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CHONGQING: Earlier this year, China rolled out a plan to subsidise its rural population in the purchase of white goods or electrical appliances to boost consumption.
It has now extended the programme to computers, offering villagers a golden opportunity to get connected.
Tucked away in the mountains far from the city centre, residents in Huilongqiao village in Chongqing make their living growing crops or working for factories in between harvests.
But things are fast changing in the village. As demand for information and online entertainment increase, computers have taken the place of books, which used to be the main source of information for the residents.
Personal computers were recently donated to the community library – a relief for 20-year-old Wu Nan, who used to travel up to two hours to the city just to surf the Internet.
"I used to visit Internet bars or use my friend's computer. Our crops are not selling very well, so I wanted to find out more about the market price and demand," he said.
An estimated 30 per cent of the 4,000 households in the village own computers. They epitomise the growing affluence of China's rural dwellers and their increasing demand for technology – a silver lining for China's economy in light of slowing exports.
America's Hewlett Packard (HP) is one of the companies which has set its sights on the countryside. It is setting up 100 centres in China's villages to teach IT skills.
Todd Bradley, executive vice president, HP's Personal Systems Group, said: "I'm very focused on introducing HP products to as many new Chinese customers as possible."
The company has continued to invest in manufacturing plants and research and development facilities in the country, despite the current economic downturn.
"Our ability to invest in what's one of the most difficult economic cycles in a long time will make us a stronger company when the recession ends," said Bradley.
And for the villagers, the rewards will perhaps be more enriching than their harvests.
- CNA/so
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