Encouragement for China's new social class
Officials launch a council to encourage more people to take part in social management.
Employees, freelancers, and members of the new economy and social organizations, known as China’s “new social class,” have been taking an active part in social management in the Dapuqiao Subdistrict of Huangpu District.
They’ve developed online service platforms to help improve the region’s business environment, opened training sessions in heritage skills, launched environmental protection campaigns and supported the nation’s poverty alleviation.
A social governance council was launched on Wednesday to encourage more people to participate in community management.
A first batch of six projects was unveiled at the ceremony, which was streamlined online.
Li Shiyi, a fourth generation inheritor of Haipai, or Shanghai-style paper-cutting, launched a project to promote the skill at local communities, office buildings and schools. A training center has been opened to hold monthly lectures, exhibitions and classes.
“The inheritance of the traditional skills shall not focus on the search of successors, but widely promote the skills among white-collars, children and other citizens,” Li said.
Li Shiyi (right), a fourth generation inheritor of Haipai, or Shanghai-style paper-cutting, presents one of her works to an official with the Dapuqiao Subdistrict in Huangpu.
Ren Meifei, executive director with the Spanish Chamber of Commerce Shanghai, launched a project at local cafes and milk tea franchises to encourage customers to bring their own cups. The campaign aims to support the city’s garbage sorting regulations.
Lu Fengcun, general manager with the China Overseas Office Capital, led the company’s employees to donate a library for children at a remote mountainous town in southwest Yunnan Province. The local subdistrict where the company is based has a counterpart deal to help relieve the poverty of the town.
The “iRead u Dream” project has helped build a library for Mangjing Elementary School in Pu’er City of Yunnan.
Senior lawyer Chen Hongchun organized a team of lawyers to offer free consultation and legal support to residents in old residential communities who are about to be relocated. The team aims to protect the rights of residents while helping persuade them to agree relocation deals.
The new social class, which mainly appeared after the nation’s reform and opening up, have contributed a lot to the development of the country, said Feng Xiaomin, vice president of the Shanghai Community Research Institute.
China has some 150 million members of this new class, accounting for 11.5 percent of the nation’s total population.
Officials and members of the "new social class" pour coffee grounds into plant pots as part of an environmental protection project initiated by Ren Meifei, executive director with the Spanish Chamber of Commerce Shanghai.
