Changsha county in Hunan province made the top 10 list for a national ranking by online image.

The ranking list was released by Xinhua Net on June 30, together with a report of the online images of cities and counties nationwide in 2014. The appraisal was based on 3,050 sample administrative divisions and evaluations of their network images in five aspects, including government affairs, commercial affairs, social life, and public sentiment.

Xinhua Net initiated the assessment with the Institute for Urban and Environmental Studies of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Center for Journalism Studies of Qinghua University, and China Statistical Information Service Center four years ago. It is expected to provide reference for local governments to make better use of the Internet to serve the public.

Changsha county, a district of Hunan’s provincial capital Changsha, ranked in ninth place among the top 20 county-level rankings. Over recent years, e-governance has become an important platform for the county to solicit public feedback.

In 2012, the government collected opinions and suggestions from netizens, and announced 19 livelihood policies and measures in six aspects relating to catastrophic medical insurance and public security.

The county has opened multiple online channels for further communications with the public, including an “e-governance” section in Hunan local news portal rednet.cn, e-papers, and government social media accounts, among others.

The practice of e-governance has achieved great success and was promoted in the provincial capital city of Changsha, and then throughout Hunan province.

Edited by Andrew Ancheta