It has sent talented volunteers to work there, invited scholars from there to visit Shanghai and study in the city, and also developed distance education and service systems to help in a more direct way.

Magnolia Tele-education Network for Medical Training opened online at the end of last month. Offering medical consultation and training programs for medical workers online, the network mainly targets people in Yunnan Province and the former Three Gorges Region. It has been warmly received since its launch, with some 1,000 people visiting it everyday.

Simao Training Center is a distance education center for farmers. During its three years of operation, 7,000 farmers have gained agricultural knowledge and learned scientific and modern farming skills.

Local scientific and educational organizations have also jointly organized live online lectures on economics, management, and important national and international topics, such as regional wars and China's entry to the World Trade Organization.

So far, a total of about 2,000 distance education centers have been set up, nearly 10,000 people in western China have received training programs offered online by Shanghai organizations, and some 2,000 patients have received online medical help from the Magnolia network.

"The services offered by people in Shanghai are just great," said a resident of Yunnan who has been helped by the Magnolia network.

(eastday.com March 18, 2003)