BEIJING (AP) — These days, when people over 80 in Beijing take a bus, see a doctor or spend money, their activities are digitally tracked by the government, as part of an effort to improve services for the country’s rapidly growing elderly population.
The data amassed with each swipe of the multi-purpose “Beijing Connect” old person’s card goes into a massive database of the elderly in the capital. City authorities hope the information will enable them to better cope with their burgeoning population of over-60s, which already stands at 3 million.
Though geared toward the elderly, the programme demonstrates how China more broadly is using big data to better direct the use of government resources for the country’s 1.4 billion people. Beijing’s strategy is to use new technology and its heavily censored Internet to innovate and propel China’s transformation to a services-based economy — a strategy that Premier Li Keqiang has said “will trigger a new Industrial Revolution.”
In a sophisticated example, Beijing municipal government is collecting the disparate data on the elderly in order to predict what services will be needed in the future. This is to make sure it has the necessary budget and services in place, by taking into account people’s decreasing mobility, for example, said Bai Qiang, vice president of Beijing Community Service Association, a city government agency.
“All of the data we are collecting now, including visits to parks, the use of public transport and (numbers of) shopping trips, will help us to predict whether the elderly will become disabled in the future,” Bai said.
In this March 31 photo, elderly women chat as they rest at a residential compound in Beijing. When people over 80 in Beijing take a bus, see a doctor or spend money, their activities are digitally tracked by the government, as part of an effort to improve services for the country’s rapidly growing elderly population. PHOTOS: AP
Photo shows a sample of the ‘Beijing Connect’ old person’s card
The thinking is that if an elderly man is paying fewer visits to parks or taking buses less, that will show up in the data. The government can then judge what the disability rate will be in future and prepare a budget plan in advance, Bai said.
Cardholders interviewed said they weren’t concerned about a loss of privacy and praised the programme as far more convenient than the coupons the government used to give them for the same services.
“I’ve no worries. Elderly people don’t have any secrets,” said Liu Huizhen, 84, who was using her card to buy steamed bread in a small supermarket. “It’s hard for elderly people to count” coin-by-coin, Liu said. “And when you take the bus you just swipe the card, it’s very simple and convenient.”
The State Council, China’s Cabinet, issued a plan to promote big data in August, calling for the accessing and sharing of government data to improve governance. In response, the southern province of Guangdong on April 25 announced a strategy promoting the collection and use of big data in areas including the integration of air and water monitoring information with pollution forecasting, the creation of electronic medical records and the sharing of information on tourists travelling to scenic spots to better manage traffic. The Guangdong plan also called for the collection of population data on the elderly and a “comprehensive analysis” of their service needs, similar to what Beijing is now offering.
While China is still behind countries such as the United States, Britain and Germany in terms of the development of big data infrastructure, it is unique in its commitment to the project and the speed with which it is progressing, said Zhang Yue, managing director of The Boston Consulting Group in China.
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