Badges a hot item for young volunteers at import expo
Badge trading is very popular among young volunteers serving the China International Import Expo.
Cao Long, a 21-year-old student from Sanda College, is one of the most popular young volunteers working at the China International Import Expo. He has about 40 badges hanging around his neck, and many of his peers want to exchange with him.
This week, Cao got a precious badge from another volunteer, which he exchanged for three of his own.
Volunteer Cao Long with his badges at the import expo.
During the first CIIE in 2018, badges were designed for identifying and encouraging team leaders of volunteers, according to the Youth League Shanghai. But badges gradually became cool with volunteers, and badge trading became very popular among them.
Starting with the 2nd CIIE, the Youth League introduced two series of badges: exclusive and glory badges.
Exclusive badges indicate a volunteer's responsibility and serving time, but glory badges can only be attained by completing tasks such as serving for more than 50 hours.
The glory badges of the 3rd and 4th CIIE.
"The organizer provides 300 to 500 badges every day to motivate volunteers who have reached the designated working hours. Some of these badges are hard to get," said Wu Jingyao, 19, who works in the volunteer center.
Many colleges and universities also have their own badges.
Wu jingyao shows a glory badge to a volunteer.
A set of badges from Tongji University, one of the most popular sets among volunteers.
A volunteer checks badges in a cabinet.
"This is my first year at CIIE," said Cao. "On the first day, I only had three badges, one from my school, and the other two from CIIE blind boxes."
His collection soon grew to 40 in the next few days.
"My favorite is 'Rotating Panda' from Shanghai University of Engineering Science," he added.
Badges are not only for fun, but also mean a lot to volunteers like Cao.
Cao's favorite badge "Rotating Panda"
"The badge is a kind of award. It represents my hard work at CIIE," he said. "At the same time, badge trading lets me make many friends."
"I want to cheer for volunteers while displaying the characteristics of Shanghai and the spirit of young volunteers through these badges," said Lei Xiaojie, a designer of the latest expo badges.
Volunteers line up to get glory badges at the volunteer center after completing certain tasks.
