Pudong’s community service centers help expats feel right at home

SHINE | 03-Oct-2021 | By Li Qian

Biyun International Community is, in Kuldeep Kumar Sharma’s eyes, nearly the best place. Better known as KK in the community, the Indian man has been living in Biyun for 20 years. “I like it very much. Everything is nice. If it wasn’t perfect, I wouldn’t stay here for so long,” he said, with undisguised love for the area. Sitting nearby, Julie Jan Meurville from France nods in agreement.

“Honestly, there’s nothing I can complain about here. Everybody who ever came here just falls in love with it,” she said. Biyun is often called a “mini-UN” as it houses about 3,800 overseas people from more than 60 countries and regions in a plot of 2.5-square-kilometer land in Jinqiao Town. Meurville raves over the convenience of local life as anything her family needs is provided at her doorstep. To name a few, there are Dulwich College Shanghai Pudong, Shanghai International Hospital and Green Sports Park, as well as an array of fancy restaurants and bars. “It’s much easier to live here compared to my hometown back in France,” she said explicitly.

“Here, everything is well organized to make your life easier, and a new Metro line will soon open. Here, it’s safe for the kids to go to school because we have the pathways for walking, cycling and driving,” she said. “We received vaccines and our kids are going to be vaccinated. We follow the rules and we have a good quality of life.” She added, “There is really something happening here that my country needs to learn.” For both of them, the community’s service station catering to overseas people is one of several of their haunts in the community. Located on the ground floor of Biyun Community Affairs Service Center, the Service Station for Overseas People, also Immigrants’ Integration Service Station, provides overseas people with interpretation, temporary residence registration and daily information consultation.

There are social workers on hand to assist them. Bilingual leaflets illustrating answers to frequently asked questions for overseas people, such as how to apply for a driver’s license, electronic bike license and dog card, as well as community guide, are available. “It’s a great place. After the COVID-19 outbreak, I have never bought masks by myself. I just got everything from here,” KK said, with a thumbs-up. According to the community, it has helped more than 1,350 people go through home quarantine, and worked a lot to help local overseas people to get masks, vaccinations and any updated prevention information through its official WeChat account.

Zhang Xiaoqing, director of Biyun’s first residential quarter, said: “Last year, we received a letter from the Concordia International School Shanghai to thank us for our efforts in helping them return to work. It features signatures of tens of foreign teachers.” “Social workers always send information in WeChat groups, and it’s easy to communicate here with WeChat,” Meurville said. Now, most applications can be done online through WeChat but she is still coming to the station as she has somewhat befriended local social workers. “We know each other. My parents used to come every year for two months and I visited to go through temporary residence registration. It’s so easy. You just bring your passport and all of the contracts. It just takes several minutes,” she said, amazed at such ‘China speed.’ “China is really efficient. When you search for information it’s always accessible,” she said.

Also Biyun holds various activities such as charity bazaars and intangible cultural heritage experiences.

“We are branching out from simply administrative affairs services to cultural activities,” Zhang said, calling it a chance to bring overseas people closer to the community. Meurville said: “There are a plenty of things to do here. I know that some of my friends have participated in craft or music activities. There are activities for every national festival when China celebrates something. It allows me to know better about why you are celebrating these festivals. There are lots of things to discover about your country.” The Service Station for Overseas People in Biyun is one of the 22 sites sprawling across Pudong. Since 2020, six of them have merged with the Immigrants’ Integration Service Station. Besides Jinqiao’s Biyun, the other five are in Zhangjiang Town, Huamu Subdistrict, Sanlin Town, Weifang Subdistrict and Gaohang Town.

The merger of two stations into one site is intended to create a better living environment for overseas people. “Besides traditional services such as consultation, we also introduce more Sino-foreign exchanges to help them better assimilate into local communities,” said Wu Kangwei, a police official at Pudong Public Security Bureau’s Entry-Exit Management Office. The site in Qiantan community, also known as the New Bund, in Sanlin is a relative newcomer as Qiantan itself is an emerging international community compared to well-established Biyun. And it’s more a mix of residential and business compounds as it features many regional headquarters and major offices of multinational companies. More than 400 overseas people from over 30 countries and regions live in Qiantan, an area of about 2.83 square kilometers. Many of them also work in the area, such as at Raffles Hospital Shanghai and Wellington College International Shanghai. The number is set to increase after Shanghai New York University opens its new campus next year. “We have to bring the needs of both people and business into consideration,” said Shen Wei, director of Qiantan Community Comprehensive Office.

It’s not always possible for cultural conflicts to be avoided, and even trifles can escalate into disputes, he said. For example, local residents believe that a Christmas tree erected in the community is just for appearance, but foreign kids like to play with it and a dispute is triggered with property managers.

“We act like a bridge to help the two sides know each other better, and integrate overseas people into the local community,” Shen said. To better serve foreign businesses, local social workers visit them to ask about their needs instead of just turning up to help when problems emerge.

“Though it is still a year before Shanghai New York University opens its campus here, we’ve decided to visit the school on September 30 to hear more about their needs,” he said. “Also, we plan to invite teachers and students to have a tour around Sanlin to enjoy the local landscape and get a feel for local cultural charm.” According to Shen, cultural activities provide a perfect introduction to a strange place. Over the past year, the site has held several events to allow overseas people to learn more about Sanlin’s intangible cultural heritages such as embroidery, porcelain painting and carving, and dragon and lion dancing. Doctor Steven Misch from SinoUnited Health enjoyed learning more about local embroidery methods. It strengthened ties between the community and company, and it increased foreigners’ understanding of a local cultural heritage as well as their sense of belonging, he said.

Sarah Cai, manager of Office Management of Covestro (Shanghai) Investment Co., felt the same as Shen. “Many foreign managers had never touched Chinese culture and history before they arrived in China, but they are very interested in it. Cultural activities just open a window for them to know China and Shanghai. And they attend these activities with their families, making them feel more like at home,” she said. “They care about their life and their children’s education here. And this site, to some extent, walks into their life to address their problems and satisfy their needs. What’s more, it allows them to see a transparent, efficient and human-oriented government system.”