Foreigner forms brotherly bond with selfless Chinese neighbor

TANG Jialin, 25, has been volunteering in his Jiuting Zhongxin Community since the COVID pandemic resurgence in Shanghai in late March, and his selfless work and warm heart have earned him the nickname of “Chinese Brother” from a foreign neighbor who needed help.

On March 29, Tang’s community was organizing all residents to do antigen tests. A foreign resident named Yousef cannot read Chinese and didn’t know how to do the test because of the language barrier.

When Tang heard about that, he explained to Yousef in English how to do the test. Yousef completed the test with the help of Tang and because of this incident they have become friends. Tang told his neighbor to call him any time if he has a problem.

Since then, Tang has taken Yousef under his wing. Each time the subdistrict distributes food parcels, Tang asks his neighbor on WeChat if he has received it and if he needs any other daily necessities.

Tang always keeps Yousef updated on the latest pandemic situation and the prevention and control policies in the community so that he can stay at home at ease.

On April 7, the foreign neighbor had a toothache and wanted to go to hospital. He asked help from Tang, and Tang applied to the community committee and then accompanied Yousef to the Shanghai No.1 People’s Hospital.

But doctors couldn’t make accurate diagnose as the CT in the dental department was not working.

They returned to the community and Tang applied to the community committee again to accompany Yousef to the Jiahui International Hospital. Finally the toothache was relieved after treatment there.

Late on the night of April 11, Yousef’s toothache hit again. After getting a green pass from the community committee, Tang drove Yousef to the Jiahui Hospital again.

The second day, Yousef felt better and he sent Tang a letter expressing his thanks.