22 November, international students of the ECNU Chinese Stories Course visited one of China’s smart neighborhoods in Shanghai. They went to Linfen, a subdistrict of Shanghai’s Jing’an District, to view the area’s modern urban governance and technological development.
International students learn about the system called the Daily Record on People's Lives.
Making their first stop at the real estate of Xingchenghuayuan—a site set up for the purpose of garbage classification—where machines convert the wet garbage into organic fertilizer.
The site works through a system called the Daily Record on People's Lives. Community cadres collect the data by going door-to-door to every household within a given community. This is in order to provide customized services for community members and provide evidence for effective applications of big data in precision community services.
"Such services are so amazing", said Kim Yong-jil, an international student from South Korea.
The students then paid a visit to the Linfen’s service center for seniors, which has an activity center and a government-subsidized canteen. It’s significant that out of the 83,000 residents in Linfen, 40 percent of them are declared to be senior citizens.
International students visit the Linfen’s service center for seniors.
"The senior citizens here look so happy and healthy. The diner is very clean and the food is cheap. I think the local government really cares a lot about their senior citizens", said Mu Yan, an international student from Pakistan.
On the last stop of the tour, the international students were briefed about Linfen's comprehensive management platform, dubbed the neighborhood brain. They were told that thousands of sensors have been deployed into neighborhood facilities with the intent to detect hidden fire hazards, discover elevator glitches, monitor food safety and observe the health of residents above the age of 80-years-old. It’s believed that through this platform the problems associated with public management and safety could be resolved through swift response and prevention standards.
International students are introduced to Linfen's comprehensive management platform.
International students talk with community.
A Nepalese international student, Puri, noted that it is so amazing that the electronic screen in the central control room provides live feedback of what's going on in the whole neighborhood. For example, people in the room can easily spot a shared bike on the screen that has parked in the wrong place. If so, they would notify the nearest employees of the problem.
Edited by Linlan Zhang Proofread by Joshua Mayfield Reviewed by Wenjun Guo
