City Unveils New Expat Web Portal, Needs Your Input!
Last September, Beijing’s municipal government launched a new WeChat and web-based service portal aimed at helping foreigners connect more closely with government services and the city they call home. Now, following extensive surveys administered with the help of the Beijinger, they’ve unveiled a new multilingual website – and they’re seeking your advice on how it runs.
The upgraded version of the International Web Portal of Beijing (https://english.beijing.gov.cn/) was officially unveiled on Mar 28. The website focuses on enhancing the development of a center for international exchanges in Beijing, offering information release, public services, and consultation and communication channels. It is available in nine languages, including English, Korean, Japanese, German, French, Russian, Spanish, Arabic, and Portuguese. Full-process online services for foreigners and foreign-funded enterprises are now provided on this one website.
[Video via BeijingService]
This time, the website has been optimized and upgraded with adherence to the principle of "Highlighting Beijing's charm, vitality, and opportunities while seamlessly integrating Beijing's services". The new website stays true to its service-oriented core, complemented by a presentation function, offering a variety of convenient urban services related to payments, transportation, education, lifestyles, and tourism, among others for foreign nationals including investors.
"Events Calendar" Takes You on a Magnificent Journey
With picturesque scenery marked by greenery and sunshine, spring is a season ideal for exploring the great outdoors. Wondering where to find dainty flowers in spring? Click on the "Events Calendar" section of the website, and you can get the relevant guide in no time. The section focuses on the city's exhibitions, performances, sports events, consumption options, tourist activities, and more, providing first-hand information for every foreigner to delve into Beijing.
"Discover Beijing" Presents You the Charm of This Metropolis
The upgraded website emphasizes cultural tourism, sustainable practices, technological innovations, and other themes, showcasing Beijing's progress and blending ancient and modern aspects elegantly. The section "My Story in Beijing" tells engaging tales of entrepreneurship, company growth, and personal experiences of working, living, studying, and traveling here, which truly records everyone's unforgettable experiences in this dynamic city.
"Opportunities of Beijing" Lets You Find Endless Possibilities
As an international metropolis, Beijing offers a first-class business environment with extensive growth avenues for all businesses. The upgraded website zeros in on Beijing's business environment, the construction of the "Two Zones", the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, industry exchanges, and other content, releasing information on economic development and advantages of investment, key industries and parks and launching guidance modules for foreign investment access in key industries such as finance and education. It also launches a spatial map of resources, which displays three major types of investment promotion projects in the city, including buildings, parks, and land in a visual and integrative manner, providing a layout of investment promotion, investment consulting, and other services, offering full-process guidelines for foreign-funded enterprises and investors keen on engaging with Beijing's diverse industries.
"12345 Hotline" Connects Beautiful Life
The new website highlights Beijing's "Golden Business Card", the hotline 12345. The special web page for the 12345 citizen hotline illustrates the seamless operation. Users can easily leave messages, lodge complaints, make inquiries, or share suggestions, which are then promptly addressed and resolved by authorities. This interactive process encourages active community engagement and ensures effective governance in the city.
Convenient Services Such as Payment, Transportation and Medical Care Can All Be Accessed Here
The new website is designed for scenario-based integrated services, enabling you to benefit from more digital services with your passport information. Based on thematic services such as investing, working, living, studying, traveling and consuming, the website features two series of instructive videos entitled "How Beijing" and "Service Guide for Foreigners in Beijing", providing more than 300 friendly service guidelines and online reservation and handling channels for over 50 high-frequency foreign-related items including accommodation registration and visa application. These components help all foreign nationals and foreign enterprises better experience this city, become part of it, and enjoy it.
"Policy Toolkit" Offers Services of Beijing
To enhance the accessibility and readability of policy-relevant information, the website newly launched the "Policy Interpretation" and "Investment Cases" sections with detailed interpretations of the essential points of policies and core provisions in hot fields such as the "Two Zones" (i.e. the Integrated National Demonstration Zone for Opening up the Services Sector and the China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone) and talent, through videos, animations, graphics and texts. It also set up the multi-functional "Policy Toolkit" to display policies of general concern for foreign-funded enterprises, such as investment access, financial support, industrial support and tax preference.
Convenient Services at Your Fingertips
"BeijingService", as the English-language WeChat official account of the International Web Portal of Beijing, caters to the diverse needs of foreign-funded enterprises and foreigners in Beijing. Offering concise, timely, convenient, high-quality and accurate mobile services, this WeChat official account aims to make your life better in Beijing through your access to the International Web Portal of Beijing as a digital, international online service platform, as well as its WeChat official account, in a more efficient manner.
The brand-new International Web Portal of Beijing hereby invites you to take a new interactive journey. Here, you can access one-stop consultation services concerning investment, entrepreneurship, preferential policies for enterprises, etc., and thereby benefit from the city's world-class business environment. Through this website, you will also become part of a community of like-minded individuals and grow and excel with others...Visit the upgraded version of the International Web Portal of Beijing and discover the latest and most beautiful offerings the city has for you!
Images courtesy of the Govt of Beijing Municipality
