Over 3,500 volunteers prepare for upcoming 5th CIIE

With the clock ticking down to the opening of the 5th China International Import Expo (CIIE), 3,591 people were sworn in as volunteers recently and started going about their duties for the event.

Volunteers for the 5th China International Import Expo (CIIE) are sworn in at a ceremony held on Oct. 28, 2022. (Photo courtesy of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League of China)

The volunteers are students from 40 local universities and colleges, according to Ding Bo, vice secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League of China and president of the Shanghai Youth Federation. The CIIE volunteers have been nicknamed "little leaves."

Among the volunteers, 409 are veterans who have worked at the event in previous years, and 89 percent of the volunteers were born after 2000. In addition, 428 volunteers, or 12 percent of the total, are Party members (including probationary Party members).

Tongji University selected 100 volunteers for the 5th CIIE this year, said Huang Kailin, a staff member at the university.

Huang explained that 546 volunteers from the university have provided services for the event over the past four years.

Zheng Jinbo, a graduate student at Shanghai University and a Party member, became a "little leaf" for the upcoming event, as he had wanted. When he learned that his duties mainly include receiving guests, which requires good English proficiency, he worked to improve his spoken English.

"I have to provide sound volunteer services for the event and set a good example as a CIIE volunteer and a Party member," Zheng said.