I was born in Guizhou, so I've often heard the old saying about my home province: "Sunshine lasting no more than three days and flat lands lasting no more than three miles".
But I never imagined that the saying would one day describe the conditions underpinning the emergence of the big data industry in Guizhou.
Valleys and caves and the rare sunny day are the main reasons for the cool climate in the plateau province. The mild temperatures mean big data-storage facilities consume less energy. Electricity commonly takes about 50 to 70 percent of a data center's operational costs.
My home province also boasts rich water and fossil fuel resources that can supply the utilities at lower prices.
These are all ideal for the storage of big data, according to officials and experts, which in turn has made Guizhou the first State-level pilot zone for developing the big data industry.
This year, I could not be prouder of my hometown as it faced the challenge of changing its image from a latecomer in the country's industrialization to become a leader in big data.
Its milestone was the China Big Data Industry Summit and China E-commerce Innovation and Development Summit, which Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou, hosted last week, becoming elevated to a State-level expo.
I'm as excited for the Guiyang population of 4.7 million after hearing Premier Li Keqiang say at the expo that industries related to big data are booming and a more transparent and equal market will support them.
I was upbeat when I heard CEOs from global tech companies such as Qualcomm, HP, Dell, Tencent and Alibaba announce their commitment to Guiyang with major projects.
Yet I am more interested to find out how the industry has changed people's lives.
So far, 2.8 million people in Guiyang have access to free Wi-Fi thanks to a project that aims to cover the entire city by 2017.
In return, data records of Wi-Fi logins that can reveal which shopping malls are the busiest and which restaurants are the most visited, are vital to the big data industry.
I was told that efforts to help poverty-stricken residents in Guizhou have become more efficient. A data base monitoring 6.23 million low-income people, their whereabouts and their incomes is in place in 9,000 poor villages, 34 townships and 66 counties.
Such cases of change are happening everywhere in my home province.
"Big data is not heavy industry. It's not manufacturing. It's high-end technology. It's that massive leap into the future," said Andrew Cockburn, a senior official with UK Trade and Investment.
"Guizhou may not have the resource that other regions had previously in China. But it's going straight to the front and to the cutting-edge."
I can't agree more.
(China Daily 05/31/2016 page15)
