Volunteers getting busy at the Information Desk [Photo/China-Blue News]

There is a special name for the group of young people who volunteered to help out at this year’s G20 Summit–“xiao qinghe” or “little green lotus” (similar to the expression “qinhe" or "easy-going”) because of their passion and professionalism in helping people – which makes them feel proud of their work.

One volunteer from the Zhejiang Institute of Media, Deng Zipei, who spoke with journalist at 6:00 in the morning and wore a smile throughout the conversation, said, “I'm really proud of my work at the G20 because I wanted to take part in an international activity and serve the people as an undergraduate along with the other volunteers.”

Speaking of the service aspect, another volunteer, Gao Jingyi, described how the work is separated depending on the area, with every area having its own special volunteers to make better use of them and said, “My major is Japanese, so I’m responsible for Japanese media affairs and my work area is the media workshop.”

Gao said that there are many interesting stories about their work, for example, “In addition to guiding people around to the various spaces and answering questions about drinking water and the Internet, I often have to tell them where the toilet is - in many languages.” 

For those at the Information Desk, the work is extremely heavy because they need to provide consultation for journalists and take care of lost-and-found work as well, according to another volunteer, Lv Dengzhou, from Zhejiang University.

For some volunteers, the work is much greater than they imagined but they have also learned far more than they imagined, for example, according to Gao Jingyi, “I have met many interesting journalists and had the chance to see close-up just how they work. This is the first time for me to watch a live broadcast outside and the first time to work with so many journalists. I’ve really learnt a lot from it.”