By Zhuang Guangping

Over the last two decades, China has not only realized a rapid growth in mechanization and industrialization, but also promoted a great leap in the informatization of the whole society during the development of information industry with timely grasp of opportunity.

From extensive mode to intensive mode, the information technology improves urban management efficiency

With the rapid development of information technology, more and more informatized methods are applied to the government service field, which has improved urban management efficiency; financial informatization has boosted the innovation of financial service, and the modern financial service system has taken initial shape; e-business shows a favorable development tendency; and the informatization has been evidently accelerated in such fields as science and technology, education, culture, medical health, social security and environmental protection.

Binzhou City of Shangdong province, which is known for the "capital of textile", possesses of the largest cotton textile production base in the world. But what's beyond people's thought is that the sky is blue and the air is also very fresh and clear here. It is benefited from the "digital environmental protection" project that China Mobile Shangdong Branch and Binzhou City jointly take the lead in launching nationwide, which has realized the data source collection in the monitoring for environmental protection and enabled the large-scaled, all-day consecutive, dynamic and real-time environmental monitoring with large coverage come true.

The staff of the Bureau of Environmental Protection in Binzhou City introduced that: "Formerly, regular manpower is usually the main method in environmental monitoring, as the monitoring objects are numerous and in a wide area, it's difficult to conduct the all-day consecutive, dynamic and real-time environmental monitoring with large coverage. Relying on the wireless network-based 'digital environmental protection' of China Mobile Shangdong Branch, we are endowed with 'electronic eyes' for environmental monitoring, realizing a timely and effective monitoring to various pollution sources."

"Digital environmental protection" is only an epitome in China's urban informatization construction. As understood, in terms of medical informatization construction, during the period of "Eleventh Five-Year Plan", China will attach great importance to the development and application of e-medical records, the construction of national electronic disease monitoring system, as well as the development and application of digital hospitals. "By means of the development and application of e-medical records, the development of national electronic disease monitoring system and the development, application and research of digital hospitals, the foundation of China's health information system will be established," said Gao Yanjie, Director of Information Center of Ministry of Health, "the daily disease monitoring system will also strengthen China's capability in controlling and managing the disease development."

In terms of the construction of social security informatization, with the promotion of "golden insurance project", the informatization of social security is striding forward from dispersed construction to united one, and a favorable progress has been seen. Currently, there have been 25 provinces and cities realizing the network with all of their affiliated districts and areas, and the network for labor security system bas covered all provincial labor security departments; 87.32 percent of all of the cities above prefecture level have realized the network with provincial data centers, the network has covered 85 percent of handling institutions, and in some areas with better conditions, the network has been stretched to streets and communities, so to speak, a network framework with such three levels as ministerial level, provincial level and city level has been shaped basically.

Over the last two decades of informatization, China's urban visage has witnessed a world-shaking change, and the application effect of information technology on national economy and various fields of society is more and more evident. "Urban informatization is an effective approach to expediting the tackle of Chinese people's livelihood issue." Zhang Qi, Chairman of China Information Industry Trade Association, believed that to grasp the opportunity brought by the revolution of information technology and the development of informatization, and to boost the urban informatization vigorously is an inevitable choice for urban economy's favorable and rapid development.  

Informatization service benefits people's livelihood from "telephone line" to "digital cities"

20 years ago, hanging a cellphone in the waist is a status symbol, and only a few of rich urban families could able to install fixed telephones. But nowadays, the number of telephone subscribers in China has breached 1 billion while the number of Internet users has achieved 350 million. The popularization of basic network and terminal equipment has paved a royal road for the application of informatization, and informatization has also penetrated into the various aspects of people's life increasingly.

"Daddy, swipe the card!" whenever getting on the bus, Zhang Chen, a pupil in Shi-Jia Hutong Primary School in Beijing, would fish out his IC card insolently. Beijing has issued student-used IC cards freely for all of the students in middle or primary schools in Beijing, and these cards do not only record card holders' electronic student status, but also have the function of transportation card of Beijing, meanwhile they are also available in such places as libraries, computer labs and dining halls.

Currently, almost all public projects related to people's livelihood have achieved informatization in some extent. In the education field, the persist advancement of such projects as "Education revitalization initiative plan" has driven the overall education informatization to be updated in terms of the construction of fundamental infrastructure, the development of information resource, the key application and so on.

In the field of culture, "China Culture Information Net" has been established, electronic media projects have assumed the tendency of flourish development, the work on cultural relic informatization has also made a greater progress, and the culture share project has made an important headway.

In the medical field, disease monitoring information system begins to exert its function, the provincial public health emergent command response system goes well, the information system for urban medical rescue and health monitoring is being applied step by step, the application of information systems for urban community health services and rural cooperative medical management has been attached great importance to and developed, and modern remote medical care has been explored and attempted initially in part areas. 

In the field of social security, the construction fruit of "golden insurance project" begins to appear, the work on national social security network has made remarkable effect, the network construction at ministerial, provincial and city levels has been completed basically, and the network on endowment insurance monitoring, unemployment registration and unemployment insurance monitoring and the application of IC cards have been conducted gradually.

Related experts believed that presently, China's urban informatization has made great effect, and informatization has played a "catalyst" role in developing the career of people's livelihood. However, at the same time, the construction of informatization is a grand social systematic project, which has the traits of being strategic, long-run and integrated without ready experience for reference, and is shouldering heavy responsibilities.