An employment-skills-training course was recently organized for residents of Shanhou Town, in Hexian County, Ma'anshan, in East China's Anhui Province. Training covered various topics, including elder care, maternity care, newborn care, health knowledge and first-aid skills. Zhu Ping, founder of Ma'anshan Xinyi Vocational Training School, conducted the training. 

Zhu is president of Ma'anshan Red Bond Industrial Company, vice-president of Anhui Home Service Industry Association, and vice-president of Ma'anshan Home Service Industry Association. 

Zhu's passion for the domestic-service industry never wanes; in fact, she has been dedicated to delivering warmth to thousands of families for more than a decade. 

Zhu first learned about the domestic-service industry in Nanjing, in East China's Jiangsu Province, in 2012. She immediately realized it was a promising industry. To gain a deeper understanding of the industry, and to master professional knowledge and skills, she attended many training courses, and she read many domestic-service-related books. 

In September 2013, Zhu established both a domestic-service company and a vocational training school (predecessors of Ma'anshan Red Bond Industrial Company and Ma'anshan Xinyi Vocational Training School). 

"Only by serving each customer and each family with sincere love can we gain recognition and development. Domestic service is a sunrise industry, and it matters to people's livelihoods. We should make it a heartwarming industry," Zhu says. 

She always instructs her domestic-service employees to serve each customer with honesty and sincerity. In both 2022 and 2023, her company was honored as an outstanding domestic-service company in Anhui Province. 

To better meet residents' needs, and to promote innovative development of the domestic-service sector, Zhu's company established community-based domestic-service stations, and then attached importance to improving home-based care of senior citizens. 

"I have improved my life by working in the domestic-service industry, and I am sure other women can also do the same," Zhu says. During the past decade, she has organized hundreds of vocational-skills-training courses, including free training courses for women coping with various difficulties. 

Today, Zhu's free training courses are among the most popular "open classes," and are well attended by locals. After they have attended the classes, many unemployed women have found jobs in the domestic-service sector, and as a result entered a new stage in their lives. 

Zhu's company and training school, combined, have trained more than 15,000 people to work in the domestic-service sector. The employment rate of her trainees exceeds 95 percent. 

About 1,000 maternity matrons and domestic workers have found jobs in big cities, such as East China's Shanghai Municipality and Guangzhou, in South China's Guangdong Province. More than 60 trainees have found work overseas. 

During the past two years, Zhu's company and school have trained more than 6,000 domestic workers, who have been in the sector for a few years, to strengthen their overall ability to adequately serve their clients. 

Zhu has a loving heart, and she is always willing to help those in need. She established a team of women volunteers in 2018, and she has since served as the team's head. 

She and her team visit in-need people and seniors who live alone, and they deliver gifts to those people during holidays and festivals. 

In 2019, Zhu established a nursing home for the elderly in a community in Hexian County, and that home has since provided free activities attended by local seniors. 

Zhu has been honored as a March 8th Red-Banner Holder of Hexian County, a Good Samaritan of Hexian and a Good Samaritan of Ma'anshan for her dedication to delivering warmth to thousands of families, by helping develop the domestic-services industry, for her efforts in helping women find employment and lead better lives, and for her kindness and assistance to people in need.

Photos from Interviewee

(Women of China English Monthly July 2024)

Editor: Wang Shasha