Enhancing executive efficiency remains one of the priorities of east China’s Zhejiang Province, a coastal economic powerhouse. Over the past decade, it has launched a series of reforms to improve government performance and to better serve businesses and residents.
The government service app Zheliban is showcased at a conference in Hangzhou on September 25, 2019.
Reforming Government Service
In 2014, Zhejiang announced a reform to streamline administrative processes and delegate power. The Zhejiang Government Service Network, which was opened subsequently, is China’s first online government service platform integrating services at the provincial, municipal, and county levels. The mobile application version of the platform, launched later in the same year, now has over 120 million users and receives more than 3 million visits daily.
In 2019, Zhejiang implemented its “One Visit At Most” reform, with services for administrative licensing, administrative penalty, collection of administrative fees and others done in one go. The reform has also established collaboration between departments for various reviews, checks and supervision. The reform has also led to services such as online consultation, online processing, and express delivery of certificates and licenses.
In 2021, Zhejiang initiated digitalization, integrating data flow with decision-making, execution, and business processes.
Since 2023, the province has been implementing an important project to optimize the business environment by improving government services. Thanks to it, Zhejiang has been rated as the province with the best business environment by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce for four consecutive years.
One Visit to Zero Visit
Zhejiang has restructured and streamlined government procedures so that people don’t need to go to government offices again and again. Data digitalization plays a major part in this reform.
In 2017, Zhejiang implemented a policy that all documents, certificates, photos and other electronic materials with reliable electronic seals that have been processed and archived by the Zhejiang Government Service Network have the same legal validity as paper documents.
Local governments across Zhejiang have also rolled out measures to upgrade administrative procedures. Jiangbei, a district in Ningbo City, has addressed complaints by private enterprises regarding shareholder information changes and real-name authentication. Lucheng, a district in Wenzhou City, has facilitated the enrollment of migrant workers’ children in local public schools. Pujiang, a county in Jinhua, has reduced the requirements for the registration of changed property right certificates.
“Today, people don’t even need to go to a government office to complete various procedures for their children’s birth registration,” said a resident of Yiwu City. She said last year she used the government-service app to apply for various certificates and registrations for her child, including birth certificate, household registration, medical insurance registration and the medical insurance card. “I made an error in the information for the birth certificate and a staff member found it and immediately called me,” she said, showing her application, which indicated that all application items were completed on the same day. “The certificates and documents were couriered to me,” she added.
Today, when you open the “One Visit At Most Task List” on the Zhejiang Government Service Network, you can see that the vast majority of the tasks are now marked “zero visit.”
A woman swipes her ID to enter the Future Government Services Hall, which provides online government services, in Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, on April 26, 2023.
Value-Added Government Services
Value-added government services reform has been achieved by integrating resources from the government, society, and market to solve the difficulties of businesses and industries.
In 2023, Zhejiang issued a guideline on its pilot program for value-added government services reform. The pilots were launched in seven localities. In February 2024, Zhejiang released another guideline proposing to continue improving the business environment and upgrading government services to value-added services.
Xu Wenguang, vice governor of Zhejiang, later elaborated on the focuses of the value-added government services reform at a press conference.
Local governments are establishing one-stop service centers where enterprises can not only receive basic government services like approvals, but also personalized services. For example, those wanting to open a restaurant can receive essential government services like registration and seal application in one visit. They are also provided with a dozen additional services such as location selection and fire safety guidance.
Digitalization is another driver of the reform. Zhejiang has created an online “policy calculator” that automatically pushes business-friendly policies to businesses in a targeted manner. In 2023, RMB 71.2 billion was earmarked in reward and subsidy funds to business entities province-wide and more than RMB 330 billion of taxes were reduced for businesses.
Zhejiang has also established a high-efficiency closed-loop solution mechanism for the issues enterprises face by classifying them into different types. This mechanism shifts the reliance on personal connections to an institutional arrangement in government-business interactions.
With a focus on key areas such as bidding, agent services, intellectual property protection, and government-business interactions, Zhejiang has implemented initiatives to address institutional and systemic barriers.
“One Visit” is considered one of Zhejiang’s landmark initiatives, a crucial breakthrough in provincial reforms and a prime example for other provinces. 
CHEN HUIXI & LIU NIAN are reporters with China Development and Reform News.
