A landslide in Pengshui County, Chongqing, on July 17 killed a grid worker named Gong Baodong, drawing public attention to China’s grassroots governance system known as grid management. Chinese state media describe the system as an industrialized approach to precision governance, dividing the country into roughly 4 million grids overseen by about 4.5 million grid workers.
The model originated in Beijing’s Dongcheng District in 2004, when officials divided the district into 1,652 grid units, each covering roughly 10,000 square meters, and assigned a supervisor to patrol the area and report problems using handheld devices. Reported issue-detection rates rose from about 30 percent to more than 90 percent, while response times fell from roughly one week to less than a day. The system received central government backing after the 2013 Third Plenum called for strengthening grassroots service platforms through grid-based management, leading to nationwide expansion by 2020.
In urban areas, grids typically cover 300–500 households, or about 800–1,000 people, while rural grids generally follow natural village boundaries. Each grid is assigned a unique code linked to administrative divisions and associated with detailed records on residents, businesses, safety risks, and other local conditions.
Grid workers typically perform five core functions: collecting information, mediating disputes, assisting vulnerable groups, conducting security patrols, and promoting government policies. The workforce includes full-time employees such as Gong, community cadres, retired Communist Party members, and volunteers.
The system also faces a number of challenges. Grid workers can carry heavy workloads while receiving uneven compensation, ranging from roughly 4,000–5,000 yuan (about $556–$694) per month in wealthier regions to 2,000–3,000 yuan (about $278–$417) elsewhere. Contract-based employment can limit opportunities for career advancement, while bureaucratic pressure to document activities often results in extensive photography and paperwork.
The system’s emphasis on detailed data collection has also raised concerns about privacy and the handling of residents’ personal information. How to balance the government’s goal of fine-grained grassroots management with individual privacy protections remains an unresolved issue.
Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), August 8, 2026
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202608080063.aspx