 Anchor:
There is an old Chinese saying 'A harmonious family will prosper in everything it does.' This old saying is used by Zhonggu Community as the name of its dispute mediation centre. During the past three years, the centre has solves hundreds of disputes in its community.
Reporter:
The Zhonggu community in central Beijing consists of 13 old hutongs and has over 2,000 families comprising nearly 6,000 residents. Disputes about public facilities, areas and housing reconstruction often occur.
Peacemaker Feng Jinqiao is nicknamed the "Queen of mediation" by residents and other volunteers. She gives us one dispute as an example:
"It was raining heavily one day. A resident whose house was geographically higher had placed his goods on the entrance to the drain, causing the neighbours who lived below to become flooded. They argued and wanted to dial 110. I ran into the rain and started to move the goods. They felt ashamed when they saw me trying to help them out. They stopped fighting and joined me in the rain."
Founder of the community mediation center Sun Qingmei says that they are not lawyers and the community is not a court, but they want to encourage and influence people through their own behaviour.
Feng Jinqiao agrees:
"I am not doing it for the money. I just want to help those who need help and I can't tolerate unfair situations. The neighbours are happy to take my advice because they respect me. It would be insulting to me if the centre gave me so much as one yuan as a reward."
2008 marks the third anniversary of the dispute mediation centre. Now it has over 70 peacemakers and has reduced the number of people dialling 110 from their community by 40 percent.
But in its early stages, it had only six members. Sun Qingmei is the founder:
"By the end of 2005, I invited six retired volunteers to help start the centre. They used to be a policeman, a teacher, a factory manager and a director of a residents' committee. So they had had precious mediation experience and were capable of solving disputes."
The number of disputes mediated by the centre has been reduced over the years. In 2006 there were 108 disputes but the number has been cut by half this year.
Local resident Sun Yuechun appreciates their work very much:
"It's very good to have them here. Family is the basis of any society. They prevent small problems from becoming bigger and help prevent potential problems. Our community is more harmonious than before."
Sun Qingmei says the mediation centre will recruit more volunteers in the future and hopes to set a good example for other communities in Beijing.
For China Drive I am You Yu.
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