Doing our best to fulfill the mission of providing support for the success of the APEC meeting, and showcasing the brilliant charisma of the DRC
2016-01-18

      The 22nd informal meeting of leaders of the Economic Cooperation Organization in Asia Pacific (APEC) 2014 was held in Beijing  along the Yanqi River in Huairou District. As a venue for press conferences, the Huairou Evergreen North Diaoyutai project provided international and specialized media services for the coverage of the event by foreign media.

      The Huairou Evergreen North Diaoyutai project is the first community-owned project of our Corporation, which received the most support and attention of the leaders of the BDS and the Corporation. The project supported the press center of the APEC meeting by providing project property management services in respect of maintenance, cleaning, security and others. This is a very difficult and sacred task. As the DRC representative to provide logistical support to the world media covering this event, all the Corporation team members knew what their responsibilities were, and felt greatly honored.

      According to the requirements of the organizing committee and under the unified direction and instructions of the leaders of the Corporation and the Property Management Department, we worked closely with the Central Bureau of Security Agents, the Bureau of Public Security, the Fire-control Division, and other local units to ensure active collaboration in taking over the hotel management work, make preparations for the meeting, provid3 support during the meeting and the final wrap-up period. The project team has overcome various difficulties, carried out all its tasks, and has been highly praised and welcomed by the organizing committee.

      The press center has assumed the major responsibility of transmitting to the world all the pomp of the meeting, showcasing the image of China, and spreading the voice of China. Because the press center was built on the former site of the hotel of the arts and culture park, lots of equipment and installations were temporary structures, and even part of the project was not yet fully completed, the construction process was still going on, which meant that there were occasional outgoing construction wastes from ditches and pipes.This greatly increased the difficulty of the work of the cleaning staff. Thousands of square meters of water features also required repeated maintenance and cleaning every day, and in November in Huairou, in the biting morning cold, the temperature dropped to zero, forcing the cleaning women to wear heavy clothing. With their legs soaked in ice water, they clean debris with patience and meticulousness during long working days, leaving each time their body aching.

     With a cooler weather, green trees and plants of the park began to lose their leaves, and to keep the environment clean, we needed to increase the frequency of cleaning, perform targeted cleaning work, and focus on cleaning and removal of dead leaves at any time of day or night. This ongoing and invisible work imposed strict requirements and increased the workload of the cleaning staff.

      To ensure timely arrival at the work site, most employees temporarily lived in the work place. At work, the cleaning women were able to sacrifice their own need for serving every participant of the meeting by being fully involved in the project, without any complaint. Despite the apparent insignificance of the cleaning work, they were a force that contributed silently to the success of the APEC meeting.

      During the meeting, the APEC press center received more than 2,000 Chinese and foreign journalists, and hence the importance of strict security measures. Because of the curfew imposed on vehicles, security personnel had to walk every day for five kilometers to work in the security zone. They checked each person, keeping watching in a large area, overcoming the difficulty of staff shortages, and not allowing the smallest problem to occur. In the meantime, they quickly alerted all concerned in case of leakage of energy or water till the problems were solved, avoiding any risk to safety, blocking illegal activities, such as external staff intrusions and other circumstances, and winning the praises of all the parties involved.

      The maintenance staff wasresponsible for monitoring not only electrical rooms, but also mechanical and electrical inspections, incident management, maintenance of equipment and other work. To ensure the success of the meeting, they worked for five days and five nights consecutively, making sure the equipment could work in all circumstances.

      Providing service to the press center of the APEC meeting reflected the confidence the country and the Corporation had in us. Each and every one of us was dedicated  to his/her duty at his/her post, obeying orders to ensure the success of meeting, showing all the most beautiful sides of China. Everyone felt that, doing the work well was worth everything.

      "No pain no gain", and as the saying goes, the plum blossom bursts from the bitter cold. Participants of the APEC meeting in 2014 included not only heads of state, but also journalists as well as the service staff of the Housing Service Corporation. In 2014, China successfully hosted the APEC meeting, which will leave an indelible mark in history and in our life, and will remain a rich and valuable experience for us.