Enlai community in Huai'an sets example for community governance

Aerial photo shows the Huangguan residential compound in Hui’an district, Huai’an, east China’s Jiangsu province. (Photo by He Zhuoyan)

Three years ago, Chen Jinping and her husband bought a three-bedroom apartment at the Huangguan residential compound in Hui’an district, Huai’an, east China’s Jiangsu province for about 500, 000 yuan, but found it a neighborhood plagued by severe problems.

While Chen wanted to sell the apartment, her husband took a wait-and-see attitude. Fortunately, they received the good news that the local government decided to build the Enlai community in 2018 in the name of late Premier Zhou Enlai, making it an environment that integrates community-level Party building and community governance under the guidance of Zhou’s lofty spirit..

The compound is located about 2 km north of the Memorial Hall of Zhou Enlai in the city, Zhou’s hometown. As one of the six compounds under the jurisdiction of the Enlai community, the compound is a key restoration project of the local government that took over the incomplete compound from its developer in 2017 due to capital chain rupture.

Some supporting facilities couldn’t be guaranteed in the compound, with over 2,100 households and many problems remaining to be solved, this caused great public displeasure, said Qiu Yuezhong, Party head of the community.

Qiu recalled that the community received 313 complaints, mainly about the infrastructure including road, greening, drainage and sewage, street lights, cameras and water leaks.

“We must reshape the community under the guidance of Premier Zhou’s lofty spirit. Officials of the community should learn from Premier Zhou, act as public servants of the people, take on responsibility, and wholeheartedly serve local residents,” Qiu said.

Photo shows volunteers in the Huangguan residential compound in Hui’an district, Huai’an, east China’s Jiangsu province. (Photo by Wang Xinnian)

According to the official, after five months of renovation the compound added 169 cameras, 14 electric vehicle charging piles and 80 parking lots, installed intelligent street lights, and built asphalt roads, a community square, a children’s playground and a badminton court, as well as other facilities. All residents’ complaints in the compound have been solved.

One of the helpful facilities built includes a service center with eight one-stop service platforms, providing more than 30 public services to the community. In the service center, there is an exhibition hall themed on the Premier Zhou’s spirit, an after-school care center where children can do their homework and a bookstore run by the library of Huai’an district.

“Things got better and better in the past year. Fortunately, I didn’t sell it on rash impulse,” said Chen, who has been working as a volunteer in the community. Now, prices of homes in the compound doubled thanks to the community’s efforts. Residents who have an ever-stronger sense of happiness also participate in the compound’s management.

According to Qiu, community Party organizations’ leading role and residents’ active participation make the community a prototype of primary-level social governance.

In the Enlai community, the general Party branch, Party branches of residential compounds, and Party groups of residential buildings were established for community governance, helping solve any possible problems.

Apart from community workers, more and more Party members and residents have been joining the volunteer team, contributing to the management of residential compounds, Qiu noted.

Zhang Xiao, Party secretary of Huai’an district, said the district will further tap into the value of the Enlai community so that the primary-level governance model can be copied and extended, and move faster to modernize the community governance system and its capacity for governance.