China's Rural Development: New roads and spread of Internet change farmers' lives

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China's vast rural areas have long suffered from inadequate infrastructure such as roads, power and water supplies.But the problem has almost been addressed with new roads, and now even the Internet has spread to most villages. CGTN's Yang Jinghao went to find out how this is affecting life in a village in Sichuan province.

It's a big day for Wang Yanquan, a farmer in Wangjiayan Village, Santai County. His son is holding a wedding ceremony in his newly-built home, and he is video chatting with his nephew to share the details of the happy event.

WANG YANQUAN VILLAGER "Modern technology has made life much easier. In the past, we relied on landline telephones. Now, with the Internet, we can contact our relatives and friends with WeChat."

YANG JINGHAO SHUANGLE TOWNSHIP, SICHUAN PROVINCE "China's goal to extend roads, power and water supply, and radio and TV coverage to every village has almost been achieved. Now the government is speeding up Internet construction in rural areas, and the project is reshaping the life of the country's large number of farmers."

The Internet has already brought many benefits to rural areas. For Wang Yanquan in his 50s, TV is no longer the only choice for entertainment. Now he likes watching videos, reading news and playing games on his smartphone, while his wife is keen on online shopping.

You can shop easily here. It has almost everything you want. - Such as clothes? - Yes.

Wang Yanquan's son, Wang Hai, has been working in Shanghai as an Internet maintainer. He never imagined he'd see the changes in his village that have taken place over the past few years.

WANG HAI WANG YANQUAN'S SON "When I was a boy, I had to walk for 40 minutes along dirt roads with a homemade torch to get to school each day. Now, almost all the families are connected with cement roads and children get driven to school and back. And back then, people had to go a long way to find a telephone."

Four years on, the Santai County government's efforts to connect all the villages with the Internet are still underway.

CHEN YUANMING PARTY SECRETARY, BUREAU OF INDUSTRY AND INFORMATION, SANTAI COUNTY "So far, of the 932 villages in our county, only six are still not connected to the Internet and construction is expected to finish this year. The project will benefit the villagers in different ways. For example, they can sell their agricultural products to different places via the Internet."

The improvement of infrastructure and the rapid spread of the Internet is bringing new hopes to Chinese villages. Wang Hai says he has decided to come back home after the wedding, to explore more potential at home. Yang Jinghao, CGTN, Santai County in Sichuan Province.