The southeastern city of Nanning is testing an electronic identity card system based on Tencent's WeChat mobile messaging service, marking a major advance for the wildly popular platform and also for China's broader ambitions to build a digital economy.
Tencent Holdings and officials from Nanning, the capital of the Guangxi region, unveiled their strategic collaboration at a ceremony this week, saying the new system will use facial recognition technology to safeguard security of the new electronic cards, Tencent said in an article on its QQ service.
The Nanning city government has previously worked with WeChat on a wide range of other projects, including emergency and immigration services tied to the platform. WeChat also previously worked with the southern boomtown of Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong, on a similar system for smartphone-based electronic driver's licenses.
There was no indication about whether the new ID card program could be extended to other regions, or any timetable for when that might happen.
Official ID cards function as the main form of identification for most Chinese, and are pervasive throughout society. They are required for services as diverse as opening bank accounts, buying plane and train tickets, and staying at hotels.
WeChat has exploded since its launch in 2011, and now boasts more than 700 million users, equal to more than half of China's population. The service began as an instant messaging platform for cellphones, but in recent years has rapidly added other features, among them those that allow consumers to pay for goods at stores, and to book train and plane tickets.
WeChat and similar smartphone-based products like the Alipay electronic payments service have steadily encroached on the wallets of average consumers, removing the need for cash and traditional plastic cards. Many consumers now make store purchases using such smartphone-based services, and organizations that previously issued plastic membership and loyalty cards often offer virtual substitutes that are smartphone-based.
The move to smartphone-based ID cards reflects a broader trend that has seen China leapfrog more mature Western markets in adopting new technologies. That trend is driven by the lack of well-established players in areas like credit cards and retailing, paving the way for more advanced digital and web-based alternatives to emerge.
The southeastern city of Nanning is testing an electronic identity card system based on Tencent's WeChat mobile messaging service, marking a major advance for the wildly popular platform and also for China's broader ambitions to build a digital economy.
