A CULTURAL communication club was set up recently in the Vernal Garden residential area where foreign residents account for about 70 per cent of the total population. The club will organize Chinese folk arts classes once a month for interested foreign residents to enrich their stay in Shanghai as well as to promote communication between them and the locals.

Folk arts to be taught include Chinese calligraphy, Chinese painting, paper cutting, paper tearing, knitting and flower arranging.

German Fabine Liu is among a dozen foreign residents who registered with the club at its opening. Being a fluent Chinese speaker, Liu was invited to deliver a speech at the opening ceremony.

"I am looking forward to hands-on experience when the club convenes again," she said.

Vernal Garden is located in Xinjing Town, Changning District, a place well-known for its tradition in folk arts.

As folk artists are actively involved in the community life, the garden's residents are in a good position to exploit the resources around them, said Zhu Lingfang, a worker at the Xinjing Town Government Information Office.

Vernal Garden is one of a dozen residential areas in the Changning District where foreign residents are concentrated, and many of them have set up similar cultural communication clubs.

Vernal Garden's cultural communication club's

No 222, Lane 2489, Hongqiao Lu