As cities around the world continue to grow and become even more densely populated,
hot lines for residents to contact authorities about public concerns and complaints have become ever more important to achieve effective governance.
In 2019, Beijing implemented the 1-3-4-5 hotline,
merging 64 previous hotlines into a single channel and so far people are giving it a thumbs up with a 97% satisfaction rate.
So how does the service work?
How does it compare with other similar hotlines in mega cities around the world?
And how do hotlines like this help make cities more enjoyable to live in here in China?
Welcome to this special edition of The Point with me, Liu Xin, coming to you from Beijing.
I'm pleased to be joined today by Xia Lu,
research fellow at the National Academy of Development and Strategies at Remy University of China.
Zun Ahmed Han, senior fellow at the Center for China and Globalization.
She's from Pakistan.
Rafael Enrique Zabeto, a Brazilian foreign expert at China International Communications Group and Wang Xiaohan,
a student at the University of Nott and Ningbo, China, who has first-hand experience using such a hotline.
The warmest welcome to all of you.
Now, a bit of a background to this hotline.
It actually originated from the Beijing's Mayors hotline service dating back to 1987,
for the purpose, of course, of calling in public concerns.
Back then, it only had three operators with one phone number,
and the number 12345 was first launched in Hangzhou in southern China in 1999, and then the following year in Beijing.