Over 600 SISUers volunteer in China International Import Expo

ver 600 SISU students were sworn in as volunteers for the upcoming China International Import Expo (CIIE), topping volunteer participation among all Shanghai-based universities.

The CIIE is the first ever Chinese fair focusing exclusively on imported foreign goods and services which will open on Nov. 5 in Shanghai. More than 2,800 companies from over 130 countries and regions have confirmed participation in the event, demonstrating the slogan of the CIIE, "New Era, Shared Future,” according to Xinhua News Agency.

This event is part of Belt and Road initiative, aimed at promoting global trade and business, which will galvanize world economy. The CIIE will see 160,000 buyers from over 80,000 domestic and foreign companies, exceeding the organizer's expectation of 15,000 companies, according to China Daily.

Over 5,200 volunteers are university students from Shanghai and neighboring provinces. Foreign volunteers also participated in the event.

Volunteers from SISU stand out for its foreign-language proficiency and professionalism. Most of them are expert at least one foreign language, such as English, French, Japanese, Arabic, Spanish and so on.

“SISU volunteers feature high quality, versatility and continuity.” said the president of SISU volunteer organization. “We started our selection of volunteers one month ago. Volunteers from SISU will be involved in many aspects of CIIE, especially crucial ones, including but not limit to assisting foreign news reporting, promoting CIIE online and offline, assisting with guest arrivals and departures, translation and interpretation.”

Jin Ming, a postgraduate from SISU, serves as the management of all volunteers. She said “This event can’t succeed without everyone’s effort. During the preparation, though some volunteers are assigned to do some trivial things from time to time but details matter for the running of such a colossal event. Personally, CIIE bridges me and the outside job market. It enables me to contact professionals in many fields, such as management, media, business, AI and so on.”

“I can’t deny that printing papers, making permission card and double checking the name on it is a little boring, but when I swear in, I shoulder the responsibility. I simply can’t give up easily.” said one undergraduate student.

The university  is highly-supportive to this event. It commences the volunteer training by the end of September, marking the first university in Shanghai to conduct such volunteer training, and organized the biggest ever training workshop targeting all CIIE volunteers in Shanghai. It invites many professors from different majors such as psychology, international education and global communication in order to give volunteers specialized training lectures. The training is inclusive, ranging from basic etiquette, language delivery, interpersonal communication, stress coping, service protocol, disciplines and rules.