Yu Youzhen, a 53-year-old woman who lives in the Chinese city of Wuhan, is wealthy. According to the South China Morning Post, Yu is the proud owner of 17 apartments worth more than 10 million yuan (approximately $1.5 million).

But Yu does something most rich people do not. Six days a week she wakes up and goes to work as a sanitation worker for the city, earning a monthly salary of just 1,420 yuan ($227)

Since her discovery by a reporter for local newspaper Wuhan Evening Times, Yu has become a symbol of hard work and determination in China.

She has kept her job, which involves scrubbing the streets and emptying trash cans, since 1998, and grew up in poor circumstances. When she came into the ownership of the expensive apartments in the city in 2008, she was determined not to become lazy like many others who came into ownership, Netease reports.

"I want to be a role model for my son and daughter. I don’t want to sit around idly and eat away my fortune," Yu told reporters. So far, her children are following in her footsteps, with one son working as a driver and a daughter working in another job.

DON'T MISS: 10 Billionaires Who Live Like Paupers >