Much Achieved by Government Online Project in China ����Websites within the domain of governments at all levels have added up to 1,564, against 145 last year, and over 720 government departments have already had their own servers to have services provided, according to sources. ����It is estimated that about 60 percent of government organs will be online by the end of the year. ����Government Online Project was launched on January 22, 1999, by China Telecom and the Information Center under the State Economic and Trade Commission alongside information offices of more than 40 central departments. ����So far there are 35 central departments that have been online. These include the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Bank of China, the ministries of Education, Science and Technology, Construction, Information Industry, Agriculture, Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, Health and Railways, as well as the State Family-Planning Commission and a number of central administrations. ����Meanwhile, along with 16 industrial information networks there are 174 websites that have been set up by provincial or municipal governments such as those of Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Hebei, Fujian and Hubei. In addition, 467 more are run by governments at a prefecture level. ����The Government Online Project covers five aspects of contents. The first is to make known government functions online, which is to post to the Internet the functions, duties, organizational structure, administrative procedures and rules and regulations of governments and their departments. ����Second, government documents, archives and databases posted online. ����Third, daily activities of government departments released online, which is regarded as a channel of openness of administrative affairs. ����The fourth is online administration, with an electronic center of files and documents to improve administration efficiency. ����Online trading is the last to be posted online. ����By now there is already a wide range of online programs to represent the country's Government Online Project. Typical is an online payment system by the People's Bank of China, an online education and graduate employment information network by the Ministry of Education, online room-reservation and tour guide by the National Tourism Administration and online hospital by the Ministry of Health. HomeNews 1999-07-13 Page5 Full Story in Chinese