Government Officials from Shanghai visits APADRC

by Kent Zhu

Roald Li, Director of Jiangsu Community of Changning District, Shanghai and Kent Zhu, APADRC Assistant Program Director.

Five Chinese officials from Shanghai visited APADRC on November 19th.  The Shanghai Government sent the group to UCLA for a 3-month comprehensive study of community and economic development.  Both APADRC and the group shared their experiences and concerns about operating and developing community mediation.  The group found APADRC's business model, especially the Peer Mediation Program, very helpful for their new community development plan.  APADRC has been invited to visit their centers in Shanghai.  The recent proposed Mediation Law in China caught a lot of attention from the local governments and community service providers who are eager to utilize mediation.  Mediation is a traditional but neglected community service practice, utilized to reduce the worsening social tension and to tighten the loosened community connections caused by the rapid expansion of the economy.