Guangzhou's Baiyun District Education Bureau organized a work
conference in a luxury hotel in Zengcheng on the outskirts of
Guangzhou last month.
But a farmer complained, via the Internet, to the Guangzhou
municipal government, asking why the education bureau organized
such a conference in Zengcheng. "Is this some sort of jolly in the
guise of a conference?" he asked in his message.
The district education bureau later had to explain that they
wanted to learn successful teaching methods from their Zengcheng
counterparts and that the conference had also attracted many
well-known experts and government officials.
The anonymous farmer that challenged the district education
bureau is just one of the growing numbers of farmers who are now
using the Internet to express their opinions regarding government
operations in Guangzhou.
According to Tang Wangsheng, deputy director of the Guangzhou
Municipal Information Centre, many farmers in Guangzhou have
purchased computers and surf the Internet at home.
To help popularize Internet technology in the city's rural areas
and allow more farmers to access online information, the Guangzhou
municipal government plans to construct a total of 1,177 Internet
service centers in all villages before the end of 2006.
Meanwhile, each village will have an Internet training centre to
teach local farmers how to make full use of the Net, Tang told a
press conference yesterday.
Every staff member in township governments and neighborhood
committees will have a computer in his or her office by the end of
2006.
"The internet service will also act as a bridge to help link
government departments to farmers as many government departments
and bureaus have built their own websites and open online service,"
Tang said.
"It also helps prevent corruption," he added.
(China Daily September 8, 2005)