Personal, popular and information portals – Olympic news and the use of mobile phones among migrant workers in Fuzhou

¹ An earlier version of this essay was presented at ‘Documenting the Beijing Olympics’ conference, organized by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, September 12–13, 2008. I wish to thank Dr Kevin Latham and Ms Ding Yimin for their invaluable suggestions on earlier drafts of this essay. I also acknowledge Dr Lola Martinez and Dr Kevin Latham for their editorial assistance in the preparation of this essay. The essay is a product of a research project funded by the Innovation and Technology Fund, Fuzhou University (project no. 2007-XY(S)-06). It's also a product of a research project by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China (project no. 2008GH158).

Abstract

Based on theory regarding mobile communication in general, this essay relates the experiences of migrant workers from both rural and urban areas in Fuzhou, who used mobile phones to stay in contact with the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, to how these contacts supported and encouraged migrant workers to persist in gathering Olympic Games information. In other words, does the relationship between demographics and knowledge about the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games differ according to the use of mobile phones among migrant workers? Results indicate that television became the primary source of Olympic Games news for migrant workers, but actually with few advantages as the respondents considered the mobile phone as their second source of information. Given the higher than average mobile media penetration rate among the sample of migrant workers and their information expectations, we cannot ignore the mobile phone's impact as a channel for information and public services. This essay's focus is also on how the government, the official press and service providers (China Mobile and China Unicom) appreciated the mobile phone as a means of spreading the Olympic Games' influence, making it possible for a large majority of people to enjoy the Olympic Games, and popularizing knowledge.

Notes

¹ An earlier version of this essay was presented at ‘Documenting the Beijing Olympics’ conference, organized by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, September 12–13, 2008. I wish to thank Dr Kevin Latham and Ms Ding Yimin for their invaluable suggestions on earlier drafts of this essay. I also acknowledge Dr Lola Martinez and Dr Kevin Latham for their editorial assistance in the preparation of this essay. The essay is a product of a research project funded by the Innovation and Technology Fund, Fuzhou University (project no. 2007-XY(S)-06). It's also a product of a research project by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China (project no. 2008GH158).

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³² One company in urban and four from rural areas were chosen. They are Fuzhou NANXI Garment Co., LTD () in an urban area with 75% migrant workers population; Fuzhou Minlian Wood Industry Limited Company () with over 70% migrant workers population; Flexible Packaging Science & Technology Garden at Economic Zone on the West Side of the Straits () with 50% migrant workers population; and Luoyuan Shanlin Food Products Co. Ltd () with 51% migrant workers population from rural areas. We also selected migrant workers in Fuzhou Higher Education Mega Center to finish our interviews. The companies in rural areas were all located in the Luoyuan Bay Economic Technical Developing Zone, one of Fujian Province's six over-50,000-ton deep-water port terminal berths. A resource for a further development of the waterfront building, Luoyuan Bay's transportation and air transportation is convenient. It had been identified as Fuzhou's output bay, and the second largest category of commercial bay in Fujian province, opened the air line to Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and other routes directly.

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