HSBC helps empower residents

On a Thursday evening in early August, 17 panel members and some 40 residents gathered in a meeting room at the community services building in Jingming Jiayuan, a residential community with more than 20,000 residents.

Many wore their Sunday best, sitting straight, and listen attentively to two presentations delivered by Sun Qun, a young mother who proposed building a library in the community.

Sun is applying for a small fund of around 5,000 yuan ($750), which will enable children to read a wide collection of books in a library in the community. Her neighbor Liu Jin is applying for a small fund of 2,200 yuan which will enable residents to grow organic vegetables as a gift to senior citizens who live alone in the community.