This Day, That Year

Item from March 6, 1994, in China Daily: At a show in Beijing, inventor Gong Chengbo demonstrates his new achievement: a system using ordinary phone lines to transmit video images. The system can also be used to transmit text.

The installation of China's first nationwide video-conferencing network is due to be completed by the end of this month.

It will enable the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications to communicate with all the provinces throughout the country.

Easy access to the internet and the proliferation of mobile devices have changed the way we communicate.

The rapid growth of social-networking platforms have further allowed people to maintain closer ties with friends and family via text, audio or video.

Even video conferencing is a breeze, thanks to the availability of numerous apps.

As of last year, the country's most popular instant-messaging app, WeChat, had 768 million daily users, Tencent Holdings, the operator of the service said.

Despite the convenience of mobile technology, some people think there's a risk of social isolation as there are fewer person-to-person contacts.

Statistics back this up. Last year, Chinese netizens spent a weekly average of 26.5 hours on the internet, according to the China Internet Network Information Center.

WeChat users born after 1980 sent 74 messages every day, the company said in its annual report.

Many look at their account all the time, it noted.