Zhou Jinglu/Shanghai Daily news

Changning District, which is home to 20,000 expats from more than 114 countries, is putting more effort into organizing leisure time activities aimed to cater to the growing needs of its overseas residents.
District government officials said programs featuring Chinese traditions, such as paper cutting and ink-blow painting, will be introduced more often on an irregular basis.
"We are devoted ourselves to building a global community and make sure the expats living in Changning District feel comfortable," said Ni Yao, vice director of the district's Communist Youth League.
Every community is told to organize some interesting activities during the year and encourage expats to take part. Now, more and more expats have become familiar with other people in the community through the activities.
One of the communities, China Garden in Changning, arranges traditional Chinese activities for expats during some certain festivals such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
Wang Ronghua, manager of the China Garden Club House, said that they have made surveys among the expats in order to find out their favorite activities.
"According to their answers, we are going to organize various parties and activities including yoga training and Chinese language lessons from time to time," he said.
"Most expats are interested in the traditional Chinese culture. Thus they will be taught to make dumplings during the Chinese New Year and make Tangyuan, a glutinous rice dumplings, during the Lantern Festival."
On August 5, a total of 75 soccer teams including 4 expat teams attended the Second Changning Crocodile Youth Soccer Championship.
The expat teams were composed of fifty members, representing six nationalities such as South Korea, Japan, France, and Germany.
Besides, Changning is also regarded as the model district in terms of information service to its residents.
The district government launched an English-language Website last December in an attempt to offer useful tips to expatriates living in the district.
The Website (www.changning.net) contains a variety of resources, such as a district newsletter, government notices, and information on policies, community activities and services.
An English guidebook entitled "living in Changning" and an English version of a Changning map provide additional information for the district's expatriates.
For example, there are many special marks in the map to meet the expats' needs. They will find the nearest church, famous restaurants, bars and supermarkets on the map. The exact locations of post offices and gas stations can also be easily found.
The government officials from Changning District expect that an increasing number of expatriates will move to the area and find it convenient, comfortable and cheerful.
Some expatriates enjoy their life in Changning so much that they are reluctant to leave, officials said.