Category Archives: Society

Hangzhou will implement the new basic public service standard next month

Hangzhou Basic Public Service Standard (2022) (hereinafter referred to as Hangzhou Standard) has been issued recently and is expected to be implemented from September 1, 2022. It is the first time that Hangzhou defines the contents and scopes of basic public services of the city in form of standards.

Hangzhou Standard sets out the standard for subsistence allowance for people in difficulty and proposes the specific service contents and standards in respects of social assistance, assistance to people with disabilities, welfare for the elderly and children, and funerals for residents.

In term of social assistance service, subsidies will be offered to people with minimum living allowance, destitute individuals and people entitled to temporary aid. In term of the disabled assistance services, a subsidy of 30% of local standard for the subsistence allowance will be provided for impaired citizens in difficulty. In addition, a nursing subsidy or a subsistence allowance will be given to the severely disabled based on the levels of disability.

Besides, various types of aids and protections will be provided for children in need. Qualified seniors may enjoy a series of home-based elderly care services as well as medical treatment and health care integrated services. Senior citizens of 80 years old are entitled to old-age allowance. Moreover, basic funeral services, including remains transportation and cremation services, are provided free of charge after death of urban and rural residents. A subsidy will be provided for ecological burial at the cemetery, and a reward of 2,000 yuan will be granted to those who do not retain their ashes.

Bumpy Liuhe Road is upgraded to the smooth and broad one in Hangzhou

The once bumpy and crammed Liuhe Road, which is the only main east-west road running through Xiaoheshan Higher Education Park in West Hangzhou, has been rebuilt into the two-way six-lane road to facilitate citizens’ smooth travel.

Non-motor vehicle parking lots, bus stations and temporary parking spaces are offered near the metro stations along Liuhe Road to facilitate seamless connection of metro lines and buses or other supporting transportation. In addition to the renovation and upgrading of the main driveway, the greenway along the Liuhe Road has also been open to the public.

Zhejiang accelerates construction of affordable rental housing

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The reporter recently learned from the Provincial Construction Department that in the first half of the year, our province has raised 319,000 sets (rooms) of affordable rental housing, and completed the annual target of 300,000 sets (rooms) ahead of schedule.

Among the 319,000 sets (rooms) of affordable rental housing, there are about 146,000 sets (rooms) of newly-built projects and about 173,000 sets (rooms) of conversion and renovation projects. According to reports, there are three main channels for affordable rental housing: new construction, reconstruction and transformation. The state encourages and supports local use of existing land for new construction, renovation of existing housing, and conversion of market housing.

From a regional perspective, Hangzhou has the largest amount of construction, about 62,000 units (rooms), Ningbo and Jinhua have raised more than 50,000 units (rooms), and Wenzhou and Jiaxing exceed 40,000 units (rooms). It is worth noting that the housing construction in Ningbo, Wenzhou, Jinhua and Zhoushan has exceeded the annual plan.

In June last year, the State Council proposed to accelerate the development of affordable rental housing. With the concept of “Everyone has a place to live in”, Zhejiang takes the construction of affordable rental housing as a key part of people’s wellbeing, aiming to gradually solve the housing problem of groups with difficulties, and offering great support for affordable rental housing construction. “We must make good use of the land policy, and plan give priority to the land use for affordable rental housing,” the head of the Housing Security Department of the Provincial Construction Department said. In 2022, the province plans to supply 3,768 mu of land for affordable rental housing. At present, the province’s affordable rental housing projects have obtained a total of 53 financing credits and 15.3 billion yuan in loan credits.

The early completion of annual tasks does not imply that construction will slow down. The goal of our province is to provide 1.2 million sets (rooms) of affordable rental housing during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, which means that the construction will continue to accelerate in the future.

Some ramps of Hangzhou Zhonghe Flyover are open to traffic today

Starting from 10:00 am on August 10, five interchange ramps of Zhonghe Flyover situated at the center of Hangzhou opened for trial run as the expansion and renovation project of the flyover came to a close. The old flyover will continue to function as the transportation interchange hub of downtown Hangzhou.

Zhonghe Flyover has been the central node of south-north traffic axis in downtown Hangzhou. Five interchange ramps that opened this time were east-to-south on-ramp, north-to-east off-ramp, north-to-west off-ramp, south-to-east off-ramp, and south-to-west off-ramp.

Charity freezer warms the hearts of Hangzhou residents

Passersby get free drinks from the freezer.

A charity freezer placed on a street in Lin’an district, Hangzhou recently went viral online as a livestream focusing on it gained over 12 million views, Hangzhou Daily reported.

Netizens were touched by passersby getting a free icy drink from a freezer on the dog days of summer while returning to donate boxes of free drinks, watermelons, and ice creams.

“I never expected that the freezer would one day become popular and get so many generous donations,” said Shi Jun, who came up with the idea for the charity freezer.

“I was inspired by my parents, who were once sanitation workers, and use the freezer to help people who have to work outdoors on scorching days,” Shi added.

A deliveryman gets a free drink from the freezer.

Her idea was put into practice in 2020, when she had to ask for donations from her friends. But the freezer wasn’t monitored and people stole drinks from it at night.

But Shi never considered giving up and her freezer became increasingly well-known.

Everything changed when a livestream was organized by local media on Aug 1. People around the world learned about the freezer and donated numerous drinks.

“I never thought that charity work required a lot of donations. I’m not that rich but can afford to donate some water,” Shi said. “The details I saw on the monitor made me feel that what I’m doing is worthwhile.”

A local resident donates bottles of water to the freezer.

Hangzhou patents won two gold, one silver and seventeen excellence awards

Twenty patents of Hangzhou have recently won two China Patent Gold Awards, one China Appearance Design Silver Award, and seventeen China Patent Excellence Awards.

China Patent Award is the only award specially granted by the state-level government department to patented invention and creations and is the highest-ranking patent award in China. What are two patents that have won the gold award?

One patent has realized highly reliable and low-latency transmission of multi-channel real-time media streams and efficient scheduling of edge cache. The patent has been applied in a great number of video surveillance projects around the world.

The other patent has made a breakthrough in online dioxin monitoring technology from “0” to “1”, and promoted the scientific and technological innovation of air pollutant monitoring. It is identified as the first set in the world that has reached the international leading level on the whole.

The Hypergravity Laboratory and Hangzhouxi Station witness the growth of Yuncheng

Hangzhouxi Station, the west wing of Hangzhou railway hub, will be put into use soon since Huzhou-Hangzhou Section of Hefei-Hangzhou High-speed Rail entered trial operation. Centered on Hangzhouxi Station, a fabulous metropolis hailed as Yuncheng has gradually taken shape as the urban construction surrounding the station, from industry to residential houses and transportation, progresses in the wake of station construction.

Construction Site of the Hypergravity Laboratory

Hangzhouxi Station Hub

Creative industry has also taken shape in Yuncheng. The Hypergravity Laboratory, a national key project, is in the progress of main engine rooms and upper structure construction and is expected to be completed and put into use in 2024.

The construction of Yuncheng progressed despite COVID-19 pandemic due to the joint efforts of young officials and the construction team. In the future, Yuncheng will become the new driving force of the greater corridor in promoting the industrial upgrading and economic development based on the sci-tech innovation and breakthrough.

These districts in Hangzhou have launched different tactics for attracting talents

In order to become “a pacesetter in talent recruitment with aggregation of 100 top global talents, 1,000 leading talents and 1 million college students to start a business in Hangzhou”, all districts and counties of Hangzhou have introduced talent policies to provide more jobs, unleash development potential and safeguard the wellbeing of talents.

Shangcheng District provides the 7-day free apartments for college graduates hunting jobs and entrepreneurs negotiating business in the district; Gongshu District is dedicated to introducing major enterprises to attract high-tech talents; Binjiang District adjusts the market recognition mechanism for recruiting talents and focuses more on individual ability than on academic degree; Qiantang District issues differentiated house purchasing policy for district-level talents, with quota of house purchase increased to 20%.

Zhejiang Province is deepening the construction of digital government

On August 4, the Information Office of the Provincial Government held a press conference on the Opinions of the People’s Government of Zhejiang Province on the Implementation of Deepening the Construction of Digital Government (hereinafter referred to as the Implementation Opinions). The relevant person in charge of the General Office of the Provincial Government released and interpreted the relevant situation of the Implementation Opinions. At the press conference, relevant representatives from the Social Construction Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial Economic and Information Department, the Provincial Market regulation Administration, and the Provincial Big Data Bureau answered questions from reporters.

Zhejiang is the forerunner of digital government construction. In recent years, this province has continued to promote “four lists and one network,” “matters requiring presence in person being done without the need for a second trip,” and government digital transformation and digital reform, to use digital technology to comprehensively and systematically reshape government governance methods, processes, means, and tools. As a result, the “four pillars and eight posts” of digital government have been basically built, the integrated government services and supervision efficiency have been greatly improved, and the effectiveness of digital governance has continued to emerge, forming a first-mover advantage in the construction of digital government.

The Implementation Opinions was officially issued on July 30. It is a specific measure for Zhejiang Province to study and implement the major decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council to strengthen the construction of digital government. The guiding document for building a highland for digital transformation has an important guiding role in and practical significance for promoting the construction of digital government in the province to continue to be at the forefront and take the lead in building a modern government that the people are satisfied with.

The Implementation Opinions is divided into seven parts, including general requirements, digital reform to help transform government functions, digital government construction to promote the development of digital Zhejiang, construction of a “platform plus brain” support system, construction of a digital government all-round security system, building the theory and system of digital government construction, and comprehensively strengthening the Party’s leadership over the construction of digital government.

The Implementation Opinions clarifies the two-stage goals of the construction of digital government in the province: to achieve full digital coverage of the core businesses of the government’s performance of duties, to basically complete the construction of  “a province of mobile government services,” “a province of mobile office,” and “a province of mobile governance,” to significantly improve the modernization level of the government governance system and governance capacity, and to help realize the “two pioneering moves” with the actual effect of digital government, by the end of 2025; to built a high-level modern government with “overall intelligent governance” to provide a strong impetus and legal guarantee for the basic realization of high-level modernization and common prosperity by 2035.

According to reports, the Implementation Opinions highlights the requirements of being people-centered, embodying Zhejiang’s characteristics, and being operational and feasible, and the implementation of the tasks specified in the State Council’s Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of Digital Governments one by one in the major reform tasks and major applications of digitalization of the digital government in the province. It focuses on creating characteristic practical achievements with Zhejiang recognition and national influence, putting forward implementation measures according to local conditions in the province, emphasizing the use of digital concepts, technologies, and means to solve “urgent, difficult, and worrying” problems for people and enterprises, and creating a digital service system that is ubiquitous, accessible, smart, convenient, fair, and inclusive.