A mobile payment promotion month was launched in Guiyang, Guizhou province, on Aug 6 to further the city's efforts of becoming a cashless city and providing convenient services for the local residents with the help of big data technology.

The launching ceremony for Guiyang's mobile payments promotion month is held at Qingyan Ancient Town in Guiyang on Aug 6. [Photo by Li Yu/gz.people.cn]

The promoted government mobile payments program aims to persuade people to pay administrative fees via the mobile app Guizhoutong, saving on processing time between different departments.

Social insurance, medical insurance and traffic tickets can now all be paid with a cellphone. Payment record data can also be easily collected by related departments to improve the database of the local government.

People can install the mobile app Guizhoutong to pay public transit fees with their cellphones. [Photo by Li Yu/gz.people.cn]

The move is also expected to help Guiyang to become a national hub of big data technology, where the whole society contributes to data collection, analysis and development.

Guiyang plans to promote mobile payments in more areas, including public transportation, hospitals and tourism attractions. The city will build a big data platform integrating more than 100 million pieces of payment data from 200,000 stores and malls by 2018.