Improved ID cards issued in Shanghai
By Yang Yang (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-03-30 08:33

Local officials along with their counterparts from Shenzhen in Guangdong Province and Huzhou in Zhejiang Province, on March 29 issued a second generation of Identification Cards to their residents.

Luan Shaodong shows his new ID card on March 29 in Shenzhen in south China (last five digits are blurred). Luan, a medical worker at Shenzhen No 2 People's Hospital, was the first to receive the second-generation card. The card is a high-tech product with chips built in. [newsphoto]

At a launch ceremony, 10 residents in the Jiading District of Shanghai were issued the new cards.

Within the first half of this year, 200,000 residents of Shanghai's Jiading and Chongming districts will be issued new ID cards. After that, the cards will be distributed throughout the city, according to Zheng Shanhe, the deputy director of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau.

Zheng said that by the end of 2008, the cards will be used nationwide.

The second generation of ID cards are equipped with integrated circuit chips. In contrast to the currently-used ID cards, the new cards have advanced digital and print technologies to prevent them from being counterfeited.

The cards include related personal information concerning name, gender, nationality, date of birth, address of registered permanent residence, identification number and a colour photo. A card holder's information is stored in government databases and can be updated at any time.

Citizens who are 16 years old or older can go to the police station of their registered residence to apply for the new card. The cost of the new ID card is 20 yuan (US$2.42), but it is free during the trial period.

The old cards still can be used during the trial period. "In the future, the co-existence of both old cards and new cards will last for a long time, but we will try to make all citizens in Shanghai use their new cards in two years to improve the population management and maintain the social order," Zheng said.

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