Wu Xingxue, a farmer who lives in the impoverished Luoxian Village of southwest China's Guizhou Province, has been quite excited during the past few days, looking forward to a gift from the local government.

The gift is a color TV set which is expected to add variety to the farmer's colorless life.

"With the television I can tune in to more than 40 channels, so I will know more about what's going on outside," said Wu, who is of Buyei nationality, one of China's ethnic groups.

In Wu's hometown, a poverty-stricken village in the landlocked province, two thirds of households now have access to China's broadcasting network.

The villagers now have television and Internet access, said an official of the village.

"We used to swarm into the field to see a film played by a team of broadcasters dropping in from the city, but now we can sit at home and watch online shows with a simple click on the computer," said Li Weiping, a farmer in Longquan Village of Zunyi County.

The village's cable network, covering more than 4,000 households, currently offers over 400 online dramas and films for its customers.

So far the village has set up two community satellite receiving stations and built six broadcast studios, one owned by the village government and the other five by farmer individuals.

Besides the easy access to the Internet, farmers in Longquan also now have a village library with a wide range of books.

The village has registered impressive growth figures. According to statistics, farmers' per capita net income has soared to 3,400 yuan (US$419) annually, far beyond the nation's poverty line.

The Chinese government will step up rural broadcast network construction with a view to equip farmers with urban and global culture, commonly referred to as "advanced culture," said Li Changchun, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee during a recent inspection tour in Guizhou.

Echoing the central government's call, the mountainous province, which is inhabited 10 percent of the country's needy population, has achieved remarkable progress in incorporating the network despite considerable geographical challenges.

At present, more than 60 percent of the province's rural people have experienced a dramatic change in their life with the upgrade of rural broadcast network.

"I feel there is so much to learn and I hope I will shake off poverty soon," Wu said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 23, 2005)