Shenzhen Advice Centre Expat Volunteers Get Thank-you Cruise

Expats helping expats at Shenzhen’s Shekou Management and Service Centre recently enjoyed a well-deserved day out on the waves.

Shekou district’s expat-aimed management and service centre was established by expat volunteers in 2017, with the aim of making life in the massive city more straightforward for new arrivals as well as old China hands. The area holds a large expatriate community, many of whom were finding it difficult to deal with everything from Chinese bureaucracy to the needs of everyday life. Staffed entirely by experienced expat volunteers, the centre's main aim is to ensure the city is thought of as home by its foreign community.

Services provided include processing residence registrations and a legal consultation service dealing with expat problems at work and in their personal lives. In addition, there’s a comprehensive programme of cultural exchange festivals, a variety of neighbourhood activities and a good selection of cultural exchange events as well as seminars for new arrivals. Director of the centre Yang Yan told the media the celebratory sea trip was one way of thanking expat volunteers for their help and involvement on local activities. WeChat group volunteer Bani Sharma also commended the centre for its work in bringing together old and new expatriate friends who’d decided to make Shenzhen their long-term home.

The celebratory cruise took place as a thank-you to the centre’s volunteers for their hard work and dedication during the past year, and encompassed a cruise around the beautiful Shekou Peninsula with its spectacular views. Every place they passed has its own story, told by hosts eager to share the history of the region. Those who took part said it was the perfect break from discussing the pros and cons of housing disputes, the complications of labour contracts, the requirements of international marriages and the myriad of other concerns mooted by both newly-arrived and longer-stay expatriates. The centre serves some 9,000 expatriates from across the world now living and working in Shenzhen, and is proud to state it gives reliable and authentic advice to its clients.