Ambassadors learn about China's community centers
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Foreign ambassadors visit Shanghai at the Gubei Civic Center on Thursday where they are introduced to a typical urban community center.
Jiang Xiaowei / SHINE -
Foreign ambassadors visiting Shanghai pay a visit to the Gubei Civic Center on Thursday where they're introduced to a typical urban community center in China which provides various public services and serves as a meeting place for the residents.
Jiang Xiaowei / SHINE -
Foreign ambassadors visiting Shanghai pay a visit to the Gubei Civic Center on Thursday where they're introduced to a typical urban community center in China which provides various public services and serves as a meeting place for the residents.
Jiang Xiaowei / SHINE -
Foreign ambassadors visiting Shanghai pay a visit to the Gubei Civic Center on Thursday where they're introduced to a typical urban community center in China which provides various public services and serves as a meeting place for the residents.
Jiang Xiaowei / SHINE -
Foreign ambassadors visiting Shanghai pay a visit to the Gubei Civic Center on Thursday where they're introduced to a typical urban community center in China which provides various public services and serves as a meeting place for the residents.
Jiang Xiaowei / SHINE -
Foreign ambassadors visiting Shanghai pay a visit to the Gubei Civic Center on Thursday where they're introduced to a typical urban community center in China which provides various public services and serves as a meeting place for the residents.
Jiang Xiaowei / SHINE -
Foreign ambassadors visiting Shanghai pay a visit to the Gubei Civic Center on Thursday where they're introduced to a typical urban community center in China which provides various public services and serves as a meeting place for the residents.
Jiang Xiaowei / SHINE
A community that gathers, shares and inspires is what visiting foreign ambassadors in China find about the Gubei community in Shanghai.
The ambassadors, who were given an outline of Shanghai's achievements by its Party chief the previous night, saw on Thursday how the city is made by and for its people.
The spirit of the community is epitomized in the three-story Gubei Civic Center, the public service center of the community. The community's Ronghua residential area has 33,000 residents from over 50 countries and regions, half of them from outside the Chinese mainland.
Besides administrative services and cultural experiences, the center also offers meeting spaces for residents to discuss issues in their neighborhood.
The ambassadors met some residents who were gathering in a conference room at the center to discuss proposals to improve a popular street in the community. Several projects were being reviewed and voted on.
One of the residents was Michelle Wang, an expat from the Philippines who has been living in the Gubei neighborhood for about 12 years.
"I have been participating in committee meetings at which we discuss concerns and issues of our neighborhood, and also our intentions to improve things," she told the ambassadors.
Another expat at the meeting was Lauren Rogers, secondary vice principal of Yew Chung International School of Shanghai, Puxi. She moved to China two years ago.
"I teach geography and my background is urban development, so I'm very excited to attend the discussion to look at how to better our community," she said. "It's been really lovely to be able to learn about Chinese culture through various initiatives of the Gubei community."
Fariz Mehdawi, Palestine's ambassador in China, said he was impressed by the services Shanghai provides for expats.
"People might face a lot of challenges in a foreign country to become acquainted and adapted to the situation, and it's quite encouraging to see that here in Shanghai the government has already taken their needs into consideration," he said. "This would be one of the most favorite destinations for international expatriates."
For its diversity of population, this community is also one of the first around the country to be able to make suggestions to national and local lawmakers in legislative issues.
The ambassadors were told that residents had made over 1,000 suggestions to 55 draft laws in the past five years, with 72 of them made into law.
Robert Sterling Quant, the Bahamas ambassador in China, was impressed that many suggestions proposed from the public during the legislation had been made into law.
"It's interesting to see that a great number of people participate in the legislation process here in China, and that here in Shanghai a lot of expats are actively involved in it," he said. "Sometimes most people don't get involved in politics, but everything in politics affects people on a daily basis."
During their visit to the center, the ambassadors tried their hand at Chinese calligraphy, playing the piano and having their blood pressure measured, just as local residents would.
They were told that most of the services are free of charge and certain courses charge fees, but mostly only for learning materials.
