Brief (coffeeyo.com): A fragrant cup of coffee is both the backdrop of life in Shanghai’s “haipai” urban culture and a warm vehicle for grassroots governance. This summer, the Communist Youth League committee of Tianping Subdistrict in Xuhui District tapped the distinctive resources of the Hengfu Historic Area and teamed up with the local independent specialty café likelikeslike coffee (Wutong Coffee) to launch a five-session immersive “Coffee Youth Night School,” using coffee to weave youth services, merchant co-construction and community governance together.
(Source: Shangguan News.) A fragrant cup of coffee is both the backdrop of life in Shanghai’s “haipai” urban culture and a warm vehicle for grassroots governance. This summer, the Communist Youth League committee of Tianping Subdistrict in Xuhui District drew on the distinctive resources of the Hengfu Historic Area and joined hands with the local independent specialty café likelikeslike coffee (Wutong Coffee) to launch a five-session immersive “Coffee Youth Night School” experience course. Using coffee as a small thread, Tianping Subdistrict has connected youth services, merchant co-construction and community governance, transforming new-business merchants from street operators into community-service participants and a new force in grassroots governance.
Coffee Youth Night School: five sessions of coursework
The night-school classroom steeped in everyday life
Young people unlock a new coffee lifestyle through immersion
As night fell, the courtyard of Wutong Coffee filled with warmth, and the youth-night-school coffee experience class began as scheduled. Unlike commercialized skills training, the coffee course customized by Tianping Subdistrict balanced fun with professionalism, leading young people step by step to break stereotypes and understand the culture and craftsmanship behind coffee.
The first session centered on a fun blind-box cupping game. Setting aside fixed labels of brand, price and origin, students used their sense of smell and taste to experience the distinctive flavors of beans from different countries and define their preferred coffee profile with their own senses. Subsequent sessions progressed gradually, covering four core modules — espresso extraction, creative milk-coffee latte art, full-menu beverage making, and pour-over with a variety of equipment. Starting from professional details such as grind size, brew ratio and water-temperature rhythm, instructors taught hands-on, so even beginners could easily make their own signature drinks.
The Coffee Youth Night School attracted many local young people to take part.
“I only signed up for fun in my spare time, but I never expected to gain so much,” said Ms. Wang, a participant. Through the five sessions she not only learned home pour-over and basic latte-art skills, but also broke free of the misconceptions spread by influencer marketing and learned to appreciate coffee rationally. Many students said the evening public-interest class enriched their leisure life and built a platform for young people to connect, letting them feel the charm of neighborhood culture in a relaxed atmosphere — truly learning with joy and gaining something real.
Merchants take root in the neighborhood and stay true to their original intent
A two-way commitment writing the warmth of community co-governance
In the plane-tree-lined streets glowing with lamplight, likelikeslike coffee (Wutong Coffee) has long been a warm harbor for nearby residents and young visitors. In September 2022, co-founder Zhang Liang, holding fast to his commitment to the city’s everyday life, rooted himself in the Tianping Hengfu Historic Area and opened this community-oriented specialty café. Situated where the Xujiahui business district meets the Hengfu Historic Area, the shop bridges urban bustle and old-town heritage, and has become a neighborhood landmark thanks to its quiet courtyard and heartfelt approach to business.
An AED emergency device is permanently available to the public at the shop entrance.
Speaking of his original intent, Zhang Liang said frankly: “I have lived in Tianping Subdistrict for many years and already regard the neighborhood as home; I want to contribute my small strength to the community.” What touches people most is that an AED emergency device is permanently available to the public at the shop entrance. Noticing the real-life pain point that urban public emergency equipment is mostly indoors and unusable at night, Zhang Liang — who has a medical-industry background — proactively coordinated with the subdistrict and placed the AED in the shop’s outdoor public area, open to residents and visitors around the clock. He also worked with the subdistrict to run first-aid training and spread emergency-care knowledge, building a safety line for the surrounding community.
First-aid training underway (archival photo).
Rooted in the community and devoted to public welfare, the steps never stop. Responding to the call of the Tianping Subdistrict Coffee Industry Party Branch, Zhang Liang actively took on community “micro-wishes,” warmly helping those in need. Earlier, he took on the wishes of children of the new-employment group and carefully selected suitable skateboards and protective gear; he prepared complete sets of school supplies for children in difficult circumstances, and his thoughtful help brought warmth to struggling families.
Zhang Liang actively taking on a community micro-wish (archival photo).
Party building rallies the new business forms
A small cup of coffee activates new momentum in grassroots governance
One small shop warms a group of people; one industry activates a whole neighborhood. As one of the city’s blocks with the highest café density, Tianping Subdistrict is home to 152 specialty coffee shops and more than 600 young coffee-industry workers. Leveraging its distinctive industry advantage, the subdistrict took Party building as its lead and the Youth League as its tool, founding the city’s first coffee-industry Party branch in April 2024 and, relying on the Communist Youth League Xuhui District Coffee Industry Working Committee, tackling the governance challenges of scattered, weakly organized and poorly connected young people in new business forms.
Under this organizational guidance, neighborhood coffee merchants have shifted their mindset — from lone operators to co-building, co-sharing participants in governance. More than 30 coffee merchants have joined the “Red Reserve Livelihood Service Matrix,” routinely carrying out green recycling of coffee grounds, self-disciplined storefront management and public-interest services. At the same time, the subdistrict has innovated a diverse “coffee+” model, creating distinctive activities such as urban walks, career experiences and public-interest consumption stimulation, putting the neighborhood’s culture-tourism, public-welfare and consumption resources to good use.
From the public-interest night school nourishing young people’s spiritual life, to merchant self-governance protecting the neighborhood’s character, to Party building rallying the strength of new business forms, Tianping Subdistrict uses a small cup of coffee as its entry point to deepen Party building in emerging fields and refined grassroots governance — aligning commercial warmth with the warmth of people’s livelihoods, and turning the vitality of new business forms into the driving force of community governance.
Source: Shangguan News (reporter: Cao Xiangyu; video: Cao Xiangyu; editor: Chen Haixiao).
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