To date, 120 cities have set up information systems in urban planning management and more than 300 others have built information systems for real estate management.

In Beijing, an information network - based on office automation and a number of professional data bases - has been built, covering urban planning, construction and the management of land and resources.

In the next five years, Beijing vice-mayor Wang Guangtao said, the municipal government will concentrate on applying information technology (IT) to build a framework for "digital Beijing," with the information industry becoming an economic pillar.

The city will continue its efforts to establish a comprehensive high-speed broadband network, promote e-government and e-commerce, and create an environment for innovation in IT, while improving the people's living standards through extensive application of IT.

Guangzhou, an economic powerhouse in south China with 1 million Internet users, is one of the first Chinese cities to apply IT to banking, medical and real estate management sectors.

The city has taken the lead in China's IT application drive. It has built the country's largest electronic fund-transfer system and first across-bank automatic teller machine system.

Guangzhou mayor Lin Shusen said the city's broadband large-capacity urban computer network - the first in China on trial operation - is expected to reach every resident of the city by 2003.

In Daqing, China's primary oil production base in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, priority will be given to applying IT in economic development and urban management.

Daqing vice-mayor Wang Hongen said the city will strive to build "digital oil fields" and a "digital petrochemical industry" within the next five years.

Daqing has already built sufficient communication infrastructure for government and commerce use.

(China Daily November 23, 2001)