Shanghai's subsidized lunches show proper spirit

Other than bankers and corporate executives with fat paychecks, most white-collar workers in downtown Shanghai find getting a decent meal for lunch an expensive proposition. Even if they are willing to put up with the cost, which ranges from 50 to 100 yuan ($8-16), they are likely to be frustrated by the difficulty in finding an available table in any eatery that doesn't put them off.

But help is at hand for the many thousands of people who work in the offices and retail stores in Jing'an district, one of Shanghai's oldest business and commercial centers. Mobilizing the available public- and private-sector resources, the Jing'an district authority has established several large-scale canteens in different locations to serve lunch at subsidized prices ranging from 15 yuan to 20 yuan.

At the canteen in Citic Square, for instance, a standard lunch set costs 18 yuan. A comparable set at any of the restaurants in the vicinity would cost 80 yuan.

The Jing'an "lunch program" is gaining widespread attention since it was featured in a news report by a local television station. A Jing'an government official said in the news report that the "program" costs no more than a few million yuan a year, but its indirect benefit to the district is huge.

"We are doing this partly as an incentive to keep businesses from moving to other districts where office rents are lower," he said.

Trying to solve white-collar workers' lunch problems may seem a trivial matter. But these seemingly small things are helping to lend credibility and substance to the oft-repeated slogan of "people-oriented" governance. It is a challenge that the Shanghai municipal government has faced up to with aplomb.

When I first arrived in Shanghai some five years ago, my initial impression of the city was anything but favorable. Coming from Hong Kong, I found Shanghai to be woefully inefficient. My first subway ride prompted me to assume that it was built and operated by amateurs. The cars were dirty and smelly, and the signs in the stations, especially for changing trains, were confusing.

Since then, everything seems to have improved. To be sure, the traffic can be chaotic at intersections during rush hours and crossing any street can be a hazard. But it is obvious that the government has made great efforts to try and improve the quality of life for the more than 23 million people who live and work in the municipality.

People who gripe about the traffic obviously have never been to Beijing or Wuhan. A colleague from Wuhan told me that the traffic in her hometown is like throwing a box of marbles on the floor and watching them roll away in every direction.

Compared to Hong Kong, Shanghai has done a much better job of preserving the historical buildings, monuments and landmarks that remind people of the city's colorful history that they cherish. You may be put off by the chintzy restoration of some old districts, such as Xintiandi or Xinan Mansion, into high-price entertainment areas. But there is no shortage of quiet tree-lined streets that are perfect for a leisurely afternoon stroll, where one can appreciate the stately mansions that have escaped the wrecker's ball.

Instead of throwing vast sums of money into ostentatious monuments to impose their presence on the people, as the local governments of some other cities have done, the Shanghai municipal government does things more subtly, bringing real benefits to the people.

Listen to Janet Zheng, the 29-year-old cashier of a company with an office in Jing'an district. Interviewed by my colleague, she said that eating at the government-sponsored canteen near her office cut her lunch expenses by more than half to 400 yuan a month, or about 10 percent of her salary. That's a lot of money saved for other necessary expenses.

(China Daily 11/26/2012 page8)