Nanjing’s grassroots volunteerism commended
One of China’s capitals during many dynasties is renowned for its people’s community spirit
A foreign author who once lived in Jiangsu province shared his insight in a column — that people from Nanjing have quite similar characteristics to Germans, thanks to their precision and carefulness.
On Sept 8, a group of overseas reporters arrived in Xianlin community in Qixia district, in the northern area of the capital of the eastern Chinese province. They agreed with the author when they surveyed local families, volunteers and the administrative committee of the community.
The day they arrived coincided with 64-year-old local volunteer and migrant retiree Zou Xiaomei’s birthday.
Zou was moved to tears when sharing her life experience with them.
She was a policewoman in Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi province. Her husband, a policeman, passed away in 1991 and she had to raise two children by herself. She moved to Xianlin community in recent years.
During the past few years, she felt lonely but she said she found a new lease of life in the community because of its strong local management and hearty voluntary efforts.
This moved her to join a volunteer team and begin to organize a number of voluntary activities, including calligraphy, painting, chorus organization, as well as helping the neighborhood with their challenges in life.
The central government honored Xianlin as an advanced grassroots community due to its outstanding management.
According to Xu Jun, head of the administrative committee of Xianlin community, there are a total of 230,000 residents, including 150,000 university students in the area.
The community hopes to achieve a safe, happy and harmonious lifestyle despite having such a big population.
The 33-square-kilometer community has been divided into 1,786 areas, each of which have been assigned to local officials and volunteers.
Their responsibility is to address local people’s issues, such as neighborhood conflicts, nursing senior citizens, caring for the younger generation, free legal consultations, problems in new business registration and even family quarrels.
Every day, volunteers and officials patrol the streets to improve local security.
This type of management is the first of its kind in China. As a result, the community has a low crime rate and even a low divorce rate.
When locals have difficulties they can log on to the local online network, or ask the local Wechat group.
The number of outstanding efforts made by the officials and volunteers together has not only moved Zou, but also the higher level governments in China.
Last year Xianlin was honored as a role model in management by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
Nanjing people’s personality traits are said to originate in the city’s rich history of 2,500 years, as it served as the nation’s capital city under various ancient dynasties in China.
Economic development
The temperament inherited for centuries has also benefited local economic growth.
Last year, the city’s GDP hit 105 billion yuan ($16 billion), ranking it top among the provincial capital cities in China.
Nowadays, the glory of Nanjing no longer rests on the eastern part of the Qinhuai River, known as the mother river of the city, which saw centurieslong prosperity.
Hexi New Town, in the western part of the city, is evolving to become a new hub for finance, trade, exhibition and culture in East China.
Overseas reporters paid a visit to the new town.
They focused on the Nanjing Olympics Sports Center in the town, the main stadium for the 2013 Asian Youth Games and 2014 World Youth Olympics.
Designed by renowned architect Zaha Hadid, the stadium won the gold prize for International Excellent Sports Building and Exercises Facilities in 2007.
The reporters took beautiful photos of nearby landmarks, including Nanjing Eye Walk Bridge and the Jiangsu Center for the Performing Arts, for their TV stations and newspapers.