Under the powerful leadership of the CPC Municipal Committee and the Municipal Government and in line with the requirements of the Shanghai Municipal Disease Control Office on Preventing and Controlling the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia and the arrangements of the Municipal Party Organs Work Committee, Shanghai Party Institute of CPC (SPI) took the anti-epidemic fight as its primary political mission, and sent 90 Party members and cadres in three groups on February 17, February 24 and March 2 to 53 residents committeein Kangjian, Caohejing and Tianlin Sub-districts in Xuhui District to work there for a 21 day long in-post programme.
　　

  Comrade XU Jiangang, Executive Vice President of SPI, demanded that the in-post cadres should make concrete contributions and fulfill all the epidemic prevention and control requirements, pay attention to personal protection and take care of their own health, and observe the discipline to build a positive image of our cadres.” Following such demands, they showed their initiative and took brave actions as loyal members of the Party and were determined to fight and win the campaign against the epidemic by mobilizing all resources, and blocking the spread of the virus, making their due contribution to the safety of residents.

  1.Make the Party Flag and Build Up Anti-epidemic Defense

  On February 13, after receiving the notice, the SPIParty Committee delivered the call to all its branchesand hoped Party members and cadres and faculty members to volunteer for participation in the front-line anti-epidemic work. Within 24 hours after the call was issued, 202 cadres and faculty members signed up. A list of Party cadres was soon drafted, and they would be sent to the front line in three groups. The best members in all sections volunteered and many of them sent out over 50% of their staff memberbers. Heads of the Party and Mass Affairs Work Division, Supervision and Auditing Division, Students Work Division, Civil Servants Training Division, Training Division, Dianshan Lake Campus Administration Office, etc. led their members in person to the front line. They took on their responsibilities in the challenging situation and played a leading role.

  Behind the volunteers on the front line, there was also the care from SPI’s leaders, the full collaboration from relevant divisions, ex. the completely devoted work of logistics staff in the provision of anti-epidemic supplies in short order, and the joint support and expectation of all our faculty and students.
  Moreover, to ensure that the in-post program would proceed in an orderly and effective manner, the CPC Committee of SPI set up four temporary Party branches in the volunteer teams. With them in place to enforce work discipline and encourage mutual understanding and care, the volunteers reported for work in their WeChat group every morning and submitted updates on their health every evening after they arrived home; following the regular meeting system, they held regular branch meetings and exchanged status, peculiar circumstances and solutions, thoughts and feelings at lunch breaks to cheer each other up。they kept up their morale; and they observed a daily work report system in which each team reported work status, typical cases and thinking on work on a daily basis after work. In their extraordinary work, the volunteers maintained their high morale, completed their swift role change, and became familiar and accommodated to their new posts and duties. Through actions, they fulfilled their duty as Party members and showed their sense of responsibility.

  2.Serve the People and Fulfilthe Vows as In-post Volunteers

  At the most difficult and crucial stage of the anti-epidemic campaign, assistance to basic-level communities became a political duty for every Party member. As jointly arranged by the three sub-districts, the in-post volunteers worked in a down-to-earth and proactive manner and offered the people the help they needed in their in-post work.

  As guardians of the city’s smallest divisions, some stood on watch at the entrances of housing estates all day long to take temperatures and disseminate anti-epidemic tips, despite their sore legs. Some helped to coordinate and increase storage racks for express delivery packages, assisted residents and couriers in looking for packages and classifying stacked packages, and delivered them to the homes of the elderly and the disabled. Some offered assistance in ordering masks, registering household information, making entrance and exit permits, and compiling epidemic-related statistics. Some used their expertise to perform checks and repair assistance on community equipment and facilities when patrolling around the estates.In addition,some, in protective suits, delivered daily supplies, and disinfected and inspected buildings, having a taste of how front line workers might feel. When they found that their communities didnt have enough protective suits, they contacted the institute to donate 50 suits, which efficiently supported the front-line community work in the anti-epidemic campaign. The anti-epidemic work seemed complicated, but it had a direct bearing on the people’s life and health. No slight detail should beneglected at any stage. Fully dedicated to their in-post work, our cadres enforced strict measures with benevolence, offered support to front-line anti-epidemic workers with enthusiasm, and made greater contributions to epidemic prevention and control with their combined efforts.

  In the spirit that “no one is to be left out, neglected or skipped,” the volunteers educated the residents on safety awareness and guarded the every home. They had thorough checks on the neglected details and risk points in the daily management of communities from the perspective of an “observer” to help identity possible loopholes in front-line anti-epidemic work and optimize the anti-epidemic works of communities. With the awareness and initiative of a “fresh force,” they gave the front-line community cadres and volunteers a chance to take a break so that they could keep up their enthusiasm, confidence and determination which could be prepared for a long fight against the epidemic. In addition to the physical work, they also made intellectual contributions. Rigorous and conscientious, they collected updates on the status of the epidemic in China and other countries and shared their latest anti-epidemic policies every night so as to better comply with regulations in their work and explain their duties to the residents; and, as acute and professional scholars, they collected information on community administration and acquired a more insightful understanding of the needs of basic-level communities and the status-quo of community governance to enhance their loyalty to the Party, develop in-site teaching methods, innovate in basic-level community governance, and expand volunteering channels.

  3. Fulfill Our Mission and Gain Insights in the Anti-epidemic Campaign

  During the 21 day long in-post program, the volunteers were highly recognized by the Municipal Working Committee, widely appreciated by sub-district cadres and unanimously praised by the public for their pragmatic and meticulous work. “WeChat Platform for Party Building in Shanghai,”, the Working Committee’s WeChat account, shared the sidelights of the 2nd in-post volunteer group -- “Cultivating Party Loyalty on the Front Line of the Anti-epidemic Campaign and Fulfilling Our Mission by Learning from the People” and the column article by the WeChat account of our Youth League Committee -- “As Members of SPI, We Fought on the Front Line: Stories of In-post Anti-epidemic Volunteers from SPI”; in “With Support from All Local Units, Kangjian Sub-district Will Win the Fight against the Epidemic,” an article published on their WeChat account, Xuhui District and Kangjian Sub-district praised our comrades from SPI for their readiness to “take orders and work hard, which dispelled the stereotype of elites and touched us”; and in “Capable Both in Classrooms and in Communities: SPI Volunteers Fulfilling Their Mission on the Front Line of the Anti-epidemic Campaign,” an article published on their WeChat account, Tianlin Sub-district praised our comrades for “staying on posts, fulfilling their duties and offering proactive service.” During the 21-day program, the in-post volunteers of all the three teams have received hand sanitizers, milk tea, bread, cream candies, etc. from the residents as a token of care and gratitude to them who worked in harsh conditions. On their last day, residents and volunteers from many communities went to see them off and express their gratefulness. Three Sub-districts sent thanks letters to the institute and praised the in-post volunteers for their “courage and selflessness.”

  As a community with shared destiny, we count on each others help. As an institute jointly built by multiple parties, SPI has not only reinforced the basic-level anti-epidemic workforce and guarded our “home,” but it has also made its contribution to a more powerful community epidemic prevention and control network.

  The in-post volunteers were from different departments of SPI and seldom did they know each other. Nonetheless, they were able to work closely and seamlessly with each other during the one weeklong program and form an effective and cohesive team that was strict, precise, efficient, and benevolent. They blended in the communities,put on no airs and learned from the people. It was there in the communities that they truly understood their actual circumstances and the needs of the people and fully comprehended their work orientation stated as “all for the people and from the people,” as well as the fact that the people is what the power of the Party is based on. In their work, they followed the principles of “responsibility, usefulness and pragmatism” and fulfilled their mission as Party members with considerateness, attentiveness, and tenderness to keep the people faithful, assured and contented. They used their spare time to write down their real-life stories and new thoughts as individuals and teams and exchanged work-related information and thoughts in WeChat groups and at organizational meetings. More than ten articles they wrote were published on GMW.cn, People.cn, Jiefang Daily, Shanghaifabu, Eastday.com, Shanghai Observer, The Paper, and other media platforms.

  The sudden epidemic outbreak put the national governance system and capacity of our country to a severe test and represented an opportunity for us to reflect on the effectiveness of the education on “Keeping Our Mission Firmly in Mind.” In front of the epidemic, the urge to keep in mind and take on the mission has become an unfailing source of momentum in the anti-epidemic campaign and its effectiveness a “test ground” and “touchstone” of the educational campaign on “Keeping Our Mission Firmly in Mind.” During the outbreak, apart from the in-post program, 186 Party members and cadres from the institute went to their residential or working communities to sign up as volunteers in the community anti-epidemic campaign. In red or blue vests, they represented the institute on the front line, showed their determination to fulfill their mission on the front line and built a solid protective wall together. The campaign against the epidemic is still going on and we are not letting up. Following President XI Jinpings speeches on the coordination of epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development, we will carry out the decisions and plans made by the CPC Central Committee and the CPC Municipal Committee with resolution to make our contribution to the final victory in both causes.