China is planning to build a giant database with information about its 1.3 billion population, according to China Youth Daily.

The database will include citizens' names, gender, nationalities, birth dates, residence addresses and identity card numbers, the newspaper said.

Many IT companies, including the Lenovo Group and the Sinosoft Group, have placed bids for the database building program, which will be an unprecedented challenge due to the tremendous quantities of information and complexity of the operation.

Experts here consider that the population database will lay important ground for the country's social and economic development.

It will also play a key role to the establishment of information networks concerning employment, tax levy and management, individual credibility, social security, family planning and criminal tracing, the experts say.

In addition, it can also favor the nationwide distribution of the second generation of ID cards currently under way in China, they said.
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(CRI.com July 24, 2004)