"I got involved with this work because I have lived in a lilong (neighbourhood)with old, shabby houses for a long time, where most families are packed into small houses with too many people," she said.

Unlike modern apartments with spacious rooms, these old houses often lack amenities, so households on the same floor have to share a narrow corridor, kitchen and even toilet.

"Disputes easily arise," said the 50-year-old woman. "Like the Chinese saying goes - each family has its own trouble."

So, she said she does "little things" to help out.

Legal awareness

Working as a judge for over 20 years, she has experience in helping families patch up quarrels and enhance people's legal awareness.

"I had long worked as a judge at a criminal tribunal before being transferred in 1999 to the department to file cases for investigation," Zhang said.

Early in 1990, to help residents in the community become aware of the law, she was invited to organize quizzes, which may be considered easy and simple today.

"I write the questions," she said. "Yet, if I encounter some unfamiliar regulations, such as fire-fighting rules, I have to study them first, and memorize the answers."

Later that summer, on a Saturday morning, Zhang offered a lecture for children for the first time. Most of the children were left alone on weekdays over the two-month-long summer holidays.

"Fathers and mothers feared that their children do something bad if there was not anyone to discipline them," she said. "I just instructed the teenagers on some basic legal items."

Yet, Zhang realized that the children were too young to understand such complex terms and sentences, so she used narrations of juvenile delinquent stories to enrich her lectures.

"Case stories proved to be powerful," Zhang said. "Some parents also came to my lectures on weekends, because most of the crimes by young offenders were closely connected with family atmosphere and parents' negligence."

It was a true story in her community about a 18-year-old boy who stabbed his stepmother and was put into prison that elicited the strongest response.

"From what the neighbours knew, the boy was diligent and spoke little, and many neighbours were shocked and felt regret for the young man," she said.

Although it was a tragedy, Zhang took the case as an example to warn families.

"It was a case close to the community, and the children were familiar with the young man," she said. "All parents and children in the area learned a lesson about promoting understanding between the two generations."

Family conflicts

Since almost each family in the community supported elderly people, Zhang soon began to illustrate problems related to the aging population.

"Children may quarrel with each other over inheritances, especially houses, and the generation gap also hurts the elderly," Zhang said. "The elderly devote themselves to the children, and they need understanding and deserve our respect."

One evening around 7:00pm after Zhang returned home from work, someone from the community office staff came and asked her to help settle a quarrel between an old man and his son.

"The old man was healthy and well-dressed, although in his 80s, but he had trouble hearing in one ear," she said. "All the trouble stemmed from his bad hearing."

Since he could not hear clearly, his son had to speak loudly to him, which made the man think that his son was being rude to him. Annoyed, the father insisted on driving the "undutiful son" out of the house.

"Sometimes, elderly people are stubborn because they are afraid that children are not filial, yet they are emotional and fuss over the grandchildren," Zhang said. "If the son had been forced to move out, his wife and son would have to move out. How difficult would it be for an old man to live alone?"

Her approach worked well, and the elder man gave in at last. Because he realized that his life would be totally changed if the young couple and their son left him.

"I just told him that he may not get good care from the daughter-in-law, he may not have clean clothes to wear, and he may not see his dear grandson every day," she added. "To solve such problems smoothly, you have touch people's hearts, after all no one can throw away his love for the family."

An important principle that Zhang has always abided by is to be just and show no bias to either party. She realizes that if she does not observe this principle, she may fail to make peace between family members, especially families with complicated relations.

Chinese people do not like to expose their family conflicts to the public, they are reluctant to resort to court action, so the justice of the mediator counts.

In the community, one man's two marriages brought the family a great deal of trouble. The children shared one father, but had different mothers, so they fought each other for the house left by the father but refused to go to court.

"It was really a complex family, neighbours even dialed 110 for the police, yet it did not solve the problem," she said. "We mediators had to repeatedly talk with each one and ask each one."

To Zhang, the work as a mediator is what she could do as an ordinary local resident.

"It has made me happy and honoured," she said. "Because the family has long been considered the basic cell of society, and the stability of a family, a community, will help to maintain the stability of society."

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