Shandong Provincial People's Government announced on March 10 that 34 types of electronic certificates are expected to be widely used across the province by the end of September, including electronic identity cards and electronic business licenses.

Jinan, capital of the province, and Qingdao will lead the process, which will be of great benefit to local residents as they will no longer have to physically carry around the documents.

Shandong province plans to build an integrated online government service platform during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) and offer 24-hour services.

In addition, the province will advance the development of smart cities and is expected to build a big data trading center.

Shandong's digital economy exceeded 3 trillion yuan ($461.88 billion) in scale during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), and the average annual growth rate during the period was over 30 percent, significantly higher than its overall GDP growth in the same period.

The total number of 5G base stations in the province had exceeded 51,000 by the end of 2020, and Shandong's 16 cities had achieved full 5G coverage in urban areas. The computing speed of the National Supercomputing Center in Jinan currently leads China.

By the end of this year, an additional 40,000 5G base stations will be built in Shandong, and the total number of 5G base stations in the province is expected to reach 100,000.