Foreign volunteer Habib: It was a wise decision to come to Shanghai

Black tea in a delicate porcelain cup and some biscuits in the saucer—handed to the guests. “This is our way of hospitality and so is China’s.” Inside the handmade carpet store characterized by a strong South Asian style, 29-year-old Habib Ur Rehman from Pakistan is dressed in neat clothes.

Influenced by his father, Habib came to study in Shanghai in 2009 and stayed here with his father and brothers after graduation. The family runs a handmade carpet store. Besides his identity as an ordinary foreign businessman, Habib is also one of the first foreign community security volunteers in Shanghai, facilitating a series of new policies such as regulation of traffic violations and the secure management of fireworks. Over the past nine years, he has witnessed the city’s development and he says, “It was a very wise decision to come to Shanghai.”

Shanghai is an inclusive place

Habib’s first impression of China comes from an old Pakistani saying, “To learn knowledge one should go to places as far as China.” China in his mind was a far flung country.

Habib’s family is in the handmade carpet business and his father started to grow the business overseas very early. By chance, around 2000, a European ambassador told Habib’s father to do business in Shanghai. He said, “China is the future.”

The markets for handmade carpets are mostly developed countries or economic boom areas. Does Shanghai have this condition? With a slight of incredulity, Habib’s father came to Shanghai. At the turn of the millennia, China’s economy was taking off and attracted a great amount of foreign investment. As the center of the Chinese economy, Shanghai has already shown its great potential for growth. Habib’s father spent three years surveying Shanghai and agreed on the statement of that ambassador that “China is the future”.