How loving thy Net helps loving thy neighbor

Ma Ke, a 31-year-old university music teacher, was a little amazed when he heard his Net name, waiting for an elevator at the multi-story condo where he lived.

"You must be Ke Le," a girl standing nearby blurted out.

"And you are Xiaoha?" Ma had a sudden brainwave.

It was like it happened in the movies. The pair who met on the Net turned out to be living within several meters from each other.

Ever since China's well-placed young moved to the cities, opting to live in the mushrooming apartment condos, there has been a paradigm shift in neighborhood relations.

Given the reserved nature of the Chinese, these relations usually sprout from the virtual world - the Internet.

Ma Ke's story originated from a neighborhood QQ group, a domestic online chatting software, similar to MSN.

He found the QQ group number on the bulletin board of the building entrance several days after he got the key to his apartment in Dayu City, a large batch of new condos in downtown Changchun, capital of Northeast China's Jilin province.

"Out of curiosity, I enrolled myself into the list," Ma says. Following the rule of using a two-word cute name after the room number, he called himself "Ke Le", which would translate as coke in English. Ma enjoyed chatting on the Net. The topics ranged from routine ones like house decoration, cleaning and maintenance to sports, pets and marriage. He quickly became very popular among the neighbors whom he was yet to meet.

Since being recognized at the elevator, many online popping heads on the QQ turned from being virtual to real friends. They would play, dine and hang out together.

The neighborhood circle has taken the place of a surrogate family for Ma, who is still single with parents living elsewhere.

"Before I knew these neighbors, the house was just a place to sleep at, but now I would rather rush back home after work than killing time in KTV or bars," he says.

Says Pan Yuechun, 40, whose net name is "Bian Lang", "I moved from Liaoyuan to Changchun three years ago. I only had few friends here at the very beginning and often felt very lonely. But after I got into the circle of my neighbors, I harvested many new friends," says the teacher of a school attached to the First Automobile Works.

"Most of my neighbors are younger than I, but I can feel the warmth from the bottom of my heart when they call me brother Lang," he says.

Gao Hongda, who works in the Changchun Longjia Airport, says: "I once inadvertently mentioned that my heating radiator is leaking while chatting online. To my surprise, two of my neighbors arrived to repair it for me."

"I can bank on my QQ group to recommend the right restaurant," Gao adds.

Zhao Wei, 27, is very popular in the community, as he often volunteers to walk dogs and ventilate rooms after they are done up.

Such online forums are thriving in many other cities - Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang and Taiyuan.

Previously, under a planned economy, one would have co-workers as neighbors. But nowadays, neighborhood relations seem to fade out as individuals purchasing housing units could be anyone from anywhere.

"People living in condos often have many things in common, such as similar financial capacity, education background and most of them are young people," says Fu Cheng, director of Sociology Institute of Jilin Academy of Social Science,

"What's more, with the improvement of various special service institutes in the neighborhood, nowadays people need more spirit care than material support from their neighbors compared to the times of living in a hutong."

Chen Wenjiang, professor from Lanzhou University suggested the government should increase more investment for public entertainment facilities in neighborhoods, such as basketball court, swimming pool, gym, chess-and-card room, to bring neighbors closer.

In addition, community workers also could play a more active role in organizing more community activities.

A survey released by CCTV, covering 1,419 people in 15 cities recently shows 80 percent would like to know their neighbors and establish close relations with them. Only about 4 percent informants chose to be left alone.

"No man is an island," Fu says, "A good neighbor across the hall is always a good thing once you are in difficulty."

(China Daily 05/11/2009 page8)