November 8, 2005
Extravagant cellphones overload Chinese economy, environment
According to People's Daily Online, in booming China, a cellphone is not just a communication device, but also a luxury and a symbol of one's status and taste, according to Sun Yuanming, a sociologist with the Chongqing Municipal Academy of Social Sciences.
"Urbanites suffer the phobia that the whole world has deserted them only because they forget to bring their cellphones. Trendies, though not necessarily high earners, buy a new handset every three months. Cellphones embedded with diamonds are sold at 210,000 yuan each (25,900 US dollars).
"The Ministry of Information Industry says the Chinese were throwing away 70 million cellphones a year by mid 2004, according to the latest data available.
Piles of deserted cellphones -- most of which worked perfectly though weren't stylish enough -- have overloaded the resource-thirsty Chinese economy and threatened its environment with massive electronic waste, whose proper disposal remains a problem.
... Nearly 60 percent of China's mobile subscribers are in the market for a new cellphone; 12.8 percent of them buy a new handset every six to 12 months and 24.4 percent buy one every 12 to 24 months, according to a recent survey by China Center of Information Industry Development (CCID).
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