Civic center becomes focal point for community
Print Edition
THE Gubei Civic Center at 99 Fugui Road E. has served members of Shanghai’s international community for more than three years.
The three-story building is not merely a community affairs service center, but a multifunctional hall offering Chinese and foreign residents useful information, cultural lessons and training courses apart from dealing with stay overnight registration.
Volunteer services, Christmas parties, award ceremonies and even exhibitions displaying private collections have also been held here. And the penthouse library is a great place for a quiet afternoon retreat.
Information services available on the first floor of the center covers healthcare, community legal affairs, finance, tourism and psychology.
Workshops on the second floor provide courses on subjects like folk music, fine arts, dancing, cooking and calligraphy.
The Kunqu & Peking Opera Club is among the highlights. Originally founded as a club for Kunqu Opera enthusiasts by Zhao Jinyu, an apprentice of the well-known Kunqu Opera artist Zhang Xunpeng, the center boasts an eclectic membership of white-collar workers and foreign residents.
The club hosts regular workshops with noted performers, as well as small shows aimed at cultivating interest in Chinese opera among expats, according to Zhao, who now acts as the center’s director.
During a recent visit by young sinologists from 23 countries and regions, Zhao introduced them to the Kunqu Opera classic “Peony Pavilion” and deduced its famous arias with modern elements. Some of the young observers even got the chance to wear Kunqu costumes themselves and followed Zhao to perform a sleeve-shaking movement called shuixiu qingwu, or literally “light dancing with water sleeves.”
During the upcoming Citizen Culture Festival, a symphony concert will be held on the second floor ballroom on Saturday morning, while a nesting-doll painting workshop will be held on the third floor.
A women’s coffee salon is set to open in the afternoon, and a film screening is scheduled for that night.
The center also hosted a beauty salon, book fair, DIY workshop, health lecture and baking lesson to celebrate International Women’s Day.
To cater to expat housewives, workers at the center teamed up with universities and other training institutions to teach them Chinese, music, fine arts and other subjects. These classes attracted many foreign women and built friendships among them.
Getting involved
As the center mainly serves the Ronghua neighborhood, Shanghai’s first residential community for expat families, its workers mobilized Chinese and foreign residents who were enthusiastic about public affairs to set up a chamber dealing with community matters.
A panel of 12 counselors works for the more than 33,000 people from nearly 50 countries and regions who live here. About 57 percent of them are foreigners.
Ricardo Blazquez, chief trade representative in China for Valencia, Spain's third-largest city, now serves as one of the community representatives.
Blazquez, 62, has been living in Shanghai for 18 years. He resides at the Ronghua community, along with his wife, daughter and 2-year-old granddaughter.
His job is to represent foreign views in an international residents’ chamber in the civic center. There, problems are discussed and solutions proposed.
He is a small part of the city government’s “Top Agenda” policy, aimed at giving local residents a greater voice in community affairs. The chamber, with its regular meetings held at the Gubei Civic Center, includes six foreigners. In addition to Blazquez, the foreign representatives come from Japan, the Netherlands, the Philippines and Australia.
The chamber holds regular meetings once a month. The counselors bring to the body feedback from their communities: problems, suggestions for improvements, and praise for systems that work well.
Sometimes, counselors even visit residents’ apartments to deal with specific grievances.
They have encouraged everyone in the community to contribute ideas for the maintenance and management of their neighborhood.
The Ronghua Neighborhood Committee held an event last year at the Gubei Civic Center to celebrate its 20th anniversary.
Workers at the center summed up their years of experience into a book on service etiquette, joint management and cultural integration for colleagues serving international communities.
Drawn by Shanghai’s enormous changes and opportunities as a result of reform and opening up, many foreigners and overseas Chinese came to work and live in the city. The Sixth National Census shows that there are nearly 210,000 people from 119 countries and regions living in some 50 international communities across Changning District.
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