Strivers of Chinese Modernization | How She Manages the City as an Operator of the 12345 Hotline

In Zhaoxiang Town, Qingpu District, to the west of Shanghai, Xiang Jiping serves as a “commander” in urban operation and management, willingly acting as a “needleworker” for years to excel as the “caretaker” in grassroots governance of a megacity.

Xiang Jiping, Director of the Urban Operation and Management Center in Zhaoxiang Town, Qingpu District, Shanghai. Photo by Li Jiayu, The Paper

As the Director of the Urban Operation and Management Center in Zhaoxiang Town, Qingpu District, Shanghai, Xiang Jiping’s daily work involves dealing with various persistent urban management issues. With her short, neat hairstyle, she exudes a sense of competence and efficiency. Group rentals, residential-to-non-residential conversions, noise disturbances, safety hazards… all these grassroots issues, both big and small, are closely related to the vital interests of the people. Under her leadership and efforts, the Urban Operation and Management Center in Zhaoxiang Town has consecutively ranked first in the comprehensive assessment across Qingpu District for five years.

Swift and resolute, she often rushes to the scene at the first moment

In November 2024, the 7th China International Import Expo was successfully held in Shanghai. As the host location of the Expo, Qingpu District bore a significant responsibility for local support. Half a month before the opening of the Expo, Xiang Jiping was already busy, convening teams every day to work overtime on night inspections based on the regular routine, ensuring that all safety requirements were implemented.

Before the Expo, Xiang Jiping led teams to conduct night inspections on fire safety and other aspects to ensure the safety of residents’ production and life. Photo provided by the interviewee

“Is everyone here? Good, let’s start assigning tasks.” After assigning tasks every day, Xiang Jiping personally leads a team to conduct on-site inspections. During the day, they inspect public places, business districts, enterprises, and institutions, and after residents return home from work at night, Xiang Jiping inspects various villages and residential areas.

During the 7th Import Expo, the areas inspected by Xiang Jiping’s team included Fangdong Xincun and other regions in Zhaoxiang Town, where rural self-built houses are concentrated. Nightly fire safety inspections are a key task in this area. “Everyone must be careful during inspections and not overlook any minor hazards. Report any issues promptly.” After the inspections, she still couldn’t rest assured and urged the inspection team to conduct follow-up inspections at irregular intervals to ensure that the hazards were completely eliminated, forming a closed loop for daily inspection work.

In the eyes of her colleagues, although Xiang Jiping is a female, she is as capable as any man, acting swiftly and resolutely. Zhu Caiqin, Deputy Director of the Urban Operation and Management Center in Zhaoxiang Town, said that she has worked with Xiang Jiping for many years. For arduous tasks like night inspections, Xiang Jiping always does them herself, treating them as routine. Xiang Jiping keeps a quilt in her office, and sometimes she sleeps at the unit after consecutive overtime work. For any emergency safety incidents in Zhaoxiang Town, Xiang Jiping will rush to the scene to handle them immediately.

Xiang Jiping emphasizes the importance of digital technology in empowering urban operation and management. Currently, electric bicycle charging indoors and flying wire charging are among the most frequently reported fire hazards by residents. Since 2024, Zhaoxiang Town has taken the lead in piloting the installation of an electric bicycle indoor charging monitoring and warning system for 20 households in Zhongzeyuan, Zhongbu Village, using technological power to strengthen rural safety defenses.

Xiang Jiping and relevant departments conduct street inspections in Zhaoxiang Town. Photo provided by the interviewee

Through AI identification chips, if a resident charges their electric bicycle at home, the monitoring backend will prompt an abnormal power usage warning, and the administrator will visit the site to check the situation. If any unsafe power usage behavior is found, the administrator will immediately dissuade and guide the resident to move the electric bicycle to a designated location for charging.

There are no small matters concerning the people’s livelihood, and hotlines receive responses

Every month, the Urban Operation and Management Center in Zhaoxiang Town receives about 500 calls from citizens. Over the years, Xiang Jiping has persisted in treating every request from the masses with meticulous care, striving to solve the urgent and difficult problems of the people. In May 2021, the 12345 Citizen Service Hotline received a report from Mr. Song, stating that the green belt between the sidewalk and the parking lot at Exit 2 of Zhaoxiang Metro Station on Line 17 lacked lighting facilities, making it very dark when passing through at night, with a high risk of injury and falls.

After receiving the complaint, Xiang Jiping immediately led a team to conduct a site survey at night and found that due to the growth of street trees and the obstruction of the green belt, the originally installed lighting facilities along the road were not only blocked but also suffered from aging and insufficient lighting intensity, which indeed affected the normal passage of citizens. The pitch-dark passage formed a stark contrast with the brightly lit surroundings.

“Solve it quickly.” Xiang Jiping immediately started working. During the solution process, she encountered the issue of street light power supply. Since Zhaoxiang Town did not have an independent electrical control box in this area, applying to the power supply company for installation would be time-consuming. To resolve the issue as soon as possible, Xiang Jiping took the initiative to contact the Qingpu District Urban Operation and Management Center for assistance, and ultimately, multiple parties collaborated to solve the power supply problem.

Soon, 60 new lighting facilities were added to this originally dark path, eliminating the safety hazard of the “blind spot” in lighting. When the 12345 hotline conducted a follow-up survey, Mr. Song said, “I didn’t expect that in just 20 days, the problem that had bothered me for so long was solved. Now I don’t need to walk in the dark with a flashlight when passing through here anymore. I’m really very grateful.”

Under Xiang Jiping’s leadership, the Urban Operation and Management Center in Zhaoxiang Town was awarded as an advanced collective in the 2023 Shanghai 12345 Citizen Service Hotline System Meritorious Competition for Work Order Handling in the regional group. “Our position is the vanguard for ensuring urban operation, and we must ensure that we are the first to respond to any incident,” she summarized her work.

On November 19, the smart screen at the Urban Operation and Management Center in Zhaoxiang Town. Photo by Li Jiayu, The Paper

Xiang Jiping has been engaged in urban operation and management since 2015. Since 2015, she has served as the Director of the Urban Grid-based Comprehensive Management Center in Zhaoxiang Town. In 2020, the center was renamed the Urban Operation and Management Center in Zhaoxiang Town and initiated the “One Network, Unified Management” pilot project.

Since engaging in urban operation work, Xiang Jiping has been thinking about how to better enhance urban governance. Zhaoxiang Town has a registered population of 13,960 households and 38,115 people, with a permanent population of 152,000. With limited comprehensive