How a Shanghai cafe is helping autistic teens integrate with society

A Shanghai cafe that helps young people with autism is up and running again after it was forced to move because of a problem with its premises – and its eight baristas and waiters couldn’t wait to get back to work.

The cafe first opened in early April in Jingan Park, offering what is believed to be China’s first such programme to help autistic youngsters improve their communication skills.

But a month later, the landlord told the charity running A-Coffee that they could not operate a food business from the location because it was not possible to get the licence needed for the premises.

“In just that one month, our autistic staff made great progress with their language and communicating with people. So we thought it was worthwhile trying to carry on with this project to help them improve their skills,” said Cao Xiaoxia, founder of charity Shanghai Angels Salon, which runs the cafe and helps autistic children through music education.

The charity managed to find a new central location for its project and the cafe reopened on Friday in a youth centre, where it will serve up coffee for four hours every weekday from 11am.