Guangzhou has gained increasing international recognition with its expanding network of sister cities worldwide, stronger cooperative ties with cities around the globe, and growing volumes of foreign trade. A great number of foreigners have come to work, study, travel, and settle down in Guangzhou. 

Expats in Guangzhou may encounter all kinds of difficulties due to the barrier of language. From inquiries about public services, getting to know pandemic control dynamics to simply going about their daily life, speaking no or little Chinese could come to be an inconvenience. 

For local residents, government departments and companies, poor communication with expats means inefficiency and sometimes causes misunderstanding. 

Guangzhou Multilingual Public Service Hotline 960169 was thus created in July 2019 to provide interpretation service for expats, residents, public departments and institutions, companies and those in need of cross-culture communication. 

How does 960169 

help foreigners in Guangzhou?

Guangzhou Multilingual Public Service Hotline 960169 provides interpretation services for inquiries concerning public services and government institutions in English, Japanese and Korean as well as French, Russian, Arabic, Spanish and Portuguese in a remote way.  

"960169" provides instant interpretation services for government departments at all levels in Guangzhou and informs foreigners about other hotlines including but not limited to telecommunications, transportation, water, power, gas and banking services. 

"960169" collaborates with 12345, 110, 119, 120, 96900, 12320 and other major public service hotlines to provide interpretation services in the form of three-way phone calls.

"960169" also piloted video interpretation service with VoLTE real-time audio and video communication technology, offering video interpretation service to callers.  

If you have trouble communicating with government departments and public service hotlines, call 960169 for interpretation service.