This year the China Internet Network Information Center reported that after a 10% year on year rise in smart phone use, for the first time, more Chinese citizens access the internet via their mobile phones than they do on a PC.

Of the half a billion or so Chinese Internet users, 50% are from rural areas many of which now make up the large of army of urban migrant workers in China’s growing cities.They use the phones primarily to hunt for jobs, online shopping, searching for information andplayinggames, costing the average user up to 200 yuan per month. Zhang Yuchen takes off to the streets of Beijing to investigate.

Written by Zhang Yuchen & D J Clark

Video: Xu Jiye

Producer: Flora Yue

Related story: Migrant workers have help at hand

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About D J Clark

D J Clark has worked worldwide as a multimedia journalist for more than 20 years. As well as working for China Daily he runs an MA course in Multimedia journalism at Beijing Foreign Studies University and is the Director of Visual Journalism at the Asia Center for Journalism in Manila, Philippines.