Internet Spreads to China’s Rural Areas
Just 5.1% of China's rural population is online – 37.41 million of them.
In the city there are 125 million on line or 21.6% of the urban population.
However, the percentage of China's farmers coming on line in the first 8 months of this year is about 70% more than the total online up to the end of 2006. 23.1 million at the end of last year + 14.3 million new users this year.
Question – what are the farmers looking up online anyway?
The improving telecommunications infrastructure in the countryside is the reason more on coming online.
What they do online in the city -
1. listen to music,
2. play games
3. watch videos
In the country –
1. news
2. on-line shopping
3. on-line banking
4. trading stocks.
5. agricultural info
6. price info
With two-thirds of China's population in the countryside….there's plenty of room to grow.
Business in China will be good for a long time to come.
5.1% is actually much higher percentage than I thought. That means internet access are making steady and significant headway into the rural population. Though I suspect the penetration is probably uneven and in some rural areas are so god-forsaken remote that any sort of economic development is not going to come to them for yet another generation.
I have heard of places that the only way in is by foot through some dirt mountain pass, and mail only comes once every month. Yah, those people aren’t going to see any wealth for generations unless they all leave the place.
And don’t underestimate the power of information!!! Remember, for folks making merely couple hundreds dollars per year farming, being able to find better bargains for farm supplies and get a better price for their crop is HUGE. If they can save like 50 bucks a year finding savings online, that’s huge improvement. Previously poor farmers are totally at the mercy at the monopoly of the regional wholesalers, and now they have much higher bargaining power if they can reach out to other buyers online.
Agri infos and price info give farmers ideas on what crops to plant.
Remember these guys are dirt poor, any type of information has the possibility of making substantial improvement to their livilihood.
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