I once worked in the Linchi Farm, Ningdu County, Jiangxi Province for three years, and was transferred to the head office to write, send and receive documents, and distribute information as a communicator.
Since communication tools were scarce then, newspaper and radio became the only information dissemination channels. Located in mountainous area, Linchi was 120 miles away from the county, thus frequently, daily newspapers became weekly newspapers, or were not received at all. Although radio was a rather direct channel, short circuit was common due to poor signals. As a result, the things written were old-fashioned and dull in the wake of information block.
The Linchi Farm is mostly covered by farmlands. During busy farming seasons, all the cadres and workers gathered together to complete the tasks divided by unit, at full split. As the only communication tools then, broadcasting and blackboard newspapers were used to boost morale, by praising those who continued their works regardless of injuries, helped others, and over fulfilled given tasks.
To stimulate our enthusiasm for writing, the Secretary of the Party Committee often took the lead in contributing. One of his ragged verses praising two young people was still fresh to me, “Two young people jointly run a machine (threshing machine), with their hands and feet. Busy and grinning, they struggle for the first in summer harvest and plant.” As a news reporter, I naturally had to write more, and faster. Working while observing, I had to write down the good deeds with my muddy hands immediately. The words written were thus twisted and bad-looking, costing much of my time and energy.
Contributing to the radio station was much easier than to the newspaper. It took at most ten minutes to submit the manuscript to the radio station, but as for newspaper contribution, the format should be standardized and handwriting correct, costing much more time. The well-written manuscript had to be enveloped and mailed, though the receptor may not receive it until half month later, or till the end. Most of the manuscripts received no response, even those typical and influential ones. Admittedly, some problems concerned the quality of manuscripts, but actually information block constituted the major culprit. I remember one time when the editor of a newspaper called and said that the manuscript could be accepted after slight modification. As a result, the revised manuscript received no response at all.
After working in the Linchi Farm for many years, I was transferred to another unit. Like usual, I liked to write articles like comments in my spare time. Writing articles by hands was strenuous, so I tried to learn how to type by a typewriter, and failed.
By the 1990s, the Internet has entered China, but not generalized. I wasn’t accessible to the Internet until 2002, when I first opened up the webpages and was shocked, which inspired me into buying a computer with the help of my friend. With the computer, I began to read the news and the news posts. Later, I came up with the idea of writing the news posts by myself, but I couldn’t type, so I decided to practice typing. My poor mandarin only allowed me to learn five-stroke typing, which I later mastered after repeated practice. I thus began to write the news posts and forum articles. By 2005, I began to submit articles through websites and mailboxes. Convenient and fast, they can immediately submit your articles to the destination by clicking the mouse.
Fast computer typing, easy copy, paste and modification, picture insertion, online contribution (whether immediately or regularly), timeliness, quick master of recent topics needed by websites and newspapers through QQ and Wechat, immediate publishing and feedback… The Internet has opened up a new world for writing and contribution.
On April 20, 1994, China officially ushered in the Internet era through a 64K international private leased circuit. In the past 24 years, the Chinese Internet has grown stronger and stronger. According to the latest data, the scale of Internet users in China has reached 802 million, and that of mobile users has reached 788 million. In the era when 5G is around the corner, the scale of China’s venture capital in many digital economic fields, such as autopilot, 3D printing, robots, UAVs and artificial intelligence, ranks among the top three in the world. In addition, “Internet +” has been applied to multiple fields, such as online payment, online shopping, online transmission of information and online approval, easily solving difficult problems while largely saving costs. Informatization has also brought massive changes to people’s lives. You can go out without your wallet or camera, but mobile phone is a must as the Internet has become indispensable in people’s lives.
From manual writing, post office contributing to computer typing and e-mail submission, contribution has experienced rapid progress: from slow to fast, from complex to simple, from single-styled to diversified and visualized. We are enjoying the tremendous changes and rapid development of the Chinese Internet. The rapid development of network informatization, which is dominantly propelled by the reform and opening-up, reveals China’s powerful comprehensive national strength and innovation ability.
