Digital Divide in China

Over the past decade there has been an explosion in the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) in the People's Republic of China. As the largest developing country in the world, China faces a severe digital divide, which exists not only between China and developed countries, but also among its own regions and social groups. Like many other indicators of development, wide gaps exist between Chinese IT "haves and have nots." The existence of these gaps is well established. Though published literature gives a general picture of the digital divide in China growing, along with other development measurements such as per capita GDP. In some cases, however, that there is some evidence to suggest that the ICT gap may, in fact, be narrowing. This trend has implications on China's future development. In the international context: by the middle of 2000, America had 164 million computers with the average availability below 2 people; Germany, 30.6 million computers with the average availability below 3 people while the corresponding figures for China are 15.9 million and almost 80 respectively.