Businessman Pan Penghui, who lives in a coastal village in East China's Zhejiang Province, did not expect the Internet to bring him so many business opportunities.

The owner of a valve producing firm in Shuilong Village of Yuhuan County, a six-hour bus drive from Hangzhou, the provincial capital, Pan's business has been booming since he bought a computer and began using the Internet two years ago.

Pan describes the impact on his business of going on-line as akin to an "earthquake measuring 6 on the Richter scale." His company's monthly business has risen from 300,000 yuan (US$3,500) to 1 million yuan (US$120,000).

He is not the only local to feel the force of new technology.

Hampered by poor, rugged road conditions and little access to information technology, villagers in Shuilong have relied solely on crops as a means of eking out an existence.

However, with the introduction of new technology, in particular, the Internet, local farmers in the village have adopted a number of other ways to compete and survive.

Chen Xiuping, owner of the Yuhuan Carburetor Factory, has invited a college student to help him access information from the Internet. His factory produces accessories for China's largest automobile manufacturer: China No 1 Automobile Works.

Products from Chen's factory have entered the world market and are sold worldwide.

More and more people in the village have telephones and computers in their homes, attend technical training courses and surf the Internet. (Xinhua)