On the afternoon of July 25, dozens of young people from China and abroad gathered at the Party and Mass Service Center in the Pingjiang Road Historical and Cultural District of Suzhou, East China’s Jiangsu Province, creating a lively atmosphere. The Youth League Committee of State Grid Suzhou Power Supply Company and the Suzhou Cultural Tourism Foreign Language Volunteer Alliance officially launched a joint youth volunteer service project, collaborating to provide multilingual cultural-tourism-related interpretation for overseas tourists.

State Grid Suzhou Power Supply's youth volunteers have long been connected to the ancient city, familiar with its power operation and maintenance, and the electrical protection of ancient buildings. The Suzhou Cultural Tourism Foreign Language Volunteer Alliance currently counts 81 foreign volunteers who are fluent in 22 languages. Each of the two volunteer teams possess their strengths and complementary resources. This collaboration allows them to combine power industry expertise with international language resources, learning from each other and complementing each other's strengths.

Colombian volunteer Luz Ramirez is very much looking forward to this cooperation: "Every time I take foreign tourists to visit the ancient streets, they are always curious about how the old houses use electricity safely. I find it difficult to explain the power supply security work behind it." She said that by partnering with the power supply youth volunteers, she can fully present the story of the ancient city's power transformation and the undergrounding of power lines to overseas tourists, allowing them to understand the ingenuity behind the preservation of the ancient city.

Wan Jia, a youth volunteer from the State Grid, shared the same sentiment. As a power supply youth volunteer, she has provided numerous convenient services on Pingjiang Road, often encountering foreign tourists asking for directions or about the local culture, and feeling a bit embarrassed when she stumbled over a language barrier. "Thanks to the alliance's training, we can improve our foreign language level. Next time we meet foreign tourists, at least we can clearly explain the electrical safety of ancient buildings." 

On the same day, the regular volunteer service point on Pingjiang Road was officially established. State Grid youth volunteers paired up with foreign volunteers from the US, Colombia, South Korea, and other countries to share skills and complement each other's weaknesses. Both sides will jointly refine multiple versions of the ancient city's explanation scripts, simultaneously launch the "Woodpecker Action" for foreign language signage in the streets, rectifying non-standard signs one by one.

"In the past, the volunteer activities of both sides were mostly short-term, one-off events. This cooperation will establish a stable collaborative system," said a relevant person in charge of the State Grid Suzhou Power Supply Company. Starting from Pingjiang Road, Chinese and foreign youth volunteers will also go to the East and West Mountains of Taihu Lake to carry out rural cultural tourism services, provide foreign language classes for children in mountainous areas through the "Colorful Dreams" public welfare project, and launch multilingual science lectures on green electricity.