The Beijing Municipal Administrative Center district officially launched a government service office on Sept. 13. The office will be used to help citizens handle as many as 1,722 varieties of city-level government-related inquiries.

The office is located inside a renovated factory in Beijing's eastern Tongzhou district. It will work to meet public service needs among citizens not only in the Beijing subcenter but also the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

The office lobby is equipped with 50 self-service kiosks, which are accessible to citizens with the use of their ID card or by scanning a QR code. Citizens can also ask for one-on-one staff services via the kiosks.

Facilities in the office have also take into account the protection of citizens' privacy. For example, computers in the lobby have privacy screens, while 13 intelligent kiosks are located in separate individual cells.

The office also provides convenience for those without paper documents. Currently, citizens can access a database of 174 kinds of virtual documents using their own means of confirmation and approval.

Looking ahead, the office plans to integrate with Tongzhou district's government service center, which will enable citizens to deal with 1,738 additional district-level government affairs. Self-service kiosks are also expected to be put into use in local neighborhoods and business districts to provide more convenience for citizens in need of government services.

The launch of the new center signifies that Beijing is one step closer to removing the capital's non-core functions from the downtown area.