Experiential learning

One person featured in Zhang's video is another Fudan alumnus, Xu Yonghui, a computer science graduate who currently works as the assistant to the Party secretary of Weiji village in Shanghai's Fengxian district.

Xu says the knowledge he gained from his time at Fudan has proved to be most useful, as it has been used to improve work efficiency in village. For example, he got to design seven mini-programs, one of which digitizes repetitive work that was previously done manually. Another program takes the form of an online shopping platform that features commodities from local markets.

Working in the village has also taught Xu new skills, such as performing nucleic acid testing. He notes that learning and using this skill was especially fulfilling as, despite wanting to volunteer at the time, he was unable to go and help in the fight against the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan.

In Jianxin village, which is located in Zhujiajiao town in Shanghai's Qingpu district, Sun Tianpei has been putting the business management knowledge he picked up at Fudan to good use.

For example, after learning that residents living near the flood control areas in the village are often severely affected when there is extreme weather, the 30-year-old went about forging a cooperation deal between the local government and insurance companies to offer the residents compensation when necessary.

He has also been promoting the development of an economy based on forest by-products in the village. "My ultimate aim here is to further the village's economic development and increase the incomes of the villagers," he says.

However, during the recent lockdown, Sun's key role was coordinating with local enterprises and farms to procure laundry detergent, hand sanitizers and pork for the residents of his village.