How Beijing's 12345 forum is reshaping global conversations on urban governance

About a week ago, at around midnight, I was jolted awake by a loud noise. Living next to railway tracks, I am no stranger to the occasional rumble. But this one was loud enough to wake me even with earplugs in. So I called the only number I knew could help: the hotline for swift response to public complaints, 12345.

The operator politely confirmed my location and told me that someone would get back to me within a few minutes. Five minutes later, I received a call. I was told that urgent maintenance work was being carried out on the railway tracks and was given an estimate of how much longer it would continue. And, almost like clockwork, the noise stopped when the stated time was up. I went back to sleep, but the experience stayed with me. Not simply because my immediate problem had been addressed, but because of the system behind that seemingly ordinary phone call.

So I decided to take a deeper look at how a city of more than 20 million people turns individual complaints, questions and requests into concrete government action. And what does a hotline reveal about the way a city approaches governance?

From the mayor's hotline to a citywide governance platform

China's government hotlines have a history stretching back several decades. Some cities began introducing services known as "Mayor's Hotlines" in the 1980s, giving residents a direct channel to raise concerns with local authorities. Over time, cities developed and consolidated their public-service hotlines, with 12345 becoming the unified number for non-emergency government services.

In Beijing, the hotline has evolved into something much larger than a telephone service. The city's "Swift Response to Public Complaints" mechanism, launched in 2019, places 12345 at the center of a broader governance system designed around rapid response, efficient handling, timely feedback and, increasingly, proactive problem-solving.

The scale of Beijing's 12345 system is striking.

Over the seven years since the launch of the reform in 2019, the platform has handled approximately 200 million requests, including inquiries, complaints, requests for assistance and suggestions.

According to the municipal government's 2025 Annual Data Analysis Report, the hotline handled 25.802 million requests from residents and businesses in 2025, a 6.6% increase from the previous year. That amounts to approximately 70,700 requests a day.

This is where the principle often summarized as "the street whistles, the department responds" becomes more than a slogan. It reflects an effort to connect residents' concerns with the government departments responsible for addressing them, without requiring residents to navigate the administrative structure themselves.

Sharing experiences, exploring solutions

As cities expand and urban life becomes increasingly complex, the relationship between residents and local governments also changes. Issues such as housing, transport, employment, consumer protection and access to public services often require coordination across multiple departments and levels of administration.

A single point of contact offers residents a way to navigate that complexity. But can the experience of a city such as Beijing offer useful insights for other urban centers facing similar challenges?

There is no universal model that can be transferred unchanged from one city to another. Administrative systems, political institutions, public-service responsibilities and channels for citizen participation differ widely. Yet the underlying challenge is widely shared: ensuring that residents have accessible ways to raise concerns and that those concerns lead to an appropriate response.

Beijing has sought to share its experience beyond China through the Forum on Swift Response to Public Complaints, first held in 2024.

Held under the core concept of "People's City, Better Life," this year's forum, taking place on October 12 and 13, brings discussions on urban governance closer to residents by extending exchanges into communities and frontline governance settings.

More than 3,200 participants are attending, including over 240 international guests from more than 70 countries and regions. The forum will release a series of research findings, including theoretical studies on the "Swift Response" reform, evaluation reports on the service and governance effectiveness of city hotlines in China and around the world, and a collection of exemplary cases in global urban governance.

Ahead of the forum, journalists and media representatives from the Global South visited the Beijing Citizen Hotline Service Center to learn firsthand how the system operates and how digital and intelligent technologies are being applied to public services.

I spoke with three visiting journalists from Hungary, North Macedonia and Namibia to hear what stood out to them and which aspects of Beijing's approach they thought might be relevant to their own countries.

Mihaly Zsiros, a Hungarian TV host and reporter who had been in Beijing for just over a month, said he had first learned about the 12345 hotline at the forum and considered the concept particularly useful for a megacity of Beijing's size.

Budapest, Hungary's capital, has fewer than 2 million residents, he noted, compared with Beijing's population of more than 20 million. Although Hungary has dedicated emergency services accessible through 112, Zsiros saw value in having a separate channel for non-emergency public inquiries and complaints.

He explained that people sometimes contact emergency operators about matters that do not require urgent intervention, potentially taking up their time when others need immediate assistance.

"I do think it's a great idea," Zsiros said, suggesting that a dedicated channel for non-emergency public inquiries and complaints could be useful in Hungary and other countries. Separating non-emergency inquiries from emergency calls, he argued, could help ensure that emergency operators remain available to focus on urgent cases.

For Valon Salai, a journalist and TV host from North Macedonia, the most striking aspect was the opportunity for residents to have their concerns heard by the government.

Salai said he was learning about Beijing's 12345 hotline for the first time. In North Macedonia, residents can contact their respective municipalities through local telephone numbers or visit municipal offices in person to raise concerns. However, he explained, the arrangements are decentralized, and municipal contact numbers do not always function effectively.

"What really impressed me was that [residents] have the opportunity to be heard by government," he said, referring to Beijing's population of more than 20 million.

Drawing a comparison with smaller municipalities in North Macedonia, he said residents' concerns could sometimes take considerable time to address, even when they were brought to the attention of local authorities.

Salai also cautioned that establishing a system on the scale of Beijing's would require substantial commitment and investment.

"For these things to happen, it's needed [for] the whole government to take [them] seriously and to take action," he said.

Rosa Shikoha, a senior producer in the News and Current Affairs department of the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation, said she had researched Beijing's 12345 hotline before visiting China, but the forum had given her a clearer understanding of how it operates.

She described the approach as impressive and said it illustrated China's emphasis on people-centered urban development.

Namibia also has channels through which residents can raise public-service concerns, Shikoha explained. Municipal councils provide help desks for inquiries, while the capital, Windhoek, has separate contact points for municipal matters and city-police services. Emergency services and other public functions are organized separately rather than through a single centralized hub.

For Shikoha, one of the most relevant aspects of Beijing's model was its use of technology to support frontline staff.

"What I think we would like to incorporate is the digital technological aspect of it," she said, noting that Namibia does not currently use AI to support staff in the same way she had observed in Beijing.

She suggested that technology could help reduce employees' workloads, improve efficiency and enable public services to respond to residents more quickly. Digital tools, she added, could streamline operations and make it easier for people to receive timely responses.

The three journalists approached Beijing's system from different perspectives: separating emergency calls from non-emergency requests, ensuring that residents' concerns reach government, and using technology to improve public-service delivery. Their observations point to a broader consideration for cities interested in similar approaches: the technology and administrative structures may differ, but an effective complaint-handling system requires accessible channels, clear responsibilities and a commitment to follow through.

Beyond the hotline

For Beijing, the challenge extends beyond receiving complaints and responding to them. The aim is increasingly to use the information generated by millions of requests to identify recurring problems, improve public services and address issues before they prompt further complaints.

Over the seven years since the reform began, Beijing reports that its resolution rate rose from 53.1% to 97.3%, while its satisfaction rate increased from 64.6% to 97.7%, according to the municipal government's 2025 report.

These figures help illustrate the development of the hotline and its central role in the city's approach to governance. 

My midnight encounter with 12345 was a small interaction with a very large system. I called because I wanted to know why I was being kept awake. Someone listened, found the relevant information, called me back and gave me an answer. For one resident on one night, that was enough.

But the larger significance of the system lies in what happens when millions of such interactions are collected, assessed and used to inform decisions. 

Beijing's experience offers a surprisingly revealing window into China's people-centered governance logic, while raising questions relevant to cities elsewhere: How can residents make their concerns heard? How can public institutions respond effectively? And how can the lessons from individual complaints be used to prevent similar problems from recurring?

Ultimately, good governance begins by listening to the people, is tested by solving their problems and gains legitimacy by improving their lives.

Editor's note: Zaruhi Poghosyan is a multimedia editor for CGTN Digital. This article is part of a series on Beijing's evolving digital services for locals and international visitors alike.

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