Volunteers are ready to serve the 5th CIIE.

With the clock ticking down to the 5th China International Import Expo, about 3,000 volunteers who are students from 40 local universities and colleges have begun training at the National Exhibition and Convention Center of Shanghai, the venue of the event, the Shanghai Youth League said on Friday.

They are patrolling pavilions, keeping the location of different venues in mind and learning various services and requirements.

Wang Wenxiang, a postgraduate of Shanghai Normal University, has taken the lead. Behind him, 20 "little leaves" were following during the "patrol" of the center.

"We have walked all positions, do remember directions and the locations of pavilions," he told others patiently.

CIIE volunteers are nicknamed "little leaves" after the clover-shaped National Exhibition and Convention Center.

Wang, as a long-term management volunteer of the expo, started his work in July.

He walked five or six times around all venues before each "patrol" with other volunteers.

"There are some changes including the layout of catering facilities, and I need to carefully mark them," Wang explained. "Accuracy is a basic requirement."

Volunteers patrol pavilions.

Among the 20 volunteers, four are veterans.

Zhu Kaiming has been serving the event for the fourth year.

"Stepping into the venue, I have both familiar and fresh feelings, and the patterns of "five" at the central square and on promotion posters all remind me that the 5th CIIE is coming," he said.

Same as last year, Zhu is responsible for receiving guests this year.

"Devotion endows me with a sense of fun, which is more stressed since I became a 'little leaf'," he said. "I want to make every guest satisfied."

Meanwhile, 28 volunteers from Shanghai Polytechnic University took a training class on COVID-19 prevention.

"The center is too big," said Li Xinjie, a volunteer at the university. "It is very different when you walk the venues on foot."

She carefully recorded the requirements in a notebook one by one and tried to keep each location in mind to avoid getting lost.

"I am very proud and happy to be a volunteer at the CIIE," she said.

Nearly 22,000 volunteers have served the past four expos, according to the Youth League of Shanghai.

They provided a range of voluntary services including on-the-spot guidance and consultation, guest reception, exhibition registration and management, news releases, transportation, statistics, medical treatment and emergency rescue, and COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control.

Some have provided multilingual services to foreign guests.

"Little leaves" demonstrate the volunteer spirit of dedication, fraternity, mutual assistance and progress and have made great contributions to the success of the expo, the Youth League of Shanghai said.

Volunteers attend training.