China is one of our oldest cultures. It is rich in its history and customs. China has much to offer in the way of tourism, cuisine and recently technology. Even though China is still a communist form of government, gradually they are softening to aspects of western culture. More and more westerners are using china as a holiday spot, and slowly but surely, communications from the west are slowly creeping their way in. China also has much to offer the world in the area of technology, making it one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
The cell phone industry is one such industry that has taken off in this part of the world. China is the largest country in the world by population, with just over 1.1 billion inhabitants. China is also the world’s largest consumers of cellular phones. There are current well over 100 million cellular phone users currently in China. What is also very interesting and good for the Chinese economy is that many of the people are now switching over to their own Chinese brand of phones.
In 2002, Chinese brands accounted for about 30 percent of their market. In 2003, despite the worlds recession that number jumped to over 50 percent and the number is steadily rising. The rise in use of home goods in China is partially due to reforms. The Chinese have invested several billion of their local currency into patenting mobile communication technologies. This has encouraged further investment from other sources giving this industry more financial backing than it has ever had before. The information and communications sectors of their society have recently undergone major liberalization efforts. China telecom has also moved into the World Trade Organization. This allows for the products to get international recognition but would not have been possible without serious changes in law and policy.
The Chinese are also working extremely hard to gain credibility in the international market. In 2003 the exports of mobile phones from China increased to 50 million sets. The number has steadily risen since and is expected to continue well into the future. Japan, a country that was once the leader in mobile phone production in Asia is now being surpassed by China in this area.
China is a country that was once closed off to the west. There communist form of government and human rights issues were something that bothered many with a western frame of mind. China also rejected many of the ideas and changes that were help sacred by European and American governments. The communications and technology industries have helped to change much of this in china. Gradually the government realized that they would not be able to keep out such things as the internet and cellular phones. Once they accepted this they relaxed many of the former restrictions and now china is turning these industries into booming businesses. With the current trends continuing, China will likely remain one of the fastest growing economies in the world and take a large share of the international cell phone market for itself.
