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Alipay Expands Digital Marriage Certificate Service

By Tianyu M. Fang / Aug 06, 2019 03:54 PM / Business & Tech

Photo: IC Photo

Photo: IC Photo

Forgot your wallet? There’s Alipay. Lost your marriage certificate? Well, there’s Alipay.

More Chinese users can now get digital marriage certificates on Alipay, the Alibaba-backed app announced on Tuesday. The feature was first launched last September in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, but now it’s been expanded to Fujian, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang provinces, and the sprawling metropolis of Chongqing.

While this doesn’t mean Chinese people can get married over the phone, the digital certificate can be used as proof of family relationship when managing loans, transferring property, enrolling a child in school, managing family inheritance, and notarizing documents.

The program also allows residents to make appointments with the Civil Affairs Bureau, which processes marriage-related affairs. Besides marriage certificates, Alipay supports more than 90 digital documents issued by over 200 cities, including social security cards, national identity cards, and drivers’ licenses.

Like Tencent-backed WeChat, Alipay is building a super-app ecosystem through its mini programs. In southern China’s Guangdong province, WeChat already runs a program that allows residents to integrate identification cards and travel documents with their WeChat accounts.

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