A man manages his transportation affairs at a public service counter in Hangzhou. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

Editor's Note: Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the successive leadership of Zhejiang provincial Party committees, the people of Zhejiang have brought about earthshaking changes through innovation and hard work. These changes consist of many stories of people across different eras from different places, but they all reflect the rapid development of the economy, improvement of people's livelihood, progress of the times, and the achievements of Zhejiang under the CPC's leadership. This is the story of digital reform in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province.

As COVID-19 swept across China in early 2020, the Hangzhou government launched the Qinqing Online digital platform to help enterprises and employees weather the epidemic in a timely and non-face-to-face manner. The platform was recognized as an important achievement of Zhejiang's digital transformation.

Qinqing Online's successful launch was a result of Hangzhou's years of efforts on the City Brain system. It was initiated in 2016 to help alleviate traffic congestion and has gradually expanded its role in urban governance and solving service difficulties through the use of big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence.

By optimizing process flows of policies and services, Qinqing Online provides a platform for direct interactions between government departments and enterprises with improved service delivery.

This is realized by optimizing the entire service process. For example, when enterprises are applying for rental subsidies for their employees, the platform enables them to manage their affairs with a "zero materials, zero approvals, and instant cash-out" model that reduces the amount of time needed from two months to just a few seconds.

A man surnamed Zhou shows his seven-year-old son's ID card on April 1. Residents of Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Taizhou, and Shaoxing who are applying for identity cards for the first time can complete the process at any police station in Zhejiang without having to return to the location of their household registration. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

Qinqing Online has explored a new way of harnessing digital technology by breaking down data barriers and improving data collaboration and governance. Statistics show that the platform has integrated over 300 kinds of services offered by 53 government departments from 14 districts, counties, and county-level city in taxation, human resources, and housing management. They have in total handled 1.16 million cash transactions and 3.25 million service items.

Qinqing Online also excelled in cutting the red tape for administrative examinations and approvals and setting up a public credit information platform that can fully apply enterprises' credit commitments, as well as credit rewards and punishments.

Qinqing Online has proved to be a successful exploration of modern governance and Hangzhou will continue pursuing digital reform in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period.