The Shinan district of Qingdao – located in East China's Shandong province – performed extremely well to recently win prestigious national titles in recognition of its initiatives in the field of digital governance, according to local media reports on Dec 24.

The Shandong Provincial Big Data Bureau in Jinan, capital of Shandong, started organizing a list of leading smart cities in the region in May.

In late October at a press conference the bureau unveiled the smart cities that exceled in the categories of excellent digital governance, people-orientation, business start-up policies and the strengthening of basic facilities.

Local media reports said out of a total of 84 examples of excellence identified in the province, a group of 16 examples were from Shinan district.

The number of 5G base stations in Qingdao topped Shandong province, with 5G networks available in all urban areas in the city, while its coverage of the gigabit fiber optics internet exceeded 80 percent.

The examples all had notable qualities such as Party building, good social security, great COVID-19 controls, efficient reviewing processes for finance, intellectual property rights, smart parking, 5G technology applications, smart community, "internet + diagnosis" as well as the building economy and smart ports.