Grassroots deputy transforms Shanghai’s largest apartment complex into an ideal community

Zhang Junping, a community official with 20 years of experience, took on her role at Shanghai Kangcheng, the largest apartment complex in Shanghai, 13 years ago.

Through her unwavering dedication and the leadership team’s efforts at the residential compound, the community, which accommodates 280 residential buildings and around 40,000 residents, has thrived as a place where inhabitants can quickly come together to work for a common goal.

In the past, the apartment complex was troubled by illegal group housing rental, residential apartments renovated for commercial use, and other problems, and was dubbed by local media as “the most chaotic neighborhood in town”.

In 2015 alone, 185 burglaries took place at the residential compound.

“During my early days working here, I met a resident who drove to work. The middle-aged (man) hid the community parking permit away immediately after leaving the gate of the residential compound. He said he’d feel embarrassed if others knew he lived in this community. I felt sad, and was determined to make some changes,” said Zhang, 48, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee for the third year, and deputy secretary of the Communist Party of China committee of the Kangcheng neighborhood.

“Today, even my family and I would love to live here,” she said, adding that residents’ diverse needs, including shopping, medical care, and children’s education, can be met without the need to leave the community.

The quality of service has been improving to respond to people’s constant pursuit for a better life.

One of the reasons for the changes taking place at the community, which was established around the year 2000, was that the community leadership team has been open-minded in listening to residents’ requirements and advice on improving their daily lives, said Zhang.

For example, residents demanded charging facilities for their non-motor vehicles. The residential complex has nearly 10,000 such vehicles, and the insufficiency forced some residents to risk installing additional wires themselves, causing potential safety hazards.

Last year, with resolute determination and full-scale actions, all 40 parking lots for non-motor vehicles underwent renovation, providing residents with enough parking space and safe and adequate charging facilities. Firefighting facilities were added as well.

Another reason for the changes was that Zhang and her team tried to mobilize as many residents as possible to participate in various aspects of neighborhood governance, the community leader said.

“The more they participate, the more they will feel this is relevant to themselves,” said Zhang, adding that daily situations, like differing opinions among neighbors regarding pet ownership, necessitate collective wisdom from more residents to devise improved solutions.

In 2023, 108 middle-aged and young residents from diverse professional fields, including property management, construction and engineering project management, finance, and law, became the first batch of “partners to build a better community” at the residential compound.

By integrating their expertise and good ideas for neighborhood development, the quality of residents’ lives kept improving, said Zhang.

The concept of a “15-minute living circle” that meets residents’ basic needs for shopping and leisure was proposed in Shanghai in 2014.

In the Kangcheng neighborhood, residents could also feel that life is becoming increasingly easier, so their living circle has been constantly expanded.

Currently, the residential compound includes two kindergartens, a nine-year school planned from the beginning, and a nursing home for the elderly.

The health center has also been expanded to a 2,000-square-meter community health service center.

“In this way, the facility not only meets our needs to replenish medications regularly, but also is equipped with departments of general medicine, dentistry, and traditional Chinese medicine. They are widely welcomed by residents,” said Zheng Junwei, a 71-year-old resident in the neighborhood.

Furthermore, the number of grocery stores, food markets, barber shops, and bank outlets within the residential compound has been growing, he said.

Regarding elderly care, Zhang Junping noted the diverse needs of senior residents, including requirements for rehabilitation, physiotherapy, in-home night care, hospital escort services, and healthcare utilizing TCM practices.

Residents may be provided with a name list of professional institutions and caregivers endorsed and supervised by the government to provide corresponding services based on personalized needs, she said.