Neighborhood committees as guardians of daily life

A barter event was taking place at the small square in our apartment complex. Residents were arriving with their used electronic appliances, such as air purifiers and humidifiers, and exchanging those for cooking oil and laundry detergent.

Used bikes became the star of the day — an old bike could be exchanged for 10 liters of cooking oil and many other daily-use items.

The neighborhood committee, which had organized the barter, wanted to encourage residents to get rid of their used bikes that often block the corridors.

Chinese people once relied on bikes for commuting. In recent years, however, thanks to an improved public transportation system and the popularity of shared bikes, fewer people use bicycles for commuting, parking them randomly in corridors and other public spaces, causing inconvenience to residents.

The barter is only one of many events the neighborhood committee has organized this year to encourage cooperation between neighbors and to promote recycling of used goods.

In fact, neighborhood committees, which are autonomous organizations, have become an indispensable part of China's successful governance.

China's first neighborhood committee was created by residents representing around 2,250 Hangzhou families on Oct 23, 1949, just over three weeks after the establishment of the People's Republic of China. On Dec 31, 1954, after the legislature passed an organic rule, neighborhood committees were granted legal status as autonomous organizations.

Over the past few decades, proximity to urban households has enabled such committees to steadily expand their functions. Now the committees are even entrusted by local governments to accomplish a number of social services.

They are responsible for advocating the Constitution and other laws to residents, educating them about the law and their responsibilities as citizens. The committees directly engage in public affairs such as care for the elderly, those with disabilities and children. They serve as mediators when conflicts arise between members of a family, neighbors or between residents and the real estate management.

They look for potential risks that could endanger public security or public health, or contribute to juvenile delinquency.

They unite local volunteers to deal with the problems and organize activities benefiting both the community and society — as they did by organizing the barter.

When quarrels broke out among family members or between neighbors, the committee members were usually the first to intervene. Their mediation helped quell thousands of disputes, which could otherwise have turned violent or ended up in court.

Ma Shanxiang, a mediator with a subdistrict office in Chongqing, was recently in the limelight when he was awarded the July 1 Medal, the Communist Party of China's highest honor.

In his 38-year career dealing with grassroots affairs, he successfully mediated around 2,500 disputes. He also sees the medal as recognition for contributions made by all those working in neighborhood committees.

Local governments have been supportive of the work neighborhood committees do, providing them aid, in the form of money or materials. In most cases the committee workers' wages and subsidies are covered by local governments. They also benefit from governments' project-oriented investments and social donations.

My neighborhood committee runs a day care center for the elderly, provides discounted lunch and dinner in neighborhood canteens, arranges home visits by doctors and barbers and organizes activities such as table tennis, snooker, dancing, singing, calligraphy, painting and lectures for senior citizens.

An aging China is promoting a home-based elderly care model for millions of its senior citizens such as me.

Such a model would be unimaginable without the cooperation of the country's 124,308 neighborhood committees. After all, it is the committees that will be entrusted with complicated coordination and large-scale organization to serve the senior citizens living in millions of separate homes.

Once these new responsibilities are entrusted, I believe the importance of neighborhood committees will grow further and our ties with the committees will become deeper.

The author is former deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily.