For a large community that is home to more than 1,600 households, it's never easy to know every one or make friends with all the neighbors. Yet, 76-year-old Jin Guofang has succeeded.

She remembers who's old and ill in which household, and which couple quarreled and may need her help to patch things up. Most of the folks can recite her telephone number by heart, and they'll call her without hesitation when they need help.

Jin needs no special gifts or an exceptional memory, and all this is just part of her job as the head of the residents' committee in Jiannan Community at Shijiazhuang, Hebei province. She has served as a volunteer here for 21 years.