Volunteers ready for CIIE

A total of 510 volunteers from Shanghai International Studies University are ready to serve the second China International Import Expo with 15 languages, including English, German, Russian and French.

About 7 percent of them will be at the expo for the second year. These include Russian major Xu Ruiqi.

Xu had worked as a Russian-Chinese interpreter last year at a Ukraine booth and applied for the program for a second year immediately when she saw the recruiting notice.

This year she will be a translator in the Euro-Asia group at the foreign affairs liaison office of the city’s commerce commission.

She has begun working on October 22 and has to work on weekends to prepare for the expo.

“I feel honored to contribute to such a great event,” she said. “And I think the volunteering work is very helpful for my Russian studies.

Besides Russian-Chinese interpreting, she is translating between Chinese and English this year. A part-time job with the university’s new media platform “China Youth” has helped her prepare. She said she is confident to do as well as last year.

Donghua University will also have about 190 volunteers at the expo, including four from Belt and Road countries. 

These include Bouiti Viaudo Aimé Gilles Prosper from the Republic of the Congo who began learning Chinese in 2017 after graduating from high school and is now studying architectural environment and energy. 

It's his first time at the CIIE. He said volunteering will help him get to know more about China.

Close to 6,000 volunteers will work at the CIIE, with about 4,000 inside the venue.