Home>News Center>Life
             
     

    China, a cellphone kingdom of cellphone generation
    (Beijing Review)
    Updated: 2004-06-17 10:35

    One Chinese phenomenon that surprises the foreign visitors newly arrived is the omni-present cellphones. I still remember what Mary H. Guckenburg, a middle-aged American businesswoman, told me a couple of years ago when she and her husband made their first China tour. "I'd never expected I would find so many cellphone users in Beijing." she said. "When we sat in a downtown restaurant the other day, almost everyone around us had a cellphone."

    Mary added in an affirmative voice that even in Maine, her home state, the wireless device was not very popular. Here, the word "even" hints that this scenario should not happen in a developing country like China. However, for most people—local residents and visitors alike, the rapid spread of mobile phones is really something unexpected. China has grown into a cellphone kingdom before our very eyes.

    Last June, China's cellphone users numbered 237 million, for the first time surpassing the 231-million land-line users. Two years ago, China set the record by forming the world's greatest cellphone-user group.

    It is predicted that by the end of this year, the country's cellphone users will exceed 310 million, and reach about 380 million by the end of 2005. Experts estimate that Chinese cellphone numbers now make up about 40 percent of the world's total.

    The history of telephone development serves as the mirror of contemporary China. Two score years ago, phones were widely regarded as luxuries, and there were few private phones. Three decades ago they were still something which bore little relation to ordinary people. For example, in Wushan, a mountain county in the middle valley of the Yangtze River, the majority of its 400,000 residents didn't know what a phone was. Twenty years ago, I was one of the journalists who were appealing to the government and public to deal with the bottleneck of the country's telecom industry, after learning that China was one of the six countries in the world whose proportion of phone numbers to every 100 people was less than 0.5 percent.

    The historic harbinger of telecom transformation appeared in the 1990s when phone subscribers mushroomed in urban areas. In the past few years, the country leapt into a cellphone age beyond many people's expectation. It seems to me that we have raised a cellphone class overnight, after a swift and silent cellular revolution. A survey shows that about 94 percent of office workers in big cities and coastal areas have cellphones. Moreover, that new class is getting younger. In 1997, the average age of cellphone users was 39. By 2005, it will be 26.

    Urban parents are buying phones for kids as young as 12. In Beijing, cellphones have been in widespread use among teenagers. In No.42 High School, for instance, a random survey indicates that 75 percent of 15-year-olds own or share a phone, and the percentage is 87 for 16-year-old students. It’s almost a tendency in secondary schools across the country—the higher the grade, the more the number of cellphone users.

    The wireless devices give parents a sense of security and help them keep closer tabs on their children’s school lives. Children seem to like having a phone to call a parent when class or sporting practice ends early, but they also use the gadgets the way adults do—to talk to friends, send text messages and play games. It is really cool to have a mobile phone, as many teenagers say. For them, it’s as much a status symbol as a communications device.

    I believe that the urban generation under 20 is growing up with cellphones, whether they have one or not. Their whole lives, not just childhood, will be affected by this tiny and ever-improving apparatus in one way or another. And their close relationship with the hi-tech may be conducive to the country's scientific and technological development, as well as modernization drive as a whole. But that's just part of the cellphone story.

    For the young, having a cellphone suggests a sort of freedom and independence. Compared with adult users, adolescents turn out to be more efficient in writing and sending messages. This is their own realm and integrated institution, where they may circumvent both parental and school control. They can express and convey whatever they want, turning the palmtop tool into a mini congress, limitless forum and mass media. They even become addicted to the phone—once they possess one, they will need it forever. When this generation runs the country in the future, they might be apt to employ the approaches they learned during their 'cellular childhood.'

    Text messaging is extremely popular among young cellphone users and offers a lucrative revenue stream for carriers. On average, teenagers send much more messages than adults. Cellphone companies are well aware that China's market is capacious and there is always much room for the expansion of the cellular empire. The younger generation and populous farmers represent the world's biggest sale opportunity as the urban adult market tends to be saturated. In addition, the preteen segment is one of the potential growth opportunities that have attracted some farsighted firms.

    Adult users are also keen on text messaging. Some of the city news and popular jokes are emanated from mobile phones. It has become a common urban scene in which a person laughs in public while reading his or her cellphone. Quite a number of people turn out to be what I call 'cellphone bloggers'—those who can't wind up a day without writing or transmitting texts.

    But for my generation, cellphones are also a reminder. We don't want to look back, but the past is haunting. Narcissism being natural, we who grew up in the 1950s and 60s naturally consider our childhood fascinating, even without hi-tech. We know, after experiencing a lot, life is but a trajectory from have-nots to haves. Once we didn't have TV sets, later we had. Previously grain was in short supply, now it's plentiful, and so on. But the coin has two sides. When you gain something, you also lose something else. That's what life is all about.

     
      Today's Top News     Top Life News
     

    Price of power rises to stop heavy use

     

       
     

    Foreign input to grow despite cooler steps

     

       
     

    Premier: Economy on healthy track

     

       
     

    Gas leak kills one, injuries 60 in Fuzhou

     

       
     

    Hu: Closer links with Central Asia sought

     

       
     

    Protesters cut power to Eiffel, Chirac's home

     

       
      China, a cellphone kingdom of cellphone generation
       
      Swindlers use cell phone messages
       
      Drug use of youngsters on the up
       
      Panda pregnant after watching sex videos
       
      1973 Beijing Zoo killing case tried
       
      Singapore to use shock pics on cigar packs
       
     
      Go to Another Section  
     
     
      Story Tools  
       
      Related Stories  
       
    Selling slapstick by cellphone
       
    TCL, Alcatel to jointly design, make cellphones
       
    Cell phones on campus prompt debate
       
    'Cellphone' tests cheating spouses
       
    Cellphone messages help convict rapist
       
    Screenwriter Liu Zhenyun: cell phone? hand grenade!
      Feature  
      Jackie Chan hopes to become 'true actor'  
    Advertisement
             
    欧美日韩国产中文精品字幕自在自线| 天堂√中文最新版在线下载 | 无码乱人伦一区二区亚洲| 乱人伦中文视频在线| 人妻丝袜中文无码av影音先锋专区| 中文字幕天天躁日日躁狠狠躁免费| 日韩av片无码一区二区三区不卡| 亚洲AV永久无码精品网站在线观看 | 中文字幕精品亚洲无线码二区| 人妻精品久久无码专区精东影业| 久久亚洲AV成人无码软件| 精品久久人妻av中文字幕| 亚洲精品国产日韩无码AV永久免费网 | 久久精品中文字幕无码绿巨人| 精品欧洲av无码一区二区14| 在线日韩中文字幕| www.中文字幕| 亚洲色成人中文字幕网站| 高清无码中文字幕在线观看视频 | 丰满白嫩人妻中出无码| 人妻中文字幕无码专区| 亚洲av无码潮喷在线观看| 中文字幕无码日韩专区| 熟妇人妻中文a∨无码| 亚洲伊人久久综合中文成人网 | 亚洲欧美中文字幕高清在线| 人妻少妇看A偷人无码精品视频| 潮喷失禁大喷水aⅴ无码| 成在线人免费无码高潮喷水| 国产三级无码内射在线看| 久久AV高清无码| 国产午夜无码精品免费看| 69久久精品无码一区二区| 成在线人AV免费无码高潮喷水| 国产高清无码二区 | 亚洲AV中文无码乱人伦在线观看| 亚洲精品无码99在线观看| 精品久久久中文字幕人妻| 日本成人中文字幕| 日本一区二区三区中文字幕 | 人妻丰满熟妇AV无码片|