Communities are helping foreigners across Shanghai
Hirotada Shirai (left), a Japanese living in Changning District, and Jin Chun, a volunteer in his compound
Hirotada Shirai, a Japanese living in Changning District, is ready to return to his office on Wednesday with COVID-19 waning in Shanghai.
Looking back to the past two months, he is grateful to volunteers in his compound – Maotai Xinyuan, a 30-year-old residential complex home to about 3,000 residents in 11 buildings.
Shirai works for a company selling water purification equipment. He has lived in Shanghai for 19 years and in this compound for about 10 years. He speaks almost fluent Mandarin.
"As an expat, I didn't know my neighbors before the pandemic," he said.
"But during the recent lockdown, they cared for me and helped me a lot. We became closer."
Shirai said he bought some food from a supermarket on March 28 and went into lockdown on April 1 in his compound in Puxi, west of the Huangpu River.
"I usually eat in restaurants or order takeaways," he said. "So I just bought some simple food and semi-finished dishes, which I thought was enough for five days."
But a positive case was found in a screening on the first day of the lockdown.
The patient lives in the same building as him and it was put under quarantine with residents asked not to go out of their room.
"On April 2, the government gave us some free food. But we were told that the lockdown may not be lifted as scheduled," he said.
"At that time, I became worried about my food stock. My neighbors sorted to group buying, but it was difficult for me as I read Chinese slowly and usually when I finished reading the introduction on the products, they were already snapped up."
He talked to Jin Chun, who has been updating information in a WeChat group for residents in the building, organizing COVID-19 tests and distributing government food supplies in the building with a dozen of volunteers.
"I told him my food will run out and I could not find where to buy the food," he said.
"He quickly gave me some rice, pork and eggs. My landlord who lives in the building right next to ours also gave me some milk."
Later, a friend recommended a Japanese food supplier and he was able to buy food by himself.
"The government have also given several batches of food to us, which were delivered door to door by volunteers, so it was no longer a problem for me," he said.
"The volunteers are working very hard for our safety and well-being. I am so grateful for their help."
Some of the food and daily necessities given by the government
Shirai lives alone so he gave surplus food to his neighbors too.
"The government provided same amount of food for each household and it was too much for me," he said. "I knew it was difficult for everybody, so it's natural for me to share it with others."
Besides working at home, Shirai learned cooking and baking during the lockdown and posted videos of his cooking on social media. He shared home-made cakes with the volunteers too.
He also learned cooking some Chinese dishes.
"The best I can cook is salt and pepper shrimp. It's really delicious. I love it!" He said. "I'm glad to see Shanghai is returning to normal now and I'm ready to work in the office tomorrow."
Shirai shares cakes with volunteers.
Shi Guankun, an official of the neighborhood committee, said there were several other expats in the compound and the community was also thankful to them for their cooperation under the pandemic control and prevention measures, including lockdown and COVID-19 tests.
"Our foreign neighbors were sometimes anxious as they didn't understand the policies. But after we explained to them, they became cooperative," said Shi. "We believe that both Chinese and expats are the same as we are working together to make life better. And I'm happy that we've made it."
Volunteers take a group photo on Tuesday.
