Census-taker Chen Yi (center) interviews a local resident with Swiss volunteer Milena Muntwyler in Pudong's Yanlord Garden yesterday evening. It is the sixth time China has carried out a national census, but the first time foreigners, plus people from Hong Kong and Macau living on the Chinese mainland, will be counted.

TWO out of 10 ain't bad, at least according to Chen Yi, a census-taker in a Shanghai internationalcommunity.

China's sixth population census started yesterday, and for the first time foreigners and people from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan living on the Chinese mainland are included in the 10-day register.

Yesterday evening, Shanghai Daily reporter went door-to-door with Chen and Swiss volunteer Milena Muntwyler in Pudong's Yanlord Garden, an internationalcommunity where 65 percent of residents are expats from almost 60 countries.

"With a bit of luck, we should get good results as most people are home from work now," said Chen.

At about 5:30pm Chen set off to knock doors, armed with an official badge, a heavy bag of census forms and introduction letters, and accompanied by Muntwyler.

Time is of the essence, Chen explained. "We have to finish by 9pm, so as not to interruptresidents' rest."

The first 10 visits didn't yield much. No-one answered the door at seven homes, one refused to open the door, and, in the end, only two residents completed the form.

However, this is not particularly bad, said Chen, who has become accustomed to similar results since she began visiting households during preparatory work in September.

When Chen and her fellow censusworkers are not pounding the sidewalks visiting neighborhoods in the evening and early morning, they are kept busy with administration. They've also worked weekends for the past month, surviving on take-out food most of the time.

Often Chen encounters suspicion. "Many people look at me through the peephole on their front door or turn off the light, pretending nobody's at home," she said.

Chen will not harangue. Instead, she leaves an introductory letter explaining that it's the national census conducted every 10 years.

"Perhaps they are children or seniors who don't want to open the door to strangers. I will come again when someone else is home," she said.

Even though she has been a communityworker for several years, Chen does not know every resident, as the internationalcommunity has a transient population.

Chen's task is made more difficult by some expats' insistence on privacy - she has visited some households more than 10 times.

"After calling several times they are willing to talk to me, asking, 'who are you?' If I go again, they may be willing to chat more, saying, 'what are you doing? Why are you doing this?' In the end, they finally open the door," she said.

Though she speaks good English, Chen invited communityresident Muntwyler to help convincereluctantresidents.

"I'm very glad to be part of the census," said Muntwyler, 58, a housewife who is interested in community work. "It's very interesting to meet so many people."

Muntwyler said she has become "famous" since helping the censusworkers, as many residents now say hello.

• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• international [,intə´næʃənəl] a.国际的，世界的 (初中英语单词)
• register [´redʒistə] n.&v.登记簿 (初中英语单词)
• introduction [,intrə´dʌkʃən] n.介绍；引言；引导 (初中英语单词)
• interrupt [,intə´rʌpt] v.中断；打扰 (初中英语单词)
• administration [əd,minis´treiʃən] n.管理(事务等)；经营 (初中英语单词)
• suspicion [sə´spiʃən] n.怀(猜)疑；嫌疑 (初中英语单词)
• worker [´wə:kə] n.工人；劳动者；工作者 (初中英语单词)
• willing [´wiliŋ] a.情愿的，乐意的 (初中英语单词)
• convince [kən´vins] vt.使确信；使认识错误 (初中英语单词)
• resident [´rezidənt] a.居住的 n.居民 (高中英语单词)
• volunteer [,vɔlən´tiə] n.志愿者 v.自愿做 (高中英语单词)
• community [kə´mju:niti] n.团体；社区；公众 (高中英语单词)
• reporter [ri´pɔ:tə] n.报告人；记者；广播员 (高中英语单词)
• saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
• housewife [´hauswaif] n.家庭主妇 (高中英语单词)
• census [´sensəs] n.人口普查 (英语四级单词)
• mainland [´meinlənd] n.大陆；本土 (英语四级单词)
• essence [´esəns] n.本质；要素；精华 (英语四级单词)
• privacy [´praivəsi, -pri] n.隐退；独处；秘密 (英语四级单词)
• reluctant [ri´lʌktənt] a.勉强的；难得到的 (英语四级单词)
• preparatory [pri´pærətəri] a.预备的 n.预备学校 (英语六级单词)
• transient [´trænziənt, ´trænʃənt] a.短暂的；无常的 (英语六级单词)
• insistence [in´sistəns] n.坚持；坚决主张 (英语六级单词)
• calling [´kɔ:liŋ] n.点名；职业；欲望 (英语六级单词)