Over the past decade, there has been an increase in the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in China. As the largest developing country in the world, China faces a severe digital divide, which exists not only between mainland China and the developed countries, but also among its own regions and social groups.
Overview China's telecommunication sector has been growing at an annual rate of between 30% and 50% in the past ten years due to rapid political, economic, and social changes. However, like most developing countries, the national telephone density and the Internet- user rate remain relatively low, only 23% and 2.18% respectively in 2001. Moreover, the digital divide among regions and social groups inside China is severe.Understanding the Digital Divide, OECD 2001, OECD Publications, 2rue Andre Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex 16, France.
The term digital divide refers to the gap between those with regular, effective access to Digital and information technology, and those without. It encompasses both physical access to technology hardware and skills and resources which allow for its use. It can refer to both international as well as domestic disparities in the access to information technology.
Since the implementation of China's Tenth Five Year Plan (2001-2005), the PRC has stressed the importance of information technology in its economic development. There is an optimism within the government that the "Internet and information technology (IT) are crucial factors for building international economic competitiveness and overcoming inter-regional development gaps at home."Giese, Karsten. "Internet Growth and the Digital Divide". China and the Internet. RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. Pg. 30 The plan classifies the building of an information society as key to China's economic development and modernization, with the belief that the development of IT will naturally pull the impoverished areas' economy out of poverty.
Statistics show that many parts of rural China are being left behind while the urban areas reap the benefits of the internet and IT. The China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) has released statistics showing continuous annual growth in internet users, yet such growth has been a predominantly urban phenomenon as the majority of China's internet users are located almost exclusively in China's big cities. Furthermore, there is little economic incentive for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to expand into regions with low purchasing power and/or population densities. It is left to the Chinese government to bridge the ever-expanding gap of the digital divide.The Growth of the Chinese Internet market
Statistics
The tables and pictures below show the geographical distribution of internet access in China. Internet density ranges from a high of 30.4% in Beijing to as low as 3.8% in the province of Guizhou. Just as startling as the differences in penetration rates is the vast disparity in the number of websites per person (table 2). Finally, the image of worldwideweb users in China portrays a graphic representation of the digital divide. We can infer from these statistics that users come from a relatively privileged strata of the population, dwelling in highly urbanized settings and concentrated in the prosperous Eastern regions.
Regional distribution of Internet access Source:China Internet Network Information Center. "Statistical Survey Report on the Internet Development in China" . Jan, 2007.
The current situation of telephone application and Internet use indicates the severity of the digital divide among regions in Mainland China. Traditionally, Mainland China's regions have been divided into three categories according to their geographical location and administrative divisions: Eastern, Central, and Western. The Eastern region possessed the largest segment of total Internet users, and the Central and Western region possessed the smallest fraction respectively, more than two times lower than the Eastern region.
Most researchers found that there is a close linkage between geographic features and telecommunication application; this linkage shows that geographic accessibility relates significantly to telecommunication access. Generally, the geographic feature of each region from East to Central to West is marked by plain, hill and mountain respectively. The second factors are demographic indicators; the population density of these regions appears inversely opposite their geographical elevation: the Eastern region has the highest population density, followed by the Central region, while the West, the most geographically elevated, has the lowest population density. The third factor is the level of economic development in these regions, which paints a similar picture: the level of economic development is closely related to Internet access.
In particular, Internet users concentrate largely in metropolitan areas. The latest statistics by the China Internet Center show that Internet users in Beijing account for 12. 39 percent of the national total; Shanghai accounts for 8.98 percent, while the corresponding figures for Tibet and Qinghai Province in northwestern China are 0.0 percent and 0.31 percent, respectively. +AnhuiInternet Penetration rate by Year4.3% (2006)5.5%(2007)9.6%(2008)11.8%(2009)17.4%(2010)22.7%(2011)26.6%(2012)31.3%(2013)35.9%(2014)39.4% (2015)44.3%(2016) +BeijingInternet Penetration rate by Year28.7%(2006)30.4%(2007)46.6%(2008)60%(2009)65.1%(2010)69.4%(2011)70.3%(2012)72.2%(2013)75.2%(2014)75.3%(2015)76.5%(2016)77.8%(2017) +ChongqingInternet Penetration rate by Year6.1%(2006)7.9%(2007)12.7%(2008)21.2%(2009)28.3%(2010)34.6%(2011)37%(2012)40.9%(2013)43.9%(2014)45.7%(2015)48.3%(2016)51.6%(2017) +FujianInternet Penetration rate by Year11.3%(2006)14.6%(2007)24.3%(2008)38.5%(2009)45.2%(2010)50.9%(2011)57%(2012)61.3%(2013)64.1%(2014)65.5%(2015)69.6%(2016)69.7%(2017) +GansuInternet Penetration rate by Year4.8%(2006)5.9%(2007)8.4%(2008)12.5%(2009)20.4%(2010)24.8%(2011)27.4%(2012)31%(2013)34.7%(2014)36.8%(2015)38.8%(2016)42.4%(2017) Region Internet Penetration rate(2007) Guangdong 19.9% Shandong 12.2% Jiangsu 13.7% Zhejiang 19.9% Sichuan 8.4% Hebei 9.2% Hubei 9.3% Henan 5.5% Shanghai 28.7% Liaoning 11.4% Hunan 6.4% Shaanxi 10.6% Shanxi 11.3% Guangxi 8.0% Heilongjiang 9.6% Jiangxi 6.6% Yunnan 6.2% Jilin 10.0% Tianjin 24.9% Chongqing 7.9% Inner Mongolia 6.7% Xinjiang 7.7% Guizhou 3.8% Hainan 14.1% Ningxia 7.0% Qinghai 6.8% Tibet 5.8%
Comparison of East/Middle/West in China internet development China Internet Network Information Center. 18th "Statistical Survey Report on the Internet Development in China" . July, 2006 Penetration Rate Domain Name Number/10,000 People Website Number/10,000 People East 14.0% 44.5 12.2 Middle 6.5% 7.9 2.0 West 6.9% 8.2 1.8 Nation 9.4% 22.0 5.9
Concentration of World Wide Web Users in Mainland China Source:Giese, Karsten. "Internet Growth and the Digital Divide". China and the Internet. RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. Pg. 43
We concentrate on China's digital divide as their country's population is huge. Nevertheless, they are also known as a fast-growing technology country which is also a new industrialized country.
Urban-rural areas One of the main factors of the digital divide in China is location. Chinese citizens that reside in urban areas are much more likely to have access to the Internet than those who live in rural areas.Hung, C., 2003-05-27 "Income, Education, Location and the Internet--The Digital Divide in China" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Marriott Hotel, San Diego, CA Online <.PDF>. 2009-05-26 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p111509_index.html More specifically, there is an Internet penetration rate of 50% in urban areas of China, but only 18.5% in rural areas of China.
China's telecommunication development is severely imbalanced between its rural and urban areas. Due to low population density and geographical disadvantages, rural areas experience a comparatively extremely high cost of investment in ICT infrastructure. By the end of 1998, China's rural areas had about 70 percent of the national population but only 20 percent of its total number of telephones. Compared to an urban telephone density of 27.7 percent, the rural telephone density of 2.85 percent is 10 times lower than urban telephone density in 1998.Barr, David F. SR Telecom Inc. Canada. Integrated rural development through telecommunications, 1999
Nevertheless, the situation of ICT development in rural China has improved gradually, thanks to general economic development and to the influx of ICT investment in rural areas. In 1998, the number of new telephone subscribers reached 6.913 million in rural areas, a 38.7 percent increase over 1997. The growth rate was two times more than that in urban areas. By the end of 1998, total telephone subscribers in rural area had reached 24.78 million; among them were 20.62 million rural household subscribers. The majority of the rural areas are in a digital divide as the government haven't developed the technology infrastructure here
Income levels According to the OECD, income is a key factor in PC and Internet access. Access rates between the lowest and highest brackets range from country to country within the OECD –from 3 times more likely to 10 times more likely. The latest CNNIC survey indicates that 65 percent of China's Internet users earn an annual income of more than 6000 yuan; in contrast, the users who earn less than 6000 Yuan annually only share 15 percent of total Internet use. Although the non-income users do share 20 percent of Internet use, this fact may not undermine the importance of income because this 20 percent is more likely to represent students who usually receive a high living subsidy from their parents. Study of telephone subscription of farm households in rural China also proves that farm households with higher annual incomes are more likely to subscribe to a telephone than are low-income-level farm households.Wang, Wensheng. "Impact of ICTs on Farm Households in China", ZEF of University Bonn, 2001
Education levels Differences in education levels are also highly correlated to PC and Internet access: those with higher levels of education are more likely to have ICTs at home and/or at work. Education is closely correlated to income, which obviously facilitates the purchase of ICTs and inclusion in the work environment. However, when income levels are taken into account, those with higher educational attainment will have higher rates of access. 91 percent of Chinese Internet users have a high school or above degree. A ZEF study on telephone access in rural China shows that heads of farm households with a primary level of education were more likely to subscribe to telephones than those without any level of education.
Gender divide In China, a gender-based digital divide appears to be much smaller than education- and income-based divides. According to CNNIC's report from July 2011, 44.9% of Chinese Internet users are women.
Factors contributing to the increase in the divide