Some 30 million Chinese now own a cellular handset, making China the world's third biggest mobile market, behind the US and Japan. In some cities as many as one person in 10 has a mobile phone. The cellphone is also a symbol of liberation and empowerment. China before its economic liberalization offered no choice in where citizens could live, and virtually banned trips abroad.
Chinese today can and do use their phones around the country.
They are also free to travel overseas and, when they do, they can still stay in touch thanks to international roaming services. There is also national symbolism in China's commitment to the development of the technology again a far cry from the closed and sometimes xenophobic China of Mao's time. China played a key role in bringing about agreement on the contentious issue of third generation cellular technology which has bedeviled the industry for much of the past four years. China used its leverage as the world's most attractive cellular market to forge a deal which ensures compatibility with the existing phones. Now, it is a Chinese engineer, Cao Shu-min, who chairs the international body tasked with fleshing out the detail of the next generation of cellular technologies, along with a handful of US, Japanese, Korean and European organizations.