Zhong Zhihua has seen his identity changed three times in one year, from a migrant worker, to a farmer, and now to a farmer-cum-online shop owner.

The 27-year-old quit his factory job in the coastal province of Guangdong late last year, when the global financial crisis started to take tolls on the Chinese economy.

In his spare time, at an electronic factory of the Bao'an District of Shenzhen where he earned 2,000 yuan a month ( about US$293) then, Zhong surfed the net, and occasionally ventured into online shopping.

After a thorough survey in his hometown of Gushi Township in Xiushui County, Jiangxi Province, Zhong saw a market opportunity with one of the local specialties -- tea, and began to plan opening an online tea shop.

"Many of my friends regarded me as a joke," he said, "It was indeed very hard since I knew little about online business."

His shop opened in February at Taobao, China's largest retail website. Fellow farmers could sell their teas through him at a premium of 20 percent.

Zhong said he was relieved to see this business "growing steadily". "Sometimes I sell more than 15 kilograms of tea in one day and for each kilogram I earn 40 yuan," he said.

Zhong was not the only migrant worker in China who successfully took advantage of his urban experience to start his own business after returning to his hometown.

Zhang Xiaoping of the Nanping Village of Gao'an City, Jiangxi Province, opened a pepper shop on Taobao after losing his job late last year in a factory in Zhejiang.

"In early July when fresh pepper hit the market for only half a month, my fellow villagers sold more than 20,000 kilograms of pepper through my shop, up 50 percent from the same period last year when my shop wasn't in the picture," said the smiling Zhang.

Director Yin Xiaojian of the Rural Economic Research Institute of the Jingxi Provincial Academy of Social Sciences said the two farmers did not succeed by accident.

"Urban working experience has broadened their horizons. And the developing rural communication infrastructure is another reason (for their success)," he said.

Official figures from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed that as of October, 2007, 92 percent of the villages and towns have access to broadband connections.

There were about 96 million netizens in China's rural areas by the end of June, 2009, compared to 11 million at the end of 2008. They account for 28.3 percent of the total of Chinese netizens, revealed figures from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).

"I don't have enough money to open solid shops, so online business is a good option," Zhong explained.

But starting an online business in rural areas is not a smooth sailing. Both said that after-sales services for communications equipment were less than desirable.

"Few computer sellers would like to travel miles along mountain roads to deal with a bug," said Zhong.

Backwards logistics also hinders market development. "There are no delivery companies around our village. So all the items, big or small, have to be sent into town first for distribution," he said.

Broadband access is still quite expensive for many farmers. The annual fee is 900 yuan according to CNNIC. The annual per capita income of Jiangxi rural areas in 2008 was 4,697.2 yuan.

Wang Meizhen, a deputy to National People's Congress from Zhejiang Province, has called for more support in developing e-commerce in rural areas at the National People's Congress this year.

"Online business can help agricultural produce sell and create jobs," said Yin.

(Xinhua News Agency September 3, 2009)