To Be A One-day Shanghainese

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 ◆ To Be A One-day Shanghainese

Gong Chahua and foreign travelers at table raise their cups for a toast at lunch. For most foreign travelers and expatriates living in Shanghai, what arouses their interest most may not necessarily be the well-known tourism spots. It may be a local residential quarter that gives them a taste of how local people live. "It is a corner of the city that can't be concealed and decorated. "Ding Buyuan, Official of Caoyang Residential Quarters THE first Shanghai mayor after 1949, Chen Yi, probably never expected the residential quarters he set up to become a window of the city half a century later. The Caoyang Neighborhood has given many foreigners the chance to see what real China is, through the program called "To Be a One-day Shanghainese." Model quarters Caoyang residential quarters were built for model workers in the 1950s and won another title - workers' quarters. Jiang Zemin was once among the workers there in the 1960s when he worked for a research institute. "Now 60 percent of residents here are workers who lead a life of the medium level in the city and they are the most ordinary group, so that their lives reflect the real picture of the country," said Ding Buyuan, an official of the community. Since the program was created in 1995, more than 8,000 foreigners have visited the quarters every year, from ordinary people to senior officials of various countries. "French people are more interested in the ordinary life of a city than scenic spots," said Roussely Jacques, head of a French travel group. Some were curious about the one-child policy and some wanted to see the achievements of reform in the past 20 years. A Japanese group from the financial sector once came to the community to find out how small banks in the area operate. "It's a good channel to know situations in China to prepare for its entry to the World Trade Organization," Ding said. Sometimes 500 travelers were received by 250 families in one day. The community chose families whose members speak some English to communicate with foreigners. "Many foreigners didn't believe that what they saw was true and they never expected that Chinese families have such a living standard, totally different from what they heard in their countries," said Wang Xiaonong, 64, a resident in the quarters. An American woman said she would persuade her daughter who planned to go to Thailand to work in China after she returned. "They thought China was still in the situation of the 1930s," Ding said. Travelers from more than 100 countries have visited the community. Residents sitting in the garden in the community greet foreign guests with a "hello!" and a warm "welcome!" Each of them has grasped simple English to use in the programme and they are not as shy as other locals.