Recently, a Douyin short video showcasing the newly renovated section of National Highway 310 in Mianchi County went viral locally. The video was posted by truck driver Zhang Jinbao, who had previously joked that the road’s potholes were "rough enough to shake kidney stones loose." Now that the road has been smoothed and traffic flows freely, Zhang has taken on a new role as the county’s "online public supervision ambassador" for livelihood projects.
The transformation of this road—from a personal complaint to a public infrastructure project—exemplifies Mianchi County’s shift from a "government-decides" approach to a "public-requests" model in addressing livelihood issues.
The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee emphasized "putting people first and strengthening inclusive, fundamental, and essential livelihood development." In response, Mianchi County has innovatively implemented a "Three Questions, Three Invitations" mechanism: asking the public for their needs, soliciting their suggestions, and seeking their evaluations. By expanding engagement to online platforms, the county has moved policymaking from "office decisions" to "doorstep consultations," aligning with the spirit of the Plenary Session and advancing grassroots governance in the digital era.
To ensure livelihood projects accurately meet public expectations, Mianchi County actively collects feedback from platforms like Douyin, compiling a "big data pool" of public demands. Over the past year, the county gathered over 1,000 suggestions online. In early 2025, 26 shortlisted projects were put to a public vote, attracting over 310,000 participants both online and offline. Ultimately, the "Top 10 Livelihood Projects" were finalized through a "public vote–government review–legislative approval" process, all originating from public input.
To assess project outcomes, Mianchi County hands the "scoring power" to the public. The county’s media center launched video series like *Reporting to the People* and *Promises to the People*, where department heads report progress and make commitments on camera, while facing public scrutiny in comment sections. "Going live was nerve-wracking, but transparency pushes us to deliver more solid results," said Cui Bofei, director of the county’s Development and Reform Commission, who once hosted a two-hour livestream explaining 26 candidate projects, drawing 30,000 viewers and 7,500 real-time comments. Such programs aired 441 episodes annually, with over 11.8 million views, creating a "pledge–report–progress" accountability loop.
The core of the "Three Questions, Three Invitations" mechanism lies in "evaluation by the people." Pei Jianmin, a vendor at the revamped Xiguan Agricultural Wholesale Market, noted, "The renovation took just six months—better environment, more customers." The project’s efficiency stemmed from the integrated online-offline governance model. So far, 861 public-raised issues have been registered and addressed under this mechanism, turning digital interactions into tangible warmth.
"Implementing the Fourth Plenary Session’s directives requires leveraging the internet to enrich democratic participation and streamline public feedback," said Qian Cheng, Mianchi County Party Secretary. "We will deepen the 'Three Questions, Three Invitations' mechanism to better address public needs and explore pathways for modernizing grassroots governance."
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