Shanghai municipal government has been inundated with thousands of grievances from residents over the past few weeks, largely due to a new complaint hotline set up in conjunction with one of Shanghai's largest media groups.

More than 14,000 residents have used the bilingual service to whine about obnoxious touts on the street, moan about property management companies, and bellyache about noise pollution over the past two weeks. That is about four times the number of complaints the city's old hotline would expect to hear over a two-week period.

The biggest source of complaints are people handing out flyers and hawking goods to pedestrians along busy downtown streets, an annoyance that accounted for almost 25 percent of grievances.

"It is the busiest period we have ever encountered," said Zhang Rongsheng, deputy director of the 12319 hotline service center.

The government-backed 12319 hotline was recently linked to the Wenhui-Xinming United Press Group. The press group's popular hotline now passes on any complaints it receives to the government call center. "We contact city watchdogs to investigate and solve problems as soon as possible," Zhang said.

Complaints about property management companies are the second most popular grievance, accounting for about 8 percent of calls, followed by noise complaints, which make up 6 percent of gripes.

The government-backed hotline 12319, which was officially launched last July, provides 24-hour service to anyone who wants to report problems. The center promises to provide feedback to callers after they have dealt with a complaint, according to Zhang.

(Shanghai Daily July 27, 2006)