang of the city’s Auditing Bureau is among the more than 4000 public officials who took part in the volunteering activity, which also included maintaining order at taxi ranks and sweeping roads.  He praised the activity as improving communication between citizens and officials.

In order to train for shining shoes, the officials must first shine their own. Although many officials feel self-conscious at first, within minutes, most of them are enthusiastically shouting at passers-by, offering free shoe-shine service.

Although the service is free, some citizens have offered to give a donation, but the officials have refused.

Weibo users have expressed skepticism about the activity. One named Unhappy Nana asked what the ulterior motives were, Another pointed out that Mr Huang would be at the mercy of the officials next time he had to get anything done.