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Grassroots NPC deputy proposes cashless cities

Jin Dan
Updated: Mar 10,2017 4:42 PM     chinadaily.com.cn

Yu Chun (third from right) and her colleagues pose for a photo in front of the bus she drove for 28 years on the day of her retirement.[File photo from web]

Hangzhou impressed the world with its cashless urban life when it played host to the G20 summit last year. Now an NPC deputy from the city has proposed at the ongoing annual two sessions in Beijing that the success should be replicated across the country.

Yu Chun, an NPC deputy from Hangzhou, inquires about bike-sharing service during the two sessions in Beijing, March 9, 2017.[Photo/VCG]

Yu Chun, a 50-year-old retired bus driver in Hangzhou, capital of East China’s Zhejiang province, is one of those deputies who pay close attention to how a policy can be used to bring far-reaching changes through digital payment.

Yu Chun conducts a “field tour” to study the application of digital payment in Beijing on March 9, 2017.[Photo/VCG]

Yu said in her suggestion that the foundation for cashless society is already solid in the nation as the value of third-party mobile payment reached 38 trillion yuan ($5.5 trillion) in China in 2016.

As a former bus driver, she is the best person to explain how convenient a cashless life is. In her 28-year-long career, she saw many passengers fumbling and looking for coins. “I usually collected 500 to 600 yuan in fares in one shift, but most of the money was in coins,” she said.

Yu Chun inquires about cashless registration at the Beijing University First Hospital on March 9, 2017.[Photo/VCG]

According to her, it’s very inconvenient to pay by cash, especially by coins, not only for passengers but also for the bus operators. “The bus companies collect tons of coins and counting them is not easy to say the least.”

Yu Chun buys a stick of sugar-coated haws using her mobile phone during her “field tour” to study the application of digital payment in Beijing, March 9, 2017. [Photo/VCG]

Yu Chun reads a banner outside a restaurant that says the eatery accepts Alipay in Beijing, March 9, 2017.[Photo/VCG]