Veteran CIIE volunteers back in action
Wang Li (center) who volunteers at an exit of the Xujing East Metro Station on Wednesday points out the way for a man.
About 1,000 volunteers from the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) will return for duty this year. Shanghai Daily recently spoke to several of these repeat volunteers to hear their tales of service.
Zheng Sihang, 23, is a Master's degree student of power engineering and engineering thermophysics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He was assigned to help receive guests from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan last year.
“Around this time last year, I had already been accepted to the Master's program, so I had plenty of time volunteering for the expo, about which I had a lot of curiosity,” he said.
Zheng said he was already busy before the expo even started, dealing with paperwork and taking guests around the venue, the National Exhibition and Convention Center.
Born and raised in Fujian Province, Zheng speaks the Minnan dialect which is also spoken in Taiwan. This gives him an advantage in communicating with guests from there.
“Those days were full of work, but I got to have a close-up look at preparations for the grand expo and exercise my communication ability through teamwork,” he said.
From helping other people, Zheng said he drew a sense of fulfillment.
“I came back because I love doing this and believe it’s a great opportunity to learn about the organization of volunteer services for large events,” he said.
Qu Qingyang, a third-year student of the College of Air Transportation at Shanghai University of Engineering Science, will also make a comeback.
Last year, Qu worked as a volunteer to guide event visitors.
“Like fellow volunteers, I prepared myself for the job by walking up and down the mammoth venue every day to have a good idea of it,” she recalled.
This year, Qu was one of the volunteers who took part in a troubleshooting mission before the expo to improve signs and maps inside the venue. Qu said the signs are clearer this year, and that she is competent enough to impart her knowledge about the venue to new volunteers.
“It’s not always obvious that while Hall 6.1 is on the first floor, Hall 6.2 is on the third floor,” she said.
Qu said she came back because she expects a special CIIE will be held in the year of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
“Also, it’s a great opportunity for me to take a close look at the latest technology from my field of study,” she said.
From Shanghai International Studies University, so far about 500 volunteers who speak 15 languages will serve at the expo this year. One in 10 will volunteer for a second year in a row.
One of them is 24-year-old Gu Hang, a third-year student studying Arabic. Gu previously worked as a volunteer to receive foreign government officials who visited the expo.
“I had a chance to closely watch how officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs work on such occasions, and the whole experience was really eye-opening to me,” he said.
Gu, who has long had dreams of becoming a diplomat, has recently been accepted by the ministry and expects to work for it after graduation.
“I’m back this year because I want to once again work at that level and make friends through teamwork,” he said.
Around the expo venue, 525 volunteers recruited from all parts of the city will be working from November 3 to 10 at 75 key traffic junctions. They call themselves “smiling clovers,” referring the clover-shaped venue of the expo.
Just like last year, they will be offering directions and correcting traffic offenders together with security forces and traffic police.
Wang Li, 35, a residential committee official of Xujing Town, where the venue is located, is one of the volunteers who has returned to serve. She was previously awarded for her hard work at the first expo.
Gao Yuan, Wang’s fellow volunteer from last year who will serve this year as well, said it’s recommended that all volunteers make a detailed reading of brochures containing traffic information.
“Not just visitors to the expo, many staff of government organizations and companies also need our help,” he said.
