Yi Ran (center), the head of the Longzeyuan Community Residents' Committee in Huitian area,  Changping District, Beijing,  participates in a walking event  organized by the committee in May 2023 (XINHUA) 

In Beijing's bustling northern district of Changping, Huitian, an acronym for Huilongguan and Tiantongyuan, is recognized as one of Asia's largest residential areas, home to about 860,000 people. Once known as a "dormitory town" due to its large population of commuters and lack of local industries, the area is undergoing a revolution in community governance.

In 1998, the Beijing Municipal Government designated Huilongguan and Tiantongyuan as new sites for affordable housing, attracting many to move there from the downtown areas as well as many newcomers to Beijing. However, the newly built mega-community initially lacked essential amenities. The lack of healthcare and educational facilities prompted many to relocate as soon as their financial situation allowed.

Yi Ran is one of Huitian's earliest settlers, moving to the Longzeyuan residential neighborhood in Huilongguan in 2001, when local basic utilities and infrastructure still fell short of residents' needs. She told Beijing Review that she even hesitated to invite friends over at that time due to the traffic congestion and the absence of nearby restaurants.

In the summer of 2018, the Beijing Municipal Government released the Three-Year Action Plan for Optimizing and Enhancing Public Services and Infrastructure in the Huilongguan and Tiantongyuan Areas (2018-20). Known as the Huitian Plan, its priorities included alleviating traffic congestion, enhancing municipal infrastructure capacity, meeting the growing demand for schools and kindergartens, and addressing the shortcomings in public services such as healthcare, culture and sports within three years.

The document outlined 117 specific projects. Yi remarked that from this point onward, the lives of the residents significantly improved.

The year 2018 was also the third year Yi held the role as the head of the Longzeyuan community's residents' committee.

"I thought it would be a relaxing position before I took it up," Yi said, adding that she gave up her previous high-paying job solely in hopes of having more time to fulfill her desire to travel. "But once I became a community worker, I found it was quite time-consuming."

According to the Huitian Plan, residents' committees play a crucial role as intermediaries between local authorities and residents in community management. At the same time, these committees serve as hubs for collecting public opinion and conveying resident needs and suggestions to the government to make related policies more relevant.

Residents' committees are mass organizations for self-government at the grassroots level, according to the Organic Law of the Urban Residents' Committees of China. Members of a residents' committee shall be elected by all residents of the residential area who have the right to vote, household representatives or representatives of resident groups, with a term of five years. The funds needed for a residents' committee to manage public welfare affairs in the residential area is raised from residents on a voluntary basis, or from the beneficiaries in the residential area. The committee's daily operation is funded by the government.

The bicycle lane in Huitian area on April 17. This lane,  the first of its kind in Beijing, has greatly alleviated traffic congestion in the area during the morning rush hour (XINHUA)

For Longzeyuan's nearly 6,800 residents, the residents' committee is the first point of contact for addressing everyday issues, highlighting the critical role of community workers in facilitating local governance. In addition to managing local affairs and connecting residents with the government, protecting residents' rights and promoting community harmony are also core missions of the committee members.

Yi said residents' committee members must understand government policies well and be able to apply them effectively in various scenarios. "I need to find many different ways to fully utilize policy opportunities. It may seem simple, but it requires holding discussions and consultations to gain residents' approval. I need to spend public funds wisely when I have the budget and make sure the residents feel the benefits," she noted.

The work of the residents' committee indeed demonstrates how China's full-process people's democracy is practiced at the grassroots level, according to Yi. "Why involve the public in everything? Because in democracy, participation is crucial. The key is to stimulate their interest in participating," she said. "Only by making actual improvements can we call for more participation and nurture a sense of belonging."

"Residents have the right to be informed, to participate and to vote from start to finish," she added. "When everything is open and transparent, it encourages active involvement."

Over the years, the Huitian Plan has fostered a sense of community and cooperation among residents in the area. More than 1,265 consultation meetings have been held, covering 667 issues and resolving 608, with ongoing efforts to address remaining challenges. This grassroots governance model underscores the importance of resident participation in shaping their community.

Yi's community stewardship experience is being promoted throughout the city by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform. Now, more community stewardship cases and initiatives are emerging across various districts in Beijing.

The Cultural and Art Center Library in Huilongguan Sports and Cultural Park, a large public  facility in Huitian area on October 16. The park was repurposed from a wholesale market (XINHUA) 

Systematic development

Beijing's district governments have been exploring new methods of social governance by diversifying participation to pool efforts and resources of residents, communities, property managers and local authorities, in hopes of tackling the problems caused by insufficient capacity among community workers and a lack of deep community engagement.

In 2019, the capital city deepened its social governance reforms to see to it that problems reported by communities are transferred directly to the government departments concerned for the swiftest possible resolution. The focus was on establishing and improving the emergency mechanisms for grassroots governance, the response mechanisms for public service, and the last-mile mechanisms for government policy implementation.

In September 2021, Beijing introduced the regulations for handling public complaints. The goal of these regulations is to establish a more efficient, streamlined and law-based mechanism for addressing issues of public concern and providing public services.

The Jinyu Guoji community in Huitian, a mixed-use area with 1,649 households and an adjacent commercial district, exemplifies the challenges and opportunities of managing diverse urban populations. According to Chen Dongyan, the head of the community's residents' committee, this diversity enriches the community with a wealth of ideas and perspectives.

In 2023, a pressing issue arose when over 60 households experienced roof leaks during a summer rainstorm. Initial disputes between residents and the property management company highlighted the need for a collaborative approach. By involving developers, contractors, legal consultants and local government representatives, the residents' community facilitated a multi-party agreement to repair the roofs. This swift resolution not only addressed the problem but also resulted in zero complaints through the 12345 hotline, a key indicator of public service effectiveness. The hotline, a round-the-clock service that handles daily inquiries and urgent complaints, has become a major channel for resolving issues raised by residents and businesses in Beijing.

The predecessor of 12345 is the mayor's hotline launched in 1987. In 2019, Beijing integrated multiple departmental hotlines into a single non-emergency assistance hotline, 12345, in a bid to enhance the city government's ability to respond swiftly and effectively to the concerns of citizens and businesses alike.

Residents play table tennis at the Fitness Center in Huilongguan Sports and Cultural Park on October 16 (XINHUA) 

From January 2019 to June 2024, the hotline handled over 141 million cases. Its complaint rate has now become an assessment metric for the performance of communities and public service institutions. These institutions all hope to communicate directly with those they serve, and even actively solicit feedback on problems, solving issues promptly before stakeholders resort to calling 12345.

The second round of the Huitian Plan (2021-25) aims to improve the On-the-Spot Complaint Handling mechanism, promote initiatives such as 12345 Service in Community, which encourages communities to address residents' concerns the way the 12345 hotline does, and strengthen the mechanism for the leaders of grassroots Communist Party of China (CPC) organizations to increase face-to-face contact when serving the public.

Some may wonder what role CPC members play in social governance. China's success in economic and social development can be attributed to the strong leadership of the CPC, which has galvanized a powerful force by inspiring the people to work together, Lin Shangli, President of Renmin University of China, wrote in Qiushi Journal, a theoretical publication of the CPC Central Committee. The most effective means of rallying the people and harnessing their strength has been to support and guarantee their efforts to participate in the running of the country, he added.

"The Mass Line is a key concept for how the Party works with and for the people, or 'masses' in Marxist terminology," Josef Gregory Mahoney, a professor of politics and international relations at East China Normal University, told Beijing Review. "In keeping with this strategy, the Party makes its policies by pooling the people's ideas. It uses this wisdom to formulate policies and then works together with the people to implement them. This cycle is repeated continuously, including modifying policies based on the people's feedback and evaluations and changing conditions."

"As a residents' committee head and a CPC member, I am essentially conveying government policies that benefit the people and embody the spirit of public service. If I do my job well, the residents will trust the Party and the government," Yi said.