Sofia Alvarez from Mexico, a senior student at Shenzhen University, offers help at a vaccination site for foreign nationals and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan compatriots in Nanshan District on May 30. An international volunteers team in the district’s Zhaoshang Subdistrict has 216 registered volunteers, including 86 expats from 38 countries. Hundreds of international volunteers had assisted 5,096 fellow expats in receiving vaccinations as of June 24 this year, according to Gao Dawei, secretary of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League of China. Lin Jianping
Heráclito Everson Biscaia Filho from Brazil makes his 34th blood donation in Shenzhen at Nanshan Blood Donation Station on Dec. 28. The Brazilian is a frequent blood donor and has donated 6,000 milliliters of whole blood and 19 units of platelets in Shenzhen since 2013. Li Chengxing
Anna Machneva, a Russian graduate student at the South China University of Technology, shares her view at an event in Luohu District on Dec. 14. During the event, a draft of an evaluation guide for international blocks was released to solicit attendees’ opinions. Shenzhen will complete the construction of its first 15 international blocks in 2022, according to an official from the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shenzhen Municipal Government. Photo courtesy of the event organizers
Don Rechtman (R), a musician from California, the U.S., and Liao Qing, a 90-year-old veteran of the Dongjiang Column of Guangdong People’s Guerilla Force Against Japanese Aggression, pose for a photo at an activity center in Luohu District in February. Don has composed a song for China in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which was inspired by stories about the Dongjiang Column. Liu Xudong
A screenshot of a 12-minute video clip, in which Daniel Dumbrill (top), a Canadian living in Shenzhen, shared his thoughts on why the West is targeting China’s Xinjiang. The video has gone viral since it was uploaded in March. SD-Agencies
Deborshmi Nath from India, first-prize winner in the juvenile group, performs kung fu at the 12th Shenzhen Expats Chinese Talent Competition on Dec. 5. During the topical speech session, 12 finalists, divided into adult and juvenile groups, shared changes brought by the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and their stories in the area. The contest is an annual event launched in 2010. Sun Yuchen
Expat visitors check out works in a photo exhibition at the Bay Opera in Shenzhen in Bao’an District on Dec. 17. The exhibition displayed 117 winning works from the Third Expats Eye Shenzhen Photo Contest. This year’s contest, which ran from Aug. 3 to Oct. 8, received nearly 1,800 entries from 173 entrants from 36 countries, with 76 standout prizewinners, including two first prizes, four second prizes and eight third prizes. Liu Xudong
A screenshot of a video by U.K. vlogger Oli Barrett (L), in which he records a day in the life of a sanitation worker named Hongjie (R) along with 16 others who work under her in an urban village in Futian District. The video was released on Sanitations Workers’ Day on Oct. 26 and went viral online. Oli Barrett and his father Lee, a pair of British YouTubers based in Shenzhen, launched their now-popular YouTube channel, simply named Barrett, on June 5, 2019. SD-Agencies
In the past year, we have featured expats’ optimism and happiness in their lives away from home. Here is a rewind highlighting how some expats have contributed to making Shenzhen a better place for them and for everyone else in 2021.