It only takes half a day to start up a business in Tianhe district in Guangzhou, and the business license, seal, invoice, and tax Ukey can be completed at the same time.

"Tianhe's government affairs services have seen significant adjustments," said Tan Qian, deputy general manager of an investment consulting company in the district that can assist investors with registration and preferential policy applications.

Tan has spent the past 10 years in Tianhe, and has witnessed the district's entire reform process to streamline administration and delegate power, better regulate and upgrade services, and aggressively establish a digital government affairs service system that benefits businesses and citizens.

"First, the time to receive a license is much shorter. In the early days, it took us seven days to get a business license, and then it was shortened to three days. Now it only takes half a day," said Tan. "Second, the approval process has changed. In the past, some projects needed to obtain a business permit before applying for a business license. After the reform, many items were put on record instead of having to go through examination and approval, which greatly reduces any inconvenience."

She added that materials now can be submitted online, and paper business licenses can be obtained by companies and electronic certificates can be downloaded through an online platform.

Tianhe district is one of Guangdong province's administrative licensing reform pilot areas. The district has made it much more convenient for government affairs handling and fully revitalized market entities by utilizing new technologies like 5G, big data, and blockchain.

By the end of 2021, there were 485,500 enterprises in Tianhe, accounting for 26.8 percent of Guangzhou's total. The number of newly registered enterprises reached 163,500, increasing by 37.5 percent and making up for 35.6 percent of the city's total.