Guest
Si Jing
Interview Background
Following a new round of institutional reform, social work departments were successively established from the central level to cities, districts, and then to sub-districts and towns. With the theme of “New Journey, New Mission, New Action”, the Social Work Department of CPC Jing’an District Committee works to fully implement the spirit of reform, advance the Party’s social work in the new era, follow the Party’s mass line, unite the broad masses around the Party, and stimulate social vitality to pool the wisdom and strength of the entire society.
Host:
Hello everyone. Today, we are joined by Si Jing, Director of the Social Work Department of CPC Jing’an District Committee. Welcome, Director Si!
Si Jing:
Hello, host. Hello, everyone.
Host:
Following a new round of institutional reform, social work departments were successively established from the central level to cities, districts, and then to sub-districts and towns. How can traditional social work be transformed into “big social work” to enhance its overall effectiveness and thus advance the high-quality development of social work in Jing’an District? Director Si, could you introduce the Social Work Department of CPC Jing’an District Committee to everyone?
Si Jing:
Certainly. With the theme of “New Journey, New Mission, New Action”, the Social Work Department of CPC Jing’an District Committee works to fully implement the spirit of reform, advance the Party’s social work in the new era, follow the Party’s mass line, unite the broad masses around the Party, and stimulate social vitality to pool the wisdom and strength of the entire society.
Host:
Thank you for your introduction, Director Si. We noticed that the Social Work Department of CPC Jing’an District Committee hosted an event themed “People’s City, Dedication by Me”. What kind of event is it, and how is it connected to the Social Work Department?
Si Jing:
To truly reach the hearts of the people, we need to accurately grasp what they think, feel, worry about, and expect, and enable them to participate together in governance. Among these, treating the solicitation of people’s suggestions as an important institutional design for enabling orderly participation in governance, we extend the community network for soliciting people’s suggestions to focus on the immediate, everyday, and difficult matters of the public, thereby building a closed-loop chain of “everyone participating” that covers suggestion solicitation, issue screening, consultative communication, promotion and implementation, and evaluation of outcomes. “People’s City, Dedication by Me” is a special live-streamed event dedicated to soliciting people’s suggestions. Community governance experts are invited to share golden ideas on self-governance, co-governance, and good governance—providing reference opinions to relevant functional departments and to sub-districts and towns, while also sharing cases of orderly consultation and deliberation with grassroots governance pillars.
Host:
Director Si, just now when we discussed the functions of the Social Work Department of CPC Jing’an District Committee, we mentioned the term “closed-loop chain”. Could you introduce it to us in detail?
Si Jing:
Certainly. The Social Work Department of CPC Jing’an District Committee, by responding to requests facilitated by neighborhood committees, drives the resolution of public appeals and strives to foster a virtuous interaction among government governance, social regulation, and residents’ self-governance. In this process, as residents feel seen and receive responses, many residential community residents, as well as units and groups in the broader society, proactively join grassroots governance volunteer teams, embodying the true meaning of “People’s City, Dedication by Me”. In addition, in the face of growing enthusiasm for volunteer services, the Social Work Department of CPC Jing’an District Committee has carried forward Jing’an’s strengths, fully leveraging the district’s international orientation, high level of export orientation, and relatively developed foreign-related economy. Through the “Party Building + Volunteering” model, it gives full play to the leading role of Party organizations and Party members, uses communities as the primary setting, enriches the supply of targeted and effective volunteer programs, and strives to better match “what residents need” with “what volunteers are good at”.
Host:
Thank you for your introduction, Director Si. Next, what have we done to take the lead in building a business district friendly to new employment groups?
Si Jing:
Overall planning and promotion of Party building in emerging fields is a very important task of the Social Work Department of CPC Jing’an District Committee. This includes new economic and social organizations, the new business forms of the Internet platform economy, and the large number of workers engaged in flexible employment generated by these sectors. New employment groups are builders and cultivators of a better urban life, and should also be its beneficiaries and participants. In the “Jing’an Initiatives for New Employment Groups” innovatively designed around such groups, new employment groups and various stakeholders—such as office buildings, industrial parks, and residential communities—engaged in consultation and negotiation, reaching consensus and concrete projects on Jing’an’s citywide first launch of a “New Employment Group–Friendly Business District”, featuring mutual understanding and collaborative commitment.
Host:
We see that the “Nuanxin Station” located in Jiangning Road Sub-district is a highly representative site.
Si Jing:
Yes. This is a service station for new employment groups, jointly created through cross-department coordination and by utilizing idle spaces in urban renewal. It provides warm-hearted amenities such as hot meals and drinking water, bathing and laundry, leisure and fitness, strengthens the Party members’ organizational life as a red-guidance function, and enriches collaborative good-governance functions, including traffic civility, integrity and friendliness, and support for medical services and exam-related needs.
Host:
What further work will we carry out next?
Si Jing:
Currently, all sub-districts and towns in the district have community canteens that provide staggered-hour services for delivery riders. The Social Work Department of CPC Jing’an District Committee will continue to mobilize social resources, diversify service offerings, and engage express delivery and online ride-hailing platform enterprises. By strengthening coordination with local sub-districts and providing service-based guidance, the Department is committed to uniting new employment groups around the Party.
Host:
A solid launch by the Social Work Department of CPC Jing’an District Committee depends on the coordination and collaboration across all lines and across sub-districts and towns, and even more on the support of grassroots working teams. Since 2004, Jing’an District has taken the lead citywide in openly recruiting 53 building-based Party-mass workers from society, establishing the foundational “human resources for practical work”.
Si Jing:
Yes. To date—particularly in emerging sectors—we have preliminarily established a structured matrix of Party-building innovation studios. These include the Xiao Suhua Studio for Party affairs practitioners, as well as secretary studios led by Li Feng, Zheng Duo, and others serving private enterprises. Meanwhile, the An Congzhen Party-building Innovation Studio has been set up at the Elite Union Branch to focus on niche segments of Party building in foreign enterprises, charting pathways and offering methodologies, and continuously amplifying the ripple effect of “one inspires many, many mobilize all”.
Host:
Director Si, what is our outlook for the future?
Si Jing:
Host:
Thank you for your insights. That concludes today’s interview. Thank you, Director Si.
Si Jing:
Thank you, everyone! Goodbye!