Expats returning to China are made to feel genuinely welcome

As expats return to China from overseas, going straight into a 14-day quarantine lockdown, local support is there for all needs.

In Jing’An, both authorities and volunteers are supporting every expat who’s returning to take up his or her life in China again. Whilst it’s the law that a 14-day quarantine must be observed, expat residential compounds are now buzzing with multilingual volunteers helping recent arrivals get what they need without breaking any protective laws. In the upscale residential complex set on Shimen No. 1 Road, notices in Japanese, Korean, English and Italian have been posted, informing about the quarantine requirements and directing new arrivals to multilingual helpers.

One neighbourhood volunteer fluent in Japanese set up a We-Chat group for Japanese expats in order to make himself easily contactable by Japanese residents, and local volunteer workers are on hand to deliver takeaway meals, walk dogs and provide everything necessary for a comfortable quarantine period. Other languages supported by the city-organised ‘foreign language’ team include English, German, French, Russian, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Korean and even Persian.

The team has been invaluable to over 60 returnees, with all saying hearing their mother tongues made them feel they were back at home. Front-line police officers are also involved, with officers taking care to include expat children by providing ‘police’ teddy bears to brighten their days. Everyone feels relieved they’re safely back in China, especially as many have read about the nightmare experiences still being endured by expats returning to a number of other Asian countries.