A get-together of police officers and expats
Community police officer Zheng Hongmei (in uniform) is teaching Patricia Giorno Ramos to make tangyuan with the other residents.
Lantern Festival is a time for family and friends to enjoy glutinous rice balls called tangyuan and guess riddles hanging under lanterns.
A Lantern Festival get-together attended by local and foreign residents in a residential compound in the Pudong New Area on Tuesday welcomed community police officers from Meiyuan New Village Police Station.
For most expats living in Yanlord Garden — a complex with 60 percent of residents from overseas — community police officers are the unsung heroes when they encounter problems such as visas or registration issues.
Besides teaching the foreign residents how to make rice dumplings, the police officers also gave them bilingual leaflets on entry and exit regulations, telecom scam prevention and safety tips.
Zheng Hongmei, one of the community police officers, told Shanghai Daily that such events provided them great opportunities to get close to the foreign residents in the area and know their needs. Before this one, she and her colleagues also participated in the community's Dragon Boat Festival and Christmas parties.
"Through these cultural events, we can promote legal knowledge and tips among the expats who will later pass on to others," she said.
On Tuesday she talked to some foreign residents and learned that they need some help in getting their pet dogs registered. "I will bring the information back to my police station and see if we can do something to help them."
Before being a police officer, Zheng used to be an English teacher. So when she noticed that there are many expats living in the community, she helped translating the police notice and leaflets into English and posted them on the bulletin board of every building.
"I hope the foreign residents can feel that we are a family, and my colleagues and I will always be here for them," she said.
Kellie Henry is taking a selfie of her and others, together with the tangyuan they made.
Kellie Henry, 49, from the United States, has been living in the community for a decade. She told Shanghai Daily that she loves the opportunity to try different aspects of traditional Chinese culture. Prior to this event, she had also made zongzi, or rice dumplings in the Dragon Boat Festival and taken a class to make xiaolongbao, or Chinese steamed meat buns. "But this is the first time for me to make these (tangyuan)."
Henry said their community police are very active and thought Zheng is very nice. "I can always go to her if I need help, and she's staying in contact with members in the community," she added. In her words, Zheng often gives them good advices and always makes sure that they have the information they need.
"For the community police, I have never been in touch with them directly before. But they're always very helpful if you need something," another participant, Ilaria Lenzi from Italy, agreed.
Patricia Giorno Ramos from Brazil said she has a big family of 10 members, and Tuesday's event reminded her of her family's cooking together. As a newcomer who moved into this community three months ago, she received lots of help from the social workers and community police officers such as her registration to the police.
Song Wenjun, a social worker at the community, said the community police are very reliable. "Foreign residents have to register for their residence within 24 hours after they entered the country. Sometimes if there is a special circumstance that we social workers cannot answer their questions, the police officers explain to them patiently on their own."
Patricia Giorno Ramos (right) and community social worker Song Wenjun are guessing lantern riddles at the Lantern Festival party.
After making the tangtuan, residents guessed lantern riddles. It's another tradition on Lantern Festival for people to guess things like a Chinese character, an idiom, a place, a name or an item used in daily life from the words on a paper slip hanging below a lantern. If one knows the answer, he or she can drag down the paper slip and hand it to the judge with the answer.
Most of these riddle are related to Chinese language and culture, but there will also be some simple ones related to life prepared for beginners. For example, the answer for riddle, "A fish which is not a fish, lives in the sea for life. From distance it looks like a fountain, but it's more like an island when you get close," is whale.
Some local universities also organized activities on Tuesday for international students to experience the Chinese traditional celebrations of the Lantern Festival.
At Shanghai University, more than 100 students from 30 countries, dressed up in traditional Chinese costumes, fathered in a canteen on its campus in Baoshan District, which was decorated with red lanterns.
They had a try on making lanterns, guessing riddles, writing the Chinese character fu, which means good luck, and eating glutinous rice dumpling balls.
The university also displayed famous poems related to the Lantern Festival and organized other traditional games, such as pitch-pot, shuttlecock and ring toss.
Foreign students at Shanghai University are guessing lantern riddles.
Foreign students at Shanghai University enjoy tangyuan.
Foreign students at Shanghai University display the handmade lanterns.
