I was curious about the many dabai’s in Shanghai and found one in my compound who was happy to sit down with me to tell me why he signed up & more.

I think we were both a bit nervous — he for maybe saying something wrong — me of his leader coming around the corner and shooing us away.

And Geng has a bit of an accent, plus with the facemask difficult to hear. Plus, Mandarin! Trying to keep the words in my head but also some words I only understood later, such as 岗位 and 补贴.

But I’m really glad how this turned out. Dabai’s aren’t all evil as seen in viral videos on Twitter. Shanghai for sure also has those, but I think the majority are just like these guys — kids almost — just trying to be brave and help.