In Qingdao, a coastal city in the Chinese mainland's Shandong Province, imagine sliding into your local government's DMs and getting a reply on the spot. Welcome to Hangfeng Online, the live hotline that's been empowering residents since 2004 🚀
Launched by the Qingdao municipal government and Qingdao Media Group, Hangfeng Online lets residents call in with questions or complaints, hear live responses from officials, and then see real follow-up action. It's simple, direct, and super effective.
According to Zhang Xiaolin, deputy director of the hotline supervision department at Qingdao Media Group, Hangfeng Online has 'built a bridge' between officials and the public, letting departments 'sit on the same bench with the public' to find solutions together.
One big win came in the West Coast New Area. After a housing complex suffered a year of power and water outages, little progress was made—until Hangfeng Online shone a spotlight on the issue. Local authorities jumped into action and fixed everything within weeks ⚡️
Hangfeng Online sparked a follow-up project in 2009: People's Livelihood Online. Partnering with Qingdao Daily, this online consultation column had 19 government departments go live and drew up to 250,000 participants on day one, boosting transparency and public participation.
In June, a session hosted by Qingdao's Chengyun Holding Group tackled transportation woes in the Xianjiazhai area after urban renewal. Residents spoke up, and to meet the needs of over 1,000 students and teachers from Tiankang School, they launched the No. 428 shuttle service—now students can snag an extra 10 minutes of sleep 😴
Hotline services like these are key steps the Chinese mainland is taking to strengthen grassroots governance and build a service-oriented government. As municipal deputy Zhang Ning notes, People's Livelihood Online harnesses the internet to capture public sentiment and brings whole-process people's democracy to life.
With Hangfeng Online and People's Livelihood Online, Qingdao shows how technology and talk can reshape citizen-government dialogue. So next time you spot an issue, remember: your voice can make waves 🌊
Reference(s):
How Chinese live hotline to local government has empowered citizens
cgtn.com
