(Yicai Global) Dec. 26 -- Nansha district government in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province, issued the nation's first "online application credential of WeChat identity card" yesterday to provide legally viable identity authentication service for the owner in a national scale, state-owned Xinhua News Agency reported.

The electronic ID card, issued by the national internet and trusted identity authentication platform, has been introduced by the first research institute of China's ministry of public security, and is the only electronic mapping document corresponding to the physical identification card chip.

This ID card electronic certificate application technology adopts the face-recognition technology of "Weixin Renzheng" (Wechat police identity authentication) app in WeChat network, which allows artificial intelligence system to automatically evaluate the authenticity and consistency of user's identity information, portrait and identity documents, and create an electronic ID card for the person who passes the check.

With the electronic ID card, individuals can simply complete their identity authentication through "electronic ID card + face recognition," when dealing with online and offline business. They can also use such cards in online and offline government services, hotel check-ins, logistics delivery and other scenarios where real-name system is demanded, thus saving themselves the trouble of carrying physical ID cards and retaining ID copies.

This new virtual ID card is jointly developed by Nansha District of Guangzhou and WeChat Team run by internet giant, Tencent Holdings Ltd. [HKG:0700]. Guangdong province will first pilot it, with the expected trial to start from next month.