Minhang Seeks to Modernize Core Urban Areas

Editor's Note:

Over the next five years, Minhang's 15th Five-Year Plan aims to accelerate the development of a modern central urban region that is inventive, open, eco-friendly, culturally rich, livable, safe, and a hub for new-quality productive forces.

The first part of this "Livable Minhang" series examines the latest developments and significant plans for the 15th Five-Year Plan period in education, senior care, healthcare, culture and athletic events, as well as how these activities are contributing to Minhang's urban livability.

Healthcare and elderly care services

Elderly care is an issue that concerns everyone in society.

In 2025, Minhang District held 15 touring exhibitions of elderly care technology to reach out to the elderly citizens.

Many seniors want to use technology to better their lives, but they worry it will be harmful or hard to use.

Director of Minhang Civil Affairs Bureau Fu Yu said roadshows are necessary to familiarize them with new offerings.

Minhang has an elderly population (aged above 60) of nearly 430,000 among the household registration population, and the residential elderly population of over 730,000.

In recent years, the district has established a tiered and categorized support system for elderly care institutions, communities and home care.

There are over 1,200 elderly care institutions in Minhang, including comprehensive centers, community canteens, day care centers and neighborhood service stations.

"We're working hard to establish a '15-minute elderly care service network', consisting of different tiers of service and a more a more balanced, higher quality and smarter system," Fu said.

Minhang District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, also known as Longhua Hospital's Minhang Branch, will open in Qibao Town by the end of the year.

It will have 527 beds and will be fully integrated into Longhua's unified and standard management system with an investment of nearly 1.2 billion yuan (US$ 177.5 million) investment.

Qibao and nearby residents can utilize Longhua's high-quality TCM services, including routine health maintenance, chronic disease management and emergency treatment for sudden illness.

Feng Liang, director of Minhang Health Commission, said the district will focus on TCM oncology, nephrology, gastroenterology, orthopaedics and traumatology, and TCM surgery over the next five years.

The goal is to make Minhang District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine a top TCM facility in Minhang and the Yangtze River Delta.

Minhang will encourage the "Key Laboratory of TCM" to collaborate with universities and businesses to create an innovation platform that incorporates basic research, technical development and clinical translation.

It will also promote the creation of specialized departments in general and specialist hospitals that combine traditional Chinese and Western medicine to treat specific conditions and investigate a standard, end-to-end multidisciplinary collaborative diagnosis and treatment model.

Meanwhile, Minhang will standardize mental health clinics at its 14 community health service centers, promote social work stations for social and psychological services in sub-districts and towns, improve healthcare, school, family and community coordination, and expand its mental health crisis intervention team.

Focus on sports, physical training in schools

"Health comes first" is a slogan, but Minhang Education Bureau Director Xu Mingyi says it should be the foundation of student development. According to Xu, the future lies in the development of physical and mental health, social competence, creativity, and the capacity and judgment to solve complex challenges.

A "Swimming for All" program has been implemented in grade three primary schools, with training programs promoting lifelong sports skills and daily physical activity. Physical education is valued for its ability to promote rules, teamwork and fitness.

"We place great importance on physical education, not merely for the sake of physical fitness, but also to foster an understanding of rules, teamwork, fighting spirit and resilience," said Xu.

Minhang is harmonizing moral, intellectual, aesthetic and vocational education on the basis of physical education.

Focusing on individual growth is crucial in the age of AI and education. Based on this approach, the district's education authority has collaborated with stakeholders to create platforms available through the Shanghai One-Stop Service's mobile government service platform.

This platform brings schools, families and community resources together, making it easy for parents to choose high-quality extracurricular activities for their children and travel while learning AI.

Xu says that schooling is about developing a well-rounded person.

For public sports, the district has 6.4 million square meters of facilities, and 300,000 will be built during the 15th Five-Year Plan.

Director Zhang Xiaoying said Minhang Sports Bureau will establish or renovate 47 public fitness centers and two public fitness trails in 2026.

"More importantly, we will tap into the potential of spare space at office or residential buildings and other leftover undeveloped areas to transform them into 'community sports corners', creating more 'small but beautiful' venues that suit the needs of the public," she said.

By 2030, the district wants over 53 percent of citizens to exercise regularly.

In addition to flagship events like the "Xinhong Cup" Yangtze River Delta Kayak and Stand-Up Paddleboarding Invitational, each sub-district and town will develop and host its own sports activities to integrate fitness and leisure sports into community life.

She noted that it will also promote the integration of sporting events into major commercial districts and shopping areas, industrial parks and tourist attractions to promote sport, commerce, tourism and culture, and improve consumer experience.