Leaders in many Chinese cities are stepping up efforts for wide application of digital, information and network technologies in urban construction, in a bid to turn their places into "digital cities."

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

   In Beijing, China's capital, 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, says Vice Mayor Wang Guangtao, the city government will concentrate on applying information technology to building a framework of a "digital Beijing" with the information industry becoming an economic pillar.

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

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

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

   Guangzhou Major Lin Shusen says the city's broadband large-capacity urban computer network, the first in China that is now under trial operation, is expected to reach every resident of the city in 2003.

   In Daqing, China's primary oil production base in the northeast, priority will be given to applying information technology in economic development and urban management.

   Vice Mayor Wang Hongen says the city will strive to build "digital oil fields and "digital petrochemical industry" in the next five years.

   Daqing has already built sufficient communication infrastructure, cable TV networks and backbone networks for
government and commerce use.