A staff member checks data through a digital platform called "smart village" in Baihu Village, Changle District of Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, April 21, 2021. (Xinhua/Lin Shanchuan)
BOOSTING RURAL VITALIZATION
Ke Hong, head of Baihu village in Fuzhou, has seen his work become much more efficient with the help of 5G-connected sensors and cameras installed around the village. He can use them to monitor the operations of infrastructure such as lampposts, a parking lot and manhole covers.
Digital technologies also allow the village's community workers to provide better healthcare for the elderly, particularly those who live alone or are at high risk of illness.
Ke Shunjun, 78, wears a wristband provided by the village that tracks his real-time physiological data. Medical staff are notified immediately should any emergency occur.
"My family and I feel much more at ease since I got the wristband, as all my children work outside the village," he said.
The smart village in Baihu offers a glimpse into how digital technologies are penetrating and reshaping China's rural areas -- a top priority for China's policymakers as the country has shifted its focus from poverty alleviation to rural vitalization.
Smart agriculture is another bellwether of a greener and more productive future. More than 100 cameras can be found across a 5G-assisted smart tea farm in the eastern Chinese city of Fu'an, most of which are connected to the 5G network to monitor the field 24 hours a day, so that plant diseases and pests can be detected instantly, according to system technician Liu Shengquan, also a tea farmer for over 30 years.
As a result, the use of pesticides can be greatly reduced, and earnings per mu (about 0.067 hectares) can increase by 300 yuan (about 46 U.S. dollars) to 500 yuan a year, according to Liu.
"Data will become a new resource for agricultural production," said Zhang Zujin, deputy general manager of Fu'an Nong Ken Group, a local state-owned agricultural enterprise. "Digital agriculture is ushering in new development opportunities and is expected to achieve significant growth."
