Yanggu, Shandong: How a Chinese County is Rethinking Public Service

LIAOCHENG, China, June 8, 2026 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/–

Yuan Liansheng walked into the Dabu Town Public Service Center in Yanggu County, Shandong, with a problem that spanned two years and two continents. Her husband, working in Dubai, had let his sole proprietorship business license lapse. The firm was flagged as abnormal due to missed annual reports, and the food permit also needed canceling. Yuan expected days of paperwork. She was done in hours.

“My husband hasn’t been home in two years,” she said, gripping the staff member’s hand afterward. “I thought it would take days, but it was all handled incredibly fast – our worries are gone.”

The fix went beyond standard procedure. The center triggered a cross-border proxy service, linking Yuan in Shandong with her husband in the United Arab Emirates, while coordinating across departments that normally operate in silos. Staff handled the abnormal license status, synced the food permit cancellation, and closed the loop without Yuan making a second trip. 

The shift – from passively waiting for applicants to actively chasing solutions, from citizens running between offices to data traveling online – reflects a broader change underway in Yanggu.

The numbers are modest but telling. Since January, the county has logged more than 20 door-to-door and weekend service runs. In one case, staff visited the home of a cooperative manager in his fifties to deregister his business at home. In another, they spent a Saturday reviewing partnership change documents for a tech firm with over 40 partners, delivering a three-day turnaround that kept the company’s operations intact.

Liu Kun, the agent for Yanggu Zeyang Electronic Technology Partnership, made the weekend request by phone in early March. The answer was immediate. Staff worked through the paperwork, verified identities remotely, and cleared the changes before Monday.

The philosophy behind these gestures – empathy translated into action – bridges two models that once seemed contradictory. Contactless approval now operates alongside face-to-face outreach. The combination, county officials argue, is what makes the business environment genuinely competitive.

Source: Information Office of Yanggu County People’s Government