Community gives insight into lives of working class
For decades, Shanghai neighborhood serves as window for foreign guests in learning about China
Over the years, the name has proved true and more so, with the community not only becoming a symbol of China's desire to improve the lives of its people but also a beacon of understanding between China and the wider world.
"As a paradigm for showing the living conditions of workers in New China, Caoyang Yi Cun (Caoyang No 1 village) began receiving foreign dignitaries and friends in 1953, showing them the development of our country, including the improvement of the lives of residents, especially the working class," said Zhang Lei, deputy director of the administration of Caoyang Xincun subdistrict.
"Over the decades, nearly 400,000 visitors from more than 150 countries and regions have visited the Caoyang neighborhood of a little more than 2 square kilometers, including some who went to residents' homes to have a real personal experience of the happy life of an ordinary citizen in Caoyang," she said.
With Caoyang Yi Cun as the center of Caoyang New Village, eight other neighborhoods named Caoyang No 2 to No 9 villages were built in the following years.