Staff members of the Shinan district government answer need of local residents. Photos Provided to China Daily

An English class brings fun to local children in the Hong Kong Park community in Shinan district, Qingdao.

Qingdao's Shinan district offers range of amenities

Shinan district, the core district of Qingdao in East China's Shandong province, is building a new platform to better serve communities and neighborhoods.

After experiencing series of grand events, like the Olympic Sailing Regatta in 2008 and National Sports Meet in 2010, the district is displaying a brand new look in both the appearance and its economy.

With growth in the economy and promotion of living standards for residents who have higher expectations on the development of the district, a key task for the local government is offering the people a higher service platform.

So, at the end of 2008, it made an ambitious plan to become a district with "five highest" - the most optimized economy structure, the most beautiful city environment, the highest ethical standards of residents, the most stable public order and the greatest development potential.

However, the weak infrastructure at the grassroots level made the district distant the goals.

At that time, the staff in the community just worked in simple and shabby houses with scant facilities.

Li Xuehai, the secretary of Administration of Shinan district had a deep feeling on this. When he inspected the work at the beginning of his new term, he was struck to see some old communists working in a tin-roofed room surrounded by tall buildings with modern facilities. How can they serve people well enough without even a stable working place?

In 2009, plans to build "Three Centers" - management center, medical center, culture center - with more than 1,000 square meters for every community were envisioned by Shinan district.

"To build new community centers meeting international standards adapted to local realities will be a key task for Shinan to grow into a first-class district," said Li.

According to Li, constructing the centers with more than 1,000 square meters not only meets the current needs, but also sets aside sufficient space for the long-term development of public services to avoid second building generated from the insufficient supply of infrastructure because of the rapid development of society.

The "three centers" have clear and separate functions.

"Management centers" provide face-to-face public services on taxation, insurance, unemployment and social security for the poor, disabled and the elderly.

"Medical centers" provide convenient health guidance and care services, while culture centers, not only give residents a traditional recreational place, but to promote the residents' qualities in thought, skill and health.

The "culture centers" organize dancing, singing and other activities in addition to learning opportunities through computers, libraries, calligraphy, flower cutting, and arts and crafts.

However, they met great difficulties during the process, among which finding housing was said to be the hardest one because of the sky-high estate prices in the booming area.

"Almost all the staff from the community is asked to search house sources at that time, after which some residents are also launched to do that job too," said Xin Minzhi, Party secretary of the Labor Union of Zhanshan Community, whose community finished the "three centers" construction earliest.

She even used the phrase "looking for a needle in a haystack" to describe the hard job of searching for houses.

"For example, the house resources of the Yancheng Road Community, were provided by an enthusiastic resident. Having known that the house is on sale, we managed to contact with the owner after twists and turns. And after bargaining over and over again for more than 10 times, we finally make it the 'three centers'.

A difficult road

"Three centers" of Macao Road Community met even worse situation. According to Hui Wenxue, head of the community work station, the now "three centers" used to belong to three owners: two companies and a clinic.

The companies accepted the price without hesitation, but the clinic owner didn't compromise in the beginning.

They could do nothing but persuade the clinic owner with patience and at last the owner was moved by their sincerity. Things did not get better when the centers started to build, because residents in the neighborhood interrupted the project again and again because they did not understand what the government was doing beside making noise.

The staff of the centers had to explain to them and residents clearly knew at last and smiled. Now they come to the center one after another to take the activities and classes.

Besides the difficulty in finding houses, there were still other difficulties in the process of constructing the "three centers", that is, difficulty in unifying thoughts as well as in fund.

In order to ensure funds to construct three centers, the government of Shinan district did everything possible to raise money. They tilted the financial capital and reduced spending on other works, and even asked for bank loans. In 2010, more than 500 million yuan was put into the construction of the centers.

It is more difficult to unify thoughts and make decision before finding a house.

Many people asked such questions as "why should we spend so much money and time to buy a new house? Why not rent one? Is it necessary for every community to have a three centers area with no less than 1,000 sq? They think our actions unimaginable and unreasonable."

"In fact, it is a test on how deep we love our people, and how the government practices the scientific outlook on development to improve people's well-being in today." Talking about the difficulties they met, Xin said so to China Daily.

After hard work for three years, now 42 centers over 1,000 square meters each have been built, among which 30 ones are in service and another 12 are speeding up building.

"By the end of this year, 80 percent of the communities will have their new centers, and by the year 2012, all the centers in Shinan District will be completed," Li Xuehai said.

"We regard the 'three centers' in community as a livelihood project, which should be done today and benefit the later generations, so we are determined to carry it forward." Li said.

(China Daily 07/04/2011 page24)