The provincial public security department of Zhejiang proposed early this year to handle inter-provincial household registration transfers in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region online as part of its efforts to streamline administrative procedures and promote YRD integration.

The initiative requires Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui to offer open access to their public security data to allow for online information verification by local authorities.

Hangzhou, Wenzhou, and Huzhou in Zhejiang, and Hefei, Chuzhou and Anqing in Anhui were selected as pilot areas for the system.

Nearly 100,000 people transfer their household registration between Zhejiang and the other three YRD areas every year.

Wang Yutian, who was born in Anqing but is now a resident of Huzhou, recently transferred his mother’s household registration from Anqing to Huzhou so that he could take better care of her.

"I moved to Huzhou over a decade ago and spent more than a month transferring my household registration. But this time, it took less than one week to do the same for my mother," said Wang.

Previously, Wang had to visit authorities in Anqing and Huzhou several times to present paper documents. Now, all necessary information can be reviewed online.

This new online system is expected to be promoted throughout the YRD this year.