essay draft 2

In today’s modern society, the trend of the development of digital technology has been more apparent over the years. This will continue to intensify in the future. This trend will be getting more apparent as many countries foresee the advantages. These advantages include broader academic development, a more conducive commercial landscape and better integration of information amongst people in the country. However, issues of digital disparity often surface, especially in developing countries such as China. According to China internet network information (2014), "the internet users in rural regions remain at 27.6% in comparison to 73.4% in urban regions". This indicates the issue of digital disparity.

The growth in the diffusion of internet access in developing countries are mostly from people living in the urban regions of China and the improvement of the situation can be made through subsidies by the ministry of finance to enhance technological skills of the citizens and also the usage of mobile commerce to the poor so that it will be more viable for rural regions such as Pingnan County. Pingnan County is a province in Fujian, which is under extreme poverty with virtually no internet users.

However, the Chinese government has been making efforts to improve the situation of digital divide. According to the International Fund for Agriculture and Development (IFAD) (2014), the Chinese government has attempted to venture into rural areas. Investments have been done on the infrastructure for technology so that these people are able to adapt to the changing environment and market conditions. 

One of the contractors that is part of the government’s plan in rural area expansions is the China Mobile Limited (CML), who successfully set up a stable mobile network in various rural areas, such as Shanxi, Jiling and Anhui. People are able to receive disaster warnings and weather forecast for their crops through technology (China Mobile Limited, 2009). Despite numerous efforts to bring telecommunications and networking into these rural societies, the digital divide persists in China. From 2011 to 2012, the growth of internet users grew from 26.5% to a mere 27.6%. The slow growth might indicate that the efforts are not efficient enough. The divide is still very apparent with only 27.6 % of the overall internet users from rural regions(China internet network information (CINMC)(2014)).

However, the attempts to venture into poorer rural region remain a challenge for the Chinese government. According to a corporate report written by China Mobile Limited (CML) (2009), “The results of our initial assessment showed that income sources are limited in Pingnan County, with most people living below the poverty line". There are virtually no people using the internet and the developments in the country is very minimal. The county is sorely lacking the necessary investment and information to drive local development.”. This indicates the challenge in venturing Pingnan County. These people are poor and can only afford to obtain necessities for themselves to get on with their lives.

The attempt is ineffective. However, there are certain actions that could be done to better remedy the issue of venturing into poorer rural communities. The government would have to make changes in their policies and direction in terms of subsidiary incentives to not only equip them with the necessary technological skills and convince these people to start adopting technology. To make improvements in the digital divide situation, a good start would be having a healthy number of internet users (Economic intelligence unit (2012)). Therefore, the Chinese government should change its policies to stimulate the growth in internet users. The foundation of having high internet users is to first ensure that the citizens are IT literate (Economic intelligence unit (2012)). Policies should include the necessary incentives to better attract contractors to provide services to educate citizens so that they will be technologically literate.

Another action that the government can take is the introduction of mobile commerce. Since it is one of the most viable ways for these rural citizens to be able to get internet access. According to Melanie (2014), an associate from Alizila,” Mobile commerce’s high penetration rates in these rural areas is due primarily to issues relating to access to technology. The regions’ poorer residents can’t afford personal computers”. “Cellular networks offer better coverage and decent speeds.” On top of the cheaper alternative of mobile commerce, subsidies from government is another way to further reduce the cost. With that, the networking and telecommunication in these regions becomes more viable.

The benefits of networking can then be presented to the Pingnan County’s citizens. With the cheaper alternative of mobile commerce along with government subsidies, the people would be more open to changes. When the people are open to the technological change, the government can then attract contractors to develop the region as the area is now more profitable with the higher rates of users open to technology.

In conclusion, the government has to ensure that the benefits of both the contractors and the rural region citizens are being taken care of. The government should give out incentives and convince contractors on the potential of doing the job. The contractor would only do the job if it is profitable and when the contractor foresee the potential in developing the region. The citizens of the poor rural area would only be open to change and start using technology if the government is able to convince them to do so through subsidies and viable options. 

Through vigorous development, constant investment in rural areas and with time, the digital gap between the urban and rural region would eventually narrow.

Reference:

1. IFAD (2014, June). Corporate booklet – Investing in rural china. Retrieved October 1, 2014. From: http://ifad.org/operations/projects/regions/pi/factsheets/cn.pdf\
2. China Mobile Limited (2009, December). Corporate Social responsibility report. Retrieved October 1, 2014. From: (http://www.chinamobileltd.com/en/ir/reports/ar2009/sd2009.pdf
3.  Alizila (2014, July 8). Mobile Commerce Is Thriving in Unexpected Places. Retrieved October 1, 2014. From: http://www.alizila.com/mobile-commerce-thriving-unexpected-places-video
4.  Chinese internet network information center. Statistical report on internet development in China (2013, January). Retrieved October 1, 2014.From: http://www1.cnnic.cn/IDR/ReportDownloads/201302/P020130221391269963814.pdf
5.  Economic intelligence unit (2012). Smart policies to close divide. Retrieved October 1, 2014. From:http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un-dpadm/unpan049753.pdf