Cellphone trend on the rise in China

“Most young people will come up and ask you for your MSN (screen name) or your QQ number rather than your e-mail address,” said Kaiser Kuo, director of digital strategy for Ogilvy & Mather Advertising in Beijing. “Young people often print it on their cards.”

Many of those young people can be found pecking furiously at the mobile phone keyboard as they engage in short bursts of conversation. The cost is one reason. A short message costs as little as a penny a thought, whereas voice calls are comparatively pricey at 2 to 5 cents a minute.

It’s not just teenagers and young adults who don’t seem to mind composing their thoughts on a tiny device.

Ren Xiaomin, a 49-year-old construction worker from Beijing, said he recently traded his Motorola phone for one with a stylus and touch-screen that lets him communicate with his 26-year-old son using traditional Chinese characters.

In fact, nearly 9 out of 10 Chinese who own cellphones send text messages, iResearch found. Only 49 percent of U.S. cellphone users send text messages, according to the Pew Internet Center.

Any time millions of people use a technology, scams are sure to follow. Chinese officials have instituted new regulations designed to cut down on text-messaging schemes that offer fake cash prizes and illegal services such as gambling and prostitution.

Mobile communication also has emboldened some to engage in social activism, making it easier to mobilize political demonstrations. In the Philippines, President Joseph Estrada was forced from office in a 2001 popular uprising that he decried as a “coup de text.”

In June, thousands of Chinese protesters wearing gas masks and carrying banners staged a protest over plans to build a chemical plant in the port city of Xiamen.

Angry about what they described as an environmental “atomic bomb,” locals claimed to have circulated 1 million mobile text messages urging friends and families to attend a rally outside the city government’s headquarters. Officials responded by blocking messages to keep people from joining the demonstration.

As with all other forms of communication in China, the government is watching. Some Chinese say officials expanded censorship over phone messages after the 2003 SARS epidemic, in which millions of text messages were sent alerting people to the virus and exposing a national cover-up.

“Once in a while, you’ll get friendly reminders from the public security bureau,” Ogilvy & Mather’s Kuo said. “You always know what the event is that they’re referring to, but they’re very elliptical about it, reminding you not to spread rumors.”

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