Hangzhou pride is building ahead of the G20 summit

6,000 volunteers are helping to make the gathering a success WANG XU

Construction work on venues for the G20 summit, which includes the upgrading of residences for Chinese and foreign leaders as well as the rebuilding and improvement of some streets, communities and tourist attractions, is basically complete, said Zhao Yide, secretary of the CPC Hangzhou Municipal Committee.

Zhao made the remarks at a media briefing on Tuesday in Hangzhou ahead of the 100-day countdown to the summit, where he briefed reporters on preparations for the event that will take place in the capital of East China's Zhejiang province on Sept 4 and Sept 5.

Zhao said none of the venues are new-builds; they were all pre-existing but in need of upgrades and improvements.

"Every penny is being counted as we prepare for the summit," Zhao added. "We are routinely making sure we are being thrifty and frugal in every aspect of the preparation work."

According to Zhao, 33 entrance roads to Hangzhou city are in line for upgrades that will see streets and homes improved. Twenty-three of those neighborhood upgrades have been finished.

He said 6,000 volunteers have joined teams to help make the summit a success.

At Pengbu, which is one of the entrance communities to Hangzhou and close to the city's east side railway station, Huang Bingquan, a local resident told China Daily he has benefitted from the upgrade and has seen his home improved and expanded.

"My family and I feel very lucky to have been part of the upgrades," Huang said.

"Our living environment used to be dirty and disordered. However, it is now much better."

The local government said a total of 2.21 billion yuan ($340 million) was being invested in upgrading 78 hectares of the Pengbu area, which includes the community where Huang lives.

Zhou Zhen, a 40-year-old taxi driver from the Sixinfang community, an old neighborhood a five-minute walk from the famous West Lake tourist attraction, is among the army of volunteers preparing for the summit.

"I think the G20 summit offers a good opportunity for Hangzhou to raise its visibility internationally," said Zhou, who speaks English as a second language.

"I have a sense of this being a mission for me where I can use what I have to help my hometown became a true international metropolis, so that people will no longer feel that Hangzhou is only the back garden of Shanghai."

Zhou is teaching English to people in his community, among them 74-year-old Yu Hui'er. She said it was a struggle, but one worth making.

"Mr Zhou wrote Chinese characters under the English words, so we could use the Chinese sounds to imitate the English words," she said.

"Although the Chinese he wrote was funny and made no sense grammatically, it really helped us to remember English more quickly."

Yu has not missed any of Zhou's classes, and said she is looking forward to being able to say hello to overseas visitors during the summit.

"A lot of foreigners come to West Lake these days, so I will be able to give them directions if I know English and, who knows, I may even run into some foreign leaders during the G20 summit. I wondered, what if I meet US president Obama and I couldn't talk to him, so I decided to work harder on learning English."

wangxu@chinadaily.com.cn