One of the topics at this year's Big Data expo is how the internet can be used to help less developed areas of the countryside. We travelled to Tongguan, a village with a predominantly ethnic Dong minority, to see the changes that have been taking place there.
On a remote hillside in Southwest China, Wu Yuefeng and her relatives are plowing land for rice planting.
It's backbreaking work, but they've got no help.
"My children have all migrated away from this village to make money for better life. My eldest grandson left when he graduated from a middle school," Wu said.
The same is true for practically every household in the village -- hard labor and poverty driving out the able-bodied adults, leaving behind the elderly and the children.
In the modest kitchen of a wooden cabin, it;s lunchtime for Wu Yuefeng;s family. Between the farmland and a young grandson, life is stretched thin for the couple. But Wu Yuefeng is happy.
"In the past we didn't even have enough food to eat. Now things are much better. Even though the work is hard, I'm full of hope and passion," Wu said.
Change came with a group of forward thinking volunteers. They first brought money, but quickly realized that it won't be long-lasting.
"What made the place so poor -- we thought hard, and came up with two main answers -- seclusion from the outside world, and separation from family members," said Luo Yongguang, volunteer of Internet + Countryside Program.
The solution then came easy -- connectivity through the internet. A 4G tower was set up. The villagers were taught to use cellphones and social media. Rice and tea, hand-made cloths and handcrafts… are now reaching city dwellers hungry for organic products.
"The change brought about by the internet, first and foremost, is broader horizons. That altered the way these villagers think. It filled the information gap," Luo said.
Change is slow -- about a third of the population in Tongguan village still lives under the poverty line. But there's hope.
"My children said they are coming back. My grandson even asked me to sell some of my farmland to build him a house just over there," Wu Yuefeng said.
Tongguan is blessed with rich culture and fertile soil. Its success story cannot be replicated everywhere. The internet is no panacea, but it does offer people a channel to resources that would otherwise be out of reach.
