By Zhao Jin

China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) recently released one of its reports on Internet development in China in 2008: Investigation Report on Internet in Rural Area. Statistics show that the number of netizens in rural areas reached 52.62 million by December, 31, 2007, an annual increase rate of 127.7 percent, much higher than the 38.2 percent annual increase rate in cities. Benefited from the favorable development situation of the Chinese economy and the government's strong support, the development potential of Internet in rural areas is looking promising. 

The Investigation Report on Internet in Rural Areas shows that Internet is in the phase of rapid development in China's rural areas, with its development rate exceeding that of the cities. It is an emerging force to drive the continuous growth of Internet in China. Investigation shows that 40 percent (29.17 million) of the 73 million new netizens come from rural areas.

The report also points out that the development gap of Internet between rural areas and cities is still great. The prevalence rate of Internet in cities is 27.3 percent, while that in the rural areas is merely 7.1 percent. The major factor that hinders the development of Internet in rural areas is that the education and income level of residents in rural areas are relatively low. Restricted by their incomes, residents in rural areas have very limited means of using Internet besides cybercaf��s. Meanwhile, the investigation on the non-netizens shows that the reasons preventing them from using Internet are the lack of knowledge about computer and Internet which takes up 53.3 percent and the lack of equipment to access Internet which takes up 23.1 percent. 

The investigation indicates that the use of Internet in rural areas is shallower than in cities, with a more marked tendency on entertaining purpose. Presently, the average weekly use of Internet by rural areas users is 12.3 hours, 5.6 hours less than in cities. Among netizens, the use of Internet news and search engines is 61.4 percent and 56.6 percent, 15 percent and 18 percent less than city users respectively. In the meantime, most of the netizens in rural areas see Internet as a tool only for chatting and fun, with 86.4 percent and 76 percent of the users using Internet music and video respectively.

The investigation found out that, while the number of netizens in rural areas keeps increasing, information about villages and towns is rarely available on Internet. The informatization construction of government at town level is still in the primitive stage.

Realizing the difference brought forward by the great information gap between cities and the countryside, a key project that is led by the government and driven by various parties to support the telecommunication and Internet in rural areas is underway. A large information popularization and non-profit programs such as "Make every village has its own website" received positive feedback from local governments since it is kicked off in June, 2007. Currently, one fourth of the country's provincial administrative zones have taken part in the program.

Internet can bring profound changes to the countryside. Sun Xiuxiu, an analyst with Internet development research department of CNNIC, believes that concerned parties should take into consideration the unique rural lifestyle and environment when introducing means of using Internet to these areas with focus on those particularly suited for the countryside.

Internet has not only changed the way of obtaining information for farmers, but also changed the conventional ways of production and operation. Concerned parties should make good use of Internet platform to post more farming-related information, so that netizens in the countryside can not only get information quickly through Internet, but also initiatively promote their products and service through E-commerce. This is particularly applicable in remote rural areas that produce local specialties.

Sun Xiuxiu believes that rural education can be more convenient with the help of Internet. It is also very advisable to set up a long-distance education spot for villagers who want to learn farming technology through Internet. It is a very flexible way of learning, through which farmers can propose specific training requirements according to their own needs, communicate with experts, talk with other farmers, and even watch demonstration videos. It would boost farmers' interest and help them to get rich.

In addition, Internet is the platform for starting electronic administrative applications of local township governments. With Internet, villagers can increase communication with the township government. It costs much less for villagers to report their conditions and thoughts to the government. With the rapid promotion and application of electronic administration, many administrative departments of local governments are experimenting "online administration". Therefore, we have reasons to believe that the development of Internet in rural areas can greatly bring forward the development of rural electronic administration.

"The second wave of Internet" is launching into rural areas all round. If properly promoted and used, it can serve to push forward greatly the development of Internet in rural areas and help accelerate the pace of development in the countryside.