A Beijing Urban Governance Story Behind a Hotline
On September 25nd and 26th, 2025, the Chinese documentary film Hotline Beijing was screened at the Harmony Gold Theater in Hollywood, Los Angeles, and the Memor Museum in Manhattan, New York. Deputy Consul General Zhiqiang Li of the Consulate General of China in Los Angeles and Deputy Consul General Xiaoxiao Ma of the Consulate General of China in New York attended the events and delivered remarks. The screenings brought together documentary directors, producers, associations, film production and distribution institutions, as well as representatives from academia, finance, and the arts communities in both Los Angeles and New York.
From Beijing to the WorldHotline Beijing follows Beijing’s “12345” citizen service hotline as its narrative thread, employing an observational documentary approach to portray how citizens’ everyday concerns are addressed by the government. Through seven stories-including parking in hutongs, installing elevators in old buildings, the growth of hotline operators, the work of neighborhood party secretaries, legislative safeguards, journalistic investigations, and emergency response-the film captures the tangible interactions between citizens and government, highlighting both challenges and innovations in urban governance.
While tackling the broad theme of Beijing’s city management, the film maintains its focus on individual residents. By presenting “ordinary citizens’ own stories,” it conveys the lived realities of city life and illustrates how governance is experienced on a human scale.
Premiered at the 2024 Beijing Immediate Response Reform Forum, the film was screened to more than 170 international guests, city leaders, and renowned scholars from over 40 countries. It was met with wide resonance and critical acclaim. Since then, the film has been released in 350 Chinese cities, drawing more than 2 million viewers and ranking as the third highest-grossing domestic documentary in Chinese film history. Hotline Beijing has also won the “Best Documentary” award in the July edition of the New York International Film Awards and has been featured at the 2025 Cannes International Film Festival and the 2025 Italy China Film Week.
An Exploration of People-Centered GovernanceAs a documentary rooted in real-life urban issues, Hotline Beijing explores the relationship between public space, civic expression, and social listening. It reflects the dynamics between individuals and collectives in a modern metropolis, underscoring the unique value of documentary cinema in fostering dialogue and reflecting the spirit of a city.
The film presents Beijing’s “immediate response to citizen appeals” model, which embodies the principle of people-centered governance. This approach has reshaped grassroots administration while offering valuable insights for other megacities around the world. With its fact-based storytelling, empathetic tone, and human-centered perspective, the documentary provides audiences with an understanding of how the 12345 hotline operates, capturing real people, real events, and genuine emotions. It demonstrates what it means for citizen demands to drive the governance of a megacity and for people’s well-being to be prioritized.
Some international viewers remarked that the film helped them gain a deeper understanding of China’s whole-process people’s democracy and offered new insights into Chinese society.
International Exchange and Cultural DialogueThe two U.S. screenings in Los Angeles and New York were designed to promote the international reach of Chinese documentaries, foster professional exchange between Chinese and American film industries, and enhance global understanding of China. By showcasing Hotline Beijing abroad, the screenings served as a bridge, sharing Beijing’s governance practices and social narratives with global audiences, and highlighting the human warmth and wisdom behind the city’s stories.
Director Jieqin Xu, the chief director of the film, noted: “In a city of more than 20 million people like Beijing, there are over 60,000 hotline calls every day. What kind of response mechanisms are behind these calls? What institutional frameworks and systems support them? During the filming, we ourselves built a new understanding of urban governance. We hope to convey this sense of discovery and resonance to audiences worldwide.”
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