The government of Taiyuan, Shanxi province and China Unicom's Shanxi Branch held a signing ceremony on Jan 22, concerning cooperation in a digital city deal.

The China Unicom branch had already signed an agreement back in April, 2010, that called for investing 5 billion yuan ($800 million) in Taiyuan over a five-year period. Now, according to the new agreement, the Shanxi branch will add 500 million yuan more. It will work with the government to digitalize an entire array of things -- political offices, finance, transportation, medical care, security, energy, education, and logistics.

The term "digital city" refers to an urban area where just about everything is digitalized, giving virtual and real access to it on the Internet, through computers, multi-media and large-scale storage technology. The idea is to cater to all citizens' needs to improve people's well being.

Edited by Roger Bradshaw