Guest
Zhang Jun
Interview Background
Forge Ahead on a New Journey and Showcase the “Jing’an Style”! Shanghai Jing’an Media Center has launched a special series of reports called “Dialogue on the Vibrant Practice of Chinese-style Modernization in Jing’an: 2023 Interview with Party Secretaries of Towns and Sub-districts in Jing’an District”, to showcase how Jing’an District is putting into action the guiding principles of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and working hard to create an example of modern Chinese urbanization. 14 top officials are invited for dialogues on their experience gains, development ideas, and future vision.
Host:
Hello everyone, welcome to the “2023 Interview with Party Secretaries of Towns and Sub-districts in Jing’an District”. Today I’m joined by Mr. Zhang Jun, secretary of the Party Working Committee of Caojiadu Sub-district. Mr. Zhang, welcome to this interview.
Zhang Jun:
Thanks for having me here.
Host:
In 2022, Caojiadu Sub-district established a national pilot unit for the “15-Minute Convenient Living Circle” characterized by convenience, efficiency, and livability. Mr. Zhang, could you please tell us how Caojiadu Sub-district has concreted such “Dreams of Happiness and Livability” for the residents in your Sub-district?
Zhang Jun:
OK. Caojiadu Sub-district covers an area of 1.49 square kilometers with the highest population density among all the sub-districts and towns in the district. There is a multitude of street shops, and the surrounding transportation is well-developed. Such scattering commercial outlets as wet markets, supermarkets, convenience stores, and pharmacies are just around the corner, availing residents of the various services right at their doorsteps. In recent years, the Sub-district has adhered to the concept of “Refined Governance, High-Quality Living”. Based upon its success as a national pilot unit for the “15-Minute Convenient Life Circle” in 2022, the Sub-district has further focused on building a humanized and comfortable living environment, passionately creating a happy and livable space for residents.
Host:
How do you put into practice the concept of “Refined Governance, High-Quality Living”?
Zhang Jun:
First and foremost, we will make every effort to improve residents’ living conditions by driving forward the “Beautiful Home” construction projects, including the comprehensive improvement projects for residential compounds at Lane 249 and Lane 269 of Wanhangdu Road, the renovation projects for kitchens, bathrooms, and related facilities at No. 949 Kangding Road, and the elevator-installation and supporting facility renovation projects in the Gaorong Residential Compound. Secondly, we will strive to improve senior care services and establish communities friendly to the elderly with cognitive symptoms. We plan to complete the cognitive symptom screening for 2,000 seniors this year, addressing the practical difficulties for the seniors with cognitive symptoms and their families. Furthermore, we will be dedicated to nurturing the community cultures and building a new cultural landmark. The “Community Reading Festival” has been held for 20 years, rewarded with the great influence of the cultural brand of “Joyful Reading in Caojiadu”. We will coordinate resources from various parties, including the Shanghai Animation Film Studio on Wanhangdu Road as well as cultural and creative enterprises in our communities, to transform community cultural activity centers into open and sharing cultural salons, thus creating exclusive cultural intellectual properties (IP) for Caojiadu. Moreover, we will make efforts to improve the social security system and strengthen the “full-cycle” assistance service system, helping people in need shift from relying solely on “community relief” to “enhancing their own self-efficacy” and thus bridging the “Last Mile” of community relief. Finally, we will also care about new business forms and new employment groups. We will officially launch the first outdoor physical Xinxin Station—“Hui Zhi Nuan Xin Yuan”—in the Sub-district. At the station, people can charge electronic devices, escaping heat and cold by resting, reading and studying. That way, new business forms and new employment groups may better integrate into the community and find their sense of belonging.
Host:
Thanks for your detailed interpretation. While optimizing the convenient urban life circle, Caojiadu Sub-district is also working hard to improve the quality of the business environment. Could you tell us more about this?
Zhang Jun:
In recent years, thanks to its advantageous geographical location, reasonable business costs, comprehensive living facilities, and eco-friendly office environment, Caojiadu Sub-district has attracted more than 10 companies from the Top 300 enterprises, including Logitech (China) Technology Co., Ltd. and SAIC Capital. Meanwhile, by taking advantage of the spill-over effects of the core CBD, we strive to attract headquarters enterprises and downstream enterprises for further improvement on the business environment and comprehensive services for enterprises within the Sub-district and promote industrial upstream-downstream and inter-sectoral interactions. This year, we plan to attract 400 projects, including 2-3 projects with each one’s tax revenue around RMB 10 million, and 8 projects around RMB 1 million, increase the district-level financial strength of existing counterpart service enterprises by 3%, and enhance the financial contribution of the enterprises introduced last year at the district level by 5% year-on-year. We have seen a good start in the first quarter this year.
Zhang Jun:
In addition, the Sub-district is fully committed to serving the businesses in its jurisdiction. By service records made after thoroughly understanding the needs of each enterprise there, we are trying our best to know their needs, show our hands, and coordinate for solutions at first time whenever any difficulties the businesses encounter and provide an integrated service package to solve their problems without any disturbance. The Sub-district simultaneously expands the content and scope of the “Tuesday Sharing Meeting”, transforming it into a platform where entrepreneurs from varied sectors can come together and grow hand in hand, facilitating Caojiadu’s transformation into a favorable place for enterprises to grow and prosper in the Sub-district.
Host:
For a long time, Caojiadu Sub-district has been committed to tapping into the unique charm of old Shanghai within its boundaries and made great efforts to blend the essence of Shanghai’s local culture with international culture as well as fashionable trends with the ordinary life of citizens. Could you tell us more about the upcoming plan, please?
Zhang Jun:
OK. This year, our efforts will be focused on creating a “model room” with an “international flair” on Yanping Road. Taking advantage of the modern creative parks that are concentrated on Yanping Road, Wuding Road, and Jiaozhou Road, as well as the diverse range of global cuisines available, and with a focus on the “Xiansuo” Creative Park as a new landmark in Shanghai that combines office spaces, shops, restaurants, artistic exhibitions and activities, we will create a vibrant neighborhood that features “characteristic park + global cuisines” and epitomizes community development, commercial prosperity, industrial growth, and harmonious coexistence.
Host:
Also, Caojiadu Sub-district has always been committed to enhancing urban governance modernization. What are other possibilities for Caojiadu Sub-district in the future?
Zhang Jun:
All right. In recent years, we have made continuous efforts in enhancing the quality of the urban environment, the refined management of urban areas, and the self-governance and shared governance, intending to meet the challenges of the future. And we have also been adhering to the strategy of “One Point, Two Positions, Three Drives”, that is, taking the Caojiadu Citizen Horticultural Center as the focal point, and Caojiadu Green Island and Caojiadu Garden as the main positions, and the green practice drives into communities, buildings, and industrial parks in consistence with the Green Neighborhood Initiative.
Zhang Jun:
The Sub-district has established the eastern and western neighborhood linkage workstations, responsible for 16 sections, each of which is managed comprehensively by one section head and four section staff. They are responsible for the refined management of roadside shops, residential compounds, buildings and parks, proactively identifying and addressing seasonal or regular problems and further improving citizens’ satisfaction with the urban appearance and food safety. Furthermore, by actively utilizing neighborhood life centers and relying on support from social organizations and professional forces, we strive to provide all-process and integrated services of professional elevator installation for residential compounds and residents required for elevator installation in the surrounding areas and offer standardized construction services for 82 owners’ committees within the Sub-district.
Host:
So, in the next stage, Caojiadu Sub-district will stick to a problem-oriented and demand-oriented approach and make targeted efforts, right?
Zhang Jun:
Yes, we will take two steps. The first step is to create the Changping Road Neighborhood, by integrating various resources concerning Party building, healthcare, and areas along Changping Road and establish a comprehensive community service system, including community canteens, Party-masses service, employee service, elderly care service, health service and rehabilitation training, and showcase the quality lifestyle of Caojiadu. The second step is to adhere to the concept of “Green, Low-Carbon, and Intelligence” to carry forward the construction of intelligent charging piles for electric vehicles, including the shared charging mode of temporary parking space inside residential compounds and the in-turn charging mode of co-governance and sharing outside residential compounds, thus addressing the “Last Mile” charging problem among our communities.
Host:
Thank you for your sharing. That’s all for today’s interview. See you next time!