TWO families in Shenzhen were granted the title of national civilized family, the Central Civilization Committee announced through an award list Friday.

The two families are Zhang Zhenke and Wang Lixia’s family, and Xin Junhui and Zhang Yingying’s family.

One of the couples, Zhang Zhenke and Wang Lixia, are both police officers for Shenzhen Bay Checkpoint. The husband Zhang has managed three illegal immigration cases and more than 80 repatriation cases this year.

The wife Wang has inspected 7,500 passengers and managed one confirmed case during the COVID-19 prevention and control period. As of Aug. 17, Wang’s team has managed seven out of 42 imported cases that were reported at Shenzhen Bay Checkpoint.

Shenzhen Bay Checkpoint is the only operating land border for travelers between Shenzhen and Hong Kong during the pandemic control period.

The distance between their working sites is no more than 100 meters, but they can hardly say a word to each other. In a coincidence when they met each other at work, they both wore thick protective suits, and only made a brief greeting gesture and soon dove back into work.

Zhang started to do volunteer jobs in 2008. Wang joined the voluntary job together with Zhang.

Gradually, an increasing number of coworkers were motivated by the couple to join the voluntary service. A Shenzhen Bay Checkpoint volunteer team was then formed in 2016, and the checkpoint U-station for voluntary service was launched in 2018.

“No matter how hard the work is, I feel comfortable after helping people in need,” Zhang said. Zhang added that he also learnt to stay open-minded and positive from the volunteer experience.

Another couple, Xin Junhui and Zhang Yingying, both have disabilities. The wife Zhang was left unable to walk after she contracted Polio at 5 years old.

Zhang knows indeed how the disabled struggle in life, so she has been devoted to helping disabled persons after she graduated from university. She developed career guidance for the disabled in 20 cities in Gansu, Sichuan, Yunnan, Hunan, Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces from 2012 to 2016, helping 3,000 people with severe physical disabilities to find a job. She formed a career guidance center for the disabled in Shenzhen in August 2016 and led a team with an AI program for helping the disabled to win a provincial award. She and her team also provided career, mental and legal consultancies for more than 30,000 disabled clients.

Zhang’s husband, Xin, suffered a facial burn at 2 years old which left an inerasable scar. After graduating from the Kunming University of Science and Technology majoring in law, Xin dove head first into the legal industry, providing legal assistance for the disabled and injured workers that would eventually add up to 10,000 clients over seven years.

Zhang and Xin met in an activity for helping the disabled. They now have two children and support each other through their public benefits careers. (Chen Siqi)