Ms. Melinde Lim is a Singaporean Chinese who graduated from the National University of Singapore and has more than 20 years’ experiences of working at international hotels. She is now the general manager of Nanjing Shangri-La Hotel, which is a wholly foreign-owned enterprise introduced by the Gulou District of Nanjing in 2010. Located at the center of Gulou District, it is on the beautiful riverside of Jinchuan River and now the 88th hotel under Shangri-La Group.
At the evening of a lovely autumn, you would enjoy a glimpse of the Purple Mountain and the Xuanwu Lake, a breathtaking scenery from the VIP Lounge on the 40th Floor of Shangri-La Hotel. As the sunset enshrouds the ancient capital with golden hue, Ms.Melinde Lim, the woman with success starts to open her heart by talking about Nanjing and her life.
In 2016, Ms. Melinde Lim was appointed to Nanjing by the Shangri-La Group to work at Nanjing Shangri-La Hotel. When she arrived in Nanjing, she encountered some inconvenience in local language and culture. Thanks to the help of Nanjing government providing great convenience to foreigners working in Nanjing, and supports from colleagues and friends, she gradually adapted to the life in Nanjing and eventually fell in love with Nanjing City.
Like other Nanjing citizens, Melinde Lim likes to go shopping in Xinjiekou after work. She feels that Xinjiekou is not only the top business circle in China, but also a world-class shopping and gourmet paradise. Diversified international brands and creative domestic products gather here, showing the fashion and leading element as an international metropolis. Xuanwu Lake is her favourite too. Walking around the lake surrounded by vast area of green and flowers gives her refreshment after a long day’s exhausting work. Various kinds of snacks on streets of Nanjing make her reluctant to leave as small wontons, big meat buns, and stinky tofu from Confucius Temple are her favorites. Melinde Lim said: “The longer you live in and are attached to Nanjing, the more you will like Nanjing.”
Now Melinde Lim has been accustomed to living in Nanjing. She is the first “Corporate River Chief” in Nanjing, and dedicates herself into the management of the maintenance of the main river-way of inner Jinchuan River, an important water conservancy and water road in Nanjing 600 years ago; she took an active part in international cooperation activities and was credited the honor being granted the first batch of “Zijin Friendship Ambassador of Nanjing Urban Internationalization”; with the theme of “Love in Nanjing”, she organized a charity luncheon for sanitation workers, who are the “beauty makers of the city”, who in her eyes deserve to be cared and supported; she participates in CSR activities with colleagues in Shangri-La Hotel with great passion, for she believes that a successful company is not only pursuing economic benefits, but also contributing to social well-being, including those who need help and encouragement.
“Nanjing enjoys 53 colleges and universities, among which are very renowned universities, including international and foreign language schools. This is the talentadvantage for promoting Nanjing city’s internationalization. “Ms. Melinde Lim knows some universities very well and she gains confidence about the graduates’ competitiveness in Nanjing from the students she has met from these universities.
Nanjing was the organizer of important international business events such as the Cross-Strait Entrepreneur Summit, Software Expo, and World Intelligent Manufacturing Conference. It has successfully hosted the Youth Olympic Games, World Roller Skating Championships, World Women’s Volleyball Grand Prix Finals, Nanjing Marathon, and Premier League Asian Cup. These international sports have attracted global attention. Shangri-La even participated in the Premier League Asian Cup in 2019. Melinde Lim regards that international exchange activities in the fields of sports, culture and industry are very helpful to enhance Nanjing’s international renown and reputation.
