These days, the most "Shanghai famous" people we've come across are the hazmat-suited volunteers steering us through our third (or fourth, or fifth, or sixth) nucleic acid tests. In Chinese, they are called "大白" [da bai] or Big White. It's a term of endearment that stems from the movie "Baymax", which in Chinese, was dubbed "Big White". Culled from the local community, these people are your neighbors, co-workers, friends, and family who have stepped up to try to make a positive impact on a difficult situation. They don't get paid, they do this for thecommunity.
SmartShanghai talked to a few volunteers and asked why they volunteered, what their experience has been like, and what they like most about Shanghai.
***
Mia Luo
My name is Mia Song. I'm from Shanghai. I work as a quality manager at Decathlon.
When I finished running one day, I went to the neighborhood committee and applied for voluntary work. I've always enjoyed helping people, and I felt in this circumstance, they would need all the people they could get. In my compound, there are quite a lot of elderly residents who live on their own and they need help from young people.
I live in quite a massive building with 24 floors so I'm assigned to only help people in my building — my neighbors. My routine is checking the number of covid testees, reminding people to prepare their QR code for the upcoming test, delivering home tests, and staying at the gate to make sure people don't go out. There's always something to do, though...
It's a bit tiring but I'm happy to make my own contribution to the community. People are quite cooperative here, and everyone is pulling together. Since there are many old residents in my building, us young people are just concerned with making sure they're okay.
I'm finding as well that most people aren't really complaining; they're just getting on with it as best they can.
Thinking about Shanghai, my favorite part of the city is its diversity. You can really experience the world here — different food and cultures. And as a local, obviously my family and friends are here too, so I have a sense of belonging. I used to study in Germany, and for a while, I was missing that, but we now haveALDIsin Shanghai.
My favorite area is North Bund. It's where I live and I always find the riverside view is the best. It's got lovely malls and outdoor places to exercise. There are also stylish shops here.
I feel like right now there are quite a lot of negative news and complaints online, which will make people feel even worse about this situation right now. I would still hope to encourage people to be have little more positivity and understanding during this time.
***
Shenbo Jiang
My name is Shenbo Jiang. I'm from Harbin. I work in the IT industry. I specialize in digital and cloud practice.
My wife is a teacher and she applied to be a volunteer first, through the group chat of our residence. She did it for one day and it was so busy, that I figured I should do my part too. There weren't too many of us at the start. It was hard work but I wanted to try to make a positive contribution rather than sit around and complain about everything.
I mainly help out with the testing. People get divided into groups, and I'm there to ensure that each group gets tested as soon as possible. I started volunteering quite early in the process so it was mostly helping people navigate the MiniProgram, if they didn't have experience with it.
The first days were a little difficult. There wasn't a lot of information about what was going on and so people were constantly people asking me, "why do we need to do this" and "when would this be finished". But I'm not from the official side of things so I couldn't answer. People see you in the white suit and think you might have some answers. People were cooperative in general though, and a few days later, they seemed to be used to this process and the current reality.
There are some warm moments, though. When kids and old people finished the test, some would come and ask me if I was cold. Old people telling me to keep warm...
Do I think Shanghai will recover soon?
At first, I was really optimistic, but with what I have experienced and the positive cases in my compound, I think I'm getting a lot more reserved now. Life is still moving on, and the only thing we can do is to believe the government. I hope everything will be okay in May.
Although I live in Pudong, my favorite part of the city is Old Xuhui. It's just a really chill part of town. And I love the trees in the summer. Very Shanghai.
When this is all over I'm looking forward to finding an Airbnb near the sea and staying for a while with my family. I want to travel to somewhere completely different from Shanghai and get back to nature...
***
Vicent Han
My name is Vincent. I am from Shandong but live in Shanghai, working at Jazz at Lincoln Center as an Operations Manager. I was born in 1993.
I decided to be a volunteer to be helpful and also to feel proud of myself. I just want to contribute something and help people out if I can.
In the beginning, I was a volunteer at Pudong Airport helping with the arrivals at the airport and transporting them to where they needed to be. At this current stage in the pandemic, I am in charge of screening tests in communities. I also go and help out at the hospitals as well, when they need it.
My experience is that people are being very cooperative. Mostly, we're just trying to help people feel comfortable and be supportive in a difficult time. For example, older people might have trouble moving, so we go and help them as they need. And also with the tech. A lot of seniors don't know to deal with apps and QR codes so we guide them in that regard.
I feel supported by the community. I even received a thank you postcard from a kid. Which was very cute. Made me feel really nice.
What do I like about Shanghai? Well, Shanghai is a fast-paced city. I like how lively it is. I lived in Huangpu and like the area a lot. I'm optimistic for the future and have faith that Shanghai will recover soon.
When this is all over, I'd like to go back to my home town to meet my family. I haven't been back for two years now — I've spent my spare time volunteering for two years now! My parents, however, are being very supportive and encouraging me so that's good.
***
Sean
My name is Sean. I am working for 3M as an account manager. I am now living in Jingqiao.
It's been a long two years. Thinking back to early 2020, everyone thought Coronavirus was really dangerous and was really fearful of it. But now with the large scope of vaccination and the fact that this strain is less harmful, it's just a struggle we have to get through. Two of my colleagues got it this last year but they recovered within two weeks and had no permanent effects.
I volunteered for the simple reason that I wanted to get out into our community and help others. I'm hopeful that my work can make our community a better place.
Mainly, I help inform residents to come down for their tests, as well as helpwith food delivery, taking people their food and water when they can't leave their houses.
Looking ahead though, I know that this and for the past two years, the pandemic has really impacted a number of areas like — F&B, entertainment, tourism, retail — everything. I'm just hoping Shanghai recovers in all aspects of life after this is over. I think Shanghai will open up again and recover soon but the impact could last years...
What do I want to do when this is all over? I want to take a long holiday trip with my girlfriend. Japan or Thailand...
***
SmartShanghai would like to extend thanks to all the 大白. Some of them volunteer for long hours, and some in difficult circumstances, and they do this all without any reward. Times are tough, but these Big White are certainly just some of the heroes among us. THANK YOU.
