Jinfeng International Community Development Association helps foreign residents adapt to local community
The International Family Day gala in September 2020
The International Family Day gala in September 2020
Karen Chen, along with the Jinfeng International Community Development Association in Huacao Town, has been practicing "civil diplomacy with kindness."
Huacao in the northern tip of Minhang District is home to 11 foreign-related neighborhoods and four international schools. Its current foreign population of about 8,000 residents hails from more than 70 countries and regions. In 2017, the town encouraged the founding of the Jinfeng International Community Development Association to help foreign residents better adapt to their communities.
Association chairwoman Chen talked about her confidence that the NGO can help foreigners relate closely to local life.
"Among them there were a couple," Chen said. "They had a teenager daughter. They made a hard decision to relocate to Chile in 2023.
"I asked the girl what she would do in the future. She answered she would become a lawyer, and come back to Shanghai to buy the house they had been renting in Huacao since her birth."
Home is a home
"It had been the girl's home and a slew of her memories were there," Chen said. "Such attachments as theirs to Huacao often motivate us in our work."
The town is home to a host of high-level educational talent and senior executives from Fortune 500 companies, and boasts rich educational resources, a convenient geographic location in the Yangtze River Delta and ample infrastructure facilities.
Chen and her colleagues launched cross culture activities, the Huacao Life (H•Life) quarterly magazine, the JICDA WeChat account and a monthly Huacao Expats' Consultative Conference to answer appeals from foreign residents as well as to enrich their lives.
A community market in April 2019
A party for expats to try on China's traditional qipao dresses
A cycling tour in June 2019. Jinfeng International Community Development Association has organized lots of activities to help expats better adapt to the local life.
The Expats' Consultative Conference, in particular, which was started in 2019, is where foreign residents could chat with community or government officials about their concerns, such as immigration procedures, visa approval issues, tax policies and how to run a company.
A recent initiative to install traffic lights on a school district road was achieved thanks to the consultative conference.
"Jinguang Road in the neighborhood, where the British International School Shanghai Puxi is located, used to have only a few traffic lights, and the vehicle speed here was quite fast. Due to safety concerns, the parents appealed to us first in 2019. The problem was settled recently with a government financial allocation to fund the facilities," said Meng Lu, chief secretary of JICDA.
"It was an issue concerning safety, and the residents didn't press us. They offered solutions as well, such as setting up speed bumps and traffic signs," Meng added.
Residents voice their opinions on garbage sorting at a monthly consultative conference in May 2019.
People-to-people diplomacy, according to Chen, requires wisdom and kindness.
"JICDA has been providing solutions to problems faced by foreign residents that they might have been unable to solve on their own," said Chen.
"After that, we would also invite them to join our non-profit activities, such as the Spring Fair, cycling tour, Easter egg painting, Mid-Autumn celebration in the outdoors around an old-fashioned Chinese square table with tea and mooncakes, and a Bund cruise tour around the Bund to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China," Chen added.
Huacao's residents take a group photo during a Bund cruise tour in July 2021 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China.
Creating possibilities out of thin air
"It is also important to create possibilities out of thin air," said Chen, who is also the second-generation head of a realty business.
To create content for their quarterly magazine, members of JICDA knocked on the doors of each international school and interviewed the headmasters and teachers.
"They valued the dialogue with us, a magazine on Huacao where they live. When we asked the headmaster of the Shanghai American School what he thought about the school's role in the Huacao community, he treated the topic seriously and with sincerity. The story was a hit when we published it.
"Then we interviewed other schools, as well as the hospitals, clinics, property management companies and head of Huacao, who could tell us about the town's future development plans and why we should settle here.
"Small restaurants and supermarkets, who might be our members, are able to advertise in our magazine, which is a way of improving the local business environment. Gradually we've woven a community network," Chen said.
The COVID-19 pandemic imposed new requirements on international community governance, but also strengthened links between foreign residents and JICDA.
The association twice instigated questionnaires aimed at foreign residents to learn about their concerns, while negotiating with hotels over quarantine issues and recruiting volunteers for translation work.
"We might have more than 10,000 foreign residents by the end of this year, as the New Hongqiao Medical Center and the Hongqiao Business District will offer more job vacancies," Chen said.
A 1,000-square-meter public service center was constructed at 550 Jidi Road in Huacao, and would soon open to foreign residents.
It will offer children's entertainment facilities, a baby-care room, a community library and a cafe that will serve coffee at a fair price.
It would also have a larger expats' consultative conference room that could accommodate at least 30 people.
Cultural courses, including lessons in Mandarin Chinese, calligraphy, yoga and culinary arts, would be available for foreign residents.
Medical workers, immigration officers, police, lawyers and accountants would visit the service center frequently to offer services and assistance.
"We'll also build a smart community network, where foreign residents will use a QR code as their neighborhood identity cards and to record their volunteer working hours," said Chen. "A 24-hour community news platform applet will be developed to offer residents quick access to information."
