Smiles Bloom at the Expo

Name: Jin Jing

Age: 29

Identity: Promotion ambassador for Expo volunteers

Recently, a new televised advertisement for Expo 2010 has been placed in buses and subways in Shanghai, where a familiar and beautiful girl calling for adherence to the principle of “standing on the right and walking on the left side of escalators” and “putting garbage in a trash can” caught the attention of everybody.

She is Jin Jing, the Chinese angel that moved the whole world by using her body to fight off protestors from grabbing the Olympic torch in the torch relay event in Paris in 2008. Jin, now a Shanghai native, has taken on a new role in 2010, agreeing to be the promotion ambassador for Expo volunteers.

After a rate of volunteer experiences, Jin has gained further understanding of volunteerism from initially serving as a torchbearer for the Olympic torch relay in Paris and now the promotion ambassador for Expo volunteers. “To be a qualified volunteer, I think it is very important to have a cordial heart and the willingness to help others,” Jin said.

From volunteering to starring in televised advertisement that promotes etiquette awareness in cities, Jin has become more energetically involved in serving the Expo. “Impassioned volunteers have added more power to me,” Jin said. “Expo volunteers have to serve a long period. I spent only about two months when participating as a volunteer for the Beijing Olympic Games and the Paralympics, but for World Expo it will take volunteers a total of six months,” she added. The World Expo has therefore placed higher demands on volunteers, and they will probably undergo more challenges because of the six-month run of the Expo, said Jin.

The opening ceremony of Expo 2010 is nearing, and Jin Jing hopes that she can join forces with all the volunteers to present an enchanting and vigorous image of China in front of the world.

 

To sing the “Jasmine” once again at Expo

Name: Fu Xinjie

Age: 13

Identity: Promotion ambassador for Expo volunteers

Fu Xinjie is a lucky girl. Eight years ago when Shanghai was bidding for the rights to host the World Expo, the then five-year-old Fu became the No. 1 star in the promotion video directed by renowned Chinese movie

director Zhang Yimou, in which she performed the tune of famous Chinese folk song “Jasmine”, extending invitations to the world. To date, her terrific performance still lingers in the heart of the public.

“When you come to Shanghai in the year of 2010, I will also sing this song for you…” Her childish voice still echoes in our heart. Time flits, and we are now in the year of 2010. The little girl has grown up, becoming a first-grade student of a junior middle school.

“One should learn to start with trivial matters in order to be an Expo volunteer,” said Fu when asked to describe her image of an ideal volunteer for the Expo. Fu is not eligible to apply to be a volunteer because she is less than 16 years old. But she never gives up; instead, she moved to propose a new position of “little volunteers” for children willing to do voluntary work for the Expo. “My proposal aims to help children be little volunteers for the Expo, making their contributions to the hosting of the Expo,” Fu said.

The World Expo will start soon. What is the biggest wish of Fu Xinjie for the Expo? “I hope I can play my much beloved Erhu and sing the ‘Jasmine’ once again for the public, using my voice and the Erhu Fiddle to promote Expo 2010 in the World.” she replied.

Good Luck to Shanghai

Name: Li Dingnan

Age: 24

Identity: Long-term management volunteer inside the Expo site

Twenty-four-year-old Li Dingnan was once a full-time white-collar employee with a local company prior to being a long-term management volunteer at the Expo site. Li quitted his job in order to volunteer for Expo for a long period. “I can look for a job at any time, but the Expo hosted in Shanghai is once-in-a-life event that nobody dares to miss out, and that is how I made up my mind to resign,” Li explained.

Li graduated from the prestigious Fudan University, majoring in history. He has a wide range of interests, having acquired proficiencies of several foreign languages through self-study. He is able to communicate in English, Japanese and Spanish. “I had initially applied for two positions, one for translation and interpretation and the other for long-term management position,” said Li.

As one of the first batch of the 300 long-term management volunteers, Li has received the “Seven-color experience camp” training recently. “The training has boosted the solidarity of the team, deepening my understanding of our service targets. Using the simulation workshop and role plays, we tested what we have learned through self-study and face-to-face teaching. I have benefited a lot, recognizing the importance for volunteers,” said Li.

“I am a 100-percent Shanghai native, and I love my city. It is a meaningful thing to make my own contribution to the Expo. Starting from March this year I will throw myself into the volunteer position. I hope I can fulfill my Expo dream. Wish me luck and good luck to Shanghai.” \

Growing up with Shanghai

Name: Oh Jwa Un (Korean)

Age: 21

Identity: First batch of registered volunteers of Expo 2010, sophomore of School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University

Ten years ago, a Korean child moved to Shanghai with his family after his father was placed here. During these ten years, he has finished primary school, junior middle school and senior middle school in Shanghai, and was admitted to the School of International Relations and Public Affairs of Fudan University. All these experiences have boosted his credential as a veritable “Shanghainese”. That person is Oh Jwa Un. At present, besides being an overseas student in China, Oh has assumed another role as an on-site Expo volunteer.

20-year-old ”Veteran Volunteer”

Name: Wang Yaping

Age: 20

Identity: First batch of Expo volunteers, college student

“Being a volunteer means do the things you enjoy, and gain happiness from serving society.”

Wang Yaping has been a volunteer for four years, witnessing both the huge fanfare of international events and the hassles of small events. But her passion for being a volunteer has never diminished, and actually her desire to be a volunteer has even intensified after so many years.

In May 2006, Wang became a volunteer for the first time in her life for a charity long-distance race. Her role was to cheer up athletes with a big smile, encouraging them to make it to the finish line.

In Oct. 2007, Wang was busy with her study as a grade-three student of high school in the run-up to the college entrance examination. Nevertheless, she still managed to spare time to be a volunteer for the 2007 Shanghai Special Olympics out of her love of volunteerism. She was also lucky enough to be a volunteer for some of the Beijing Olympic events that were held in Shanghai in Aug. 2008, serving as a media coordinator for football matches for a whole month. She was awarded later with the honor of “excellent volunteer” in recognition of her passion for volunteerism and conscientiousness.

Wang felt proud of being a member of the first batch of Expo volunteers. For her, offering services with smiles during the Expo is in line with the volunteer spirit of the Expo, which is summarized as “dedication, fraternity, mutual-aid and progress”. “We do our best to serve visitors to the Expo, and in return we benefit a great deal from this,” said Wang. “Smiles of visitors in recognition of our voluntary work will be everlasting memory in our life. I will be very proud of the successful hosting of the Expo in my hometown, and I take pride in Shanghai, China and our volunteers.”

Septuagenarian expresses his aspiration of being a volunteer

Name: Zhu Guoqiang

Age: 70

Identity: Long-term management volunteer inside the Expo site, retired engineer

 Seventy-year-old Zhu Guoqiang is the oldest among applicants being interviewed for volunteer positions. There were many turns and twists in his application to be a volunteer for Expo 2010.

Born in 1939, the septuagenarian was once an excellent engineer. Starting from the year of 1980, he has travelled to about 20 countries either for business trips or touring. He signed up at the volunteer recruitment center of Putuo District just three days after learning the recruiting work for Expo volunteers started on May 1,2009. Despite being the oldest among applicants, Zhu didn’t get special preferential treatment in the interviewing process. He had not only to answer questions posed by interviewers in fluent English, but also to prove that he was at least as competitive as young applicants.

He was very disappointed on hearing that he did not make it to the first batch of 277 Expo volunteers. His aspiration to be a volunteer, however, has never diminished, and he signed up immediately when the application process for the long-term management volunteers started.

The form of interviews for the management positions was out of his expectation. In the first round of interviewing, applicants were asked to draw a tree with their favorite colors, and then wrote down the name, growing season, and depiction of the tree. It was designed to test the imagination and expressiveness of the applicants. The interviewing psychologists can penetrate the defensive mechanism of adult applicants from the drawing of the tree, and get a direct diagnosis of the traits of applicants.

After thinking for a while, Zhu finally drew the picture of a pine tree, which is quite symbolical in Chinese painting. His drawing was not that fine, but Zhu won the position with his following words. “Downy flakes gathered on boughs of pine, but upright trees wouldn’t give way. As the Chinese poem famously goes, I can still be of service to the public despite I am quite old,” said Zhu. His words stroke a chord in the heart of the interviewers, and eventually his dream to be a volunteer for the Expo came true.