Citizens ‘must apply for 103 different documents and forms of identity over a lifetime’

Mainlanders need a total of 103 different certificates and forms of identity over a lifetime, a Guangzhou delegate has claimed.

He highlighted the figure as he suggested bureaucracy needed to be streamlined.

Cao Zhiwei, from the Guangzhou Committee of the Chinese People’s Political and Consultative Committee, presented a transparent box with all 103 certificates to fellow delegates to highlight the amount of red tape citizens had to cut deal with just to receive basic services.

He said: “This year, I want to reflect ordinary people’s concerns and the problems every citizen has with certificates.”

It is not the first time Cao used unconventional ways to bolster his arguments. Last year, Cao presented a so-called “long march diagram” to show the difficulty in obtaining a birth certificate in the city.

He said mainlanders had to apply for more than 400 certificates during their lifetime, 103 of which were used regularly.