Mobiles make life easier on the grassland
Print Edition
IN the city, residents make use of social media for work and leisure; in the vast grassland of north China’s Inner Mongolia, nomads depend on it to sell cows and search for lost horses.
It is a much needed service, as spreading information is difficult in loosely populated areas where herdsmen live dozens of kilometers apart.
Na Sutu, a Mongolian herder in Xilin Gol League, regularly posts cattle information on instant messaging service WeChat, which he says brings much better business.
“In the past, I had to contact retailers to sell cows, but now business comes to me,” the 32-year-old said.
Social media tools such as microblog Weibo and WeChat have transformed the lives of the people who live in Mongolian yurts spread across the grassland.
Gone are the days when Alamusi Qiqige used to spend days riding motorcycles or horses to find missing cows and horses on the extensive Abaga Banner grassland.
Now he can simply use his phone to contact fellow nomads, who are more than willing to offer a helping hand and forward messages on lost cattle.
“These mobile applications have become so useful for us,” said Qiqige, who recently used WeChat to recover lost livestock.
The technology is even used to rent houses, recruit workers and invite people to weekend parties.
Unlike regular phones with Chinese and English keyboards, Mongolian input functions are not yet available. Instead, local herdsmen take pictures of a piece of paper with the information written in Mongolian and upload the photos.
Eyeing the emerging market, some companies are offering to publish messages for local people free of charge on WeChat.
Local governments have also jumped on the bandwagon by establishing platforms on the mobile service, as they publicize consultation services and government moves in dialect for ethnic minorities.
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