365-day services for Dalian residents

In a house in Xigang district of Dalian, Liaoning province, 59-year-old Duan Jianping plays violin with accompaniment by 72-year-old pianist Ge Dingbang.

The two met in 2013, when Duan helped Ge fix an electrical problem at his home.

Duan works for Dalian's 365-day Service Center, which provides services to local residents. The center is a social project established by the Dalian government to provide services to residents and can be reached by calling 0411-8365-8365.

"I can contact the service center whenever I have difficulties," Ge said. His son lives in Norway and his daughter is in Beijing. Ge is from Benxi, Liaoning province, and has no friends or relatives in Dalian.

"My wife and I are not in good health. We were concerned about who we could contact if we had a problem," Ge said.

"Now we know we can get help from the service center. I have told my children that my emergency contact person is Duan," Ge said.

7-day service

The 365 Citizen Building, on East Shengli Rd, Xigang district, is the headquarters office of the 365-day Service Center. The center started operation on April 19, 2012. The service hotline number, which can be reached year-round, is printed clearly on the wall.

The hotline offers advice in different fields, such as parking information and related taxation, pest control, application advice for elders' privilege cards and household registration.

"Our principle is to provide people with the required services and satisfy them," said Wu Jihua, secretary of the Party committee of Xigang district, which oversees the service.

The 365-day Service System has nine information collection channels that include phones, the Internet and onsite visits. All the information collected is put into a database so the related records can be tracked step by step.

"By using big data analysis, we can figure out the problems that most concern local residents and respond in an effective and efficient manner," Wu said.

In the past few years, Dalian has invested heavily in building an effective city management mechanism and the 365 Service System is part of that.

Tang Jun, Dalian's Party secretary, said Dalian aims to build a system which can provide comprehensive services at the community, county, district and city levels.

The city has built service brands in districts including the Bangwanjia Service Center, providing daily service to families in the district of Shahekou, and the 365 Service Center in Xigang district.

Listening to locals

Browsing Dalian's online service platform at www.dlminyi.com has become a must for Dalian resident Wang Tongde every day since he first visited the website in 2012.

He said he is proud to give suggestions on the website that can benefit others.

Tang said the platform supports communication between the Party, the government and residents, while also promoting social harmony and stability and boosting economic development.

Wang once lived in the center of Dalian then moved to the remote Pao'ai region. He found it difficult to go to the city center because public transport was not convenient for him. He left a message on the website calling the authorities to provide more bus and increase the service frequency.

Wang received feedback quickly from the Dalian transportation administrative department and was invited to participate in an investigation to solve the bus issues.

The problem was solved in a week, benefiting tens of thousands of locals in the Pao'ai region.

"This platform allows ordinary people to communicate with authorities directly and increases efficiency. I hope it can do better to serve more," Wang said.

Since it went into operation in December 2011, the website has received more than 110,000 suggestions and almost 99 percent of those have received responses. Statistics show more than 20,000 people browse the website daily and more than 30 million people have visited since 2011.

Refurbishing properties

Since 2013, the local government has launched a Warm Home Project to help local residents refurbish their aging properties. The project helps residents replace windows, add insulation within walls and paint the walls with waterproof materials.

The Dalian government said the project will benefit 100,000 families and refurbish more than 6 million square meters of properties by its completion in 2015.

Wang Xiaoming, a 51-year-old, lives in Linmao Community, which was built in 1989. Before the refurbishing project, her family had to wear down jackets at home in winter.

"This project makes our community more beautiful. More importantly, my room temperature increased at least 5 degrees to 19 C this winter. The government did a great service," said Wang.

Contact the writers through zhuchengpei@chinadaily.com.cn and zhangxiaomin@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 03/06/2015 page10)