Straining to control a deafening, bucking, fuel-powered plough, Qing Zhongxing prepares a strip of land ahead of sowing next season's harvest of rapeseed.
Throttling down at the next turn, he pauses to check his mobile phone: it is the latest news on pork prices. On the other side of the village, in Chongqing's Dazu County, beekeeper Long Ximing is too engrossed in his honeycombs - and avoiding being stung - to check on his phone's shrill alert.
Nonetheless, like Mr Qing and 20 million others in rural China, he is a big fan of mobile farming.
China Mobile's Nongxington - or farming information service - launched four years ago. The company is currently focusing on expanding its delivery in China's west and south-west regions.
"Building the mobile network and covering most of the country's administrative villages, we realised that there was only a network signal. In rural areas, this is not enough," explains Liu Jing, a local manager for the service at China Mobile. "It's like having a highway and no cars!" And for those who can't yet afford a basic $30 (£19.20; 22.66 euros) phone, they can have one for free so long as their total monthly bill exceeds $2. Share
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