BEIJING (BBC) -- Sixty years after the revolution engineered by Chairman Mao, China is in the midst of a different revolution - of a digital variety.

Symbols of Communist China now sit alongside those of capitalism Since Mao's death in 1976, China has changed enormously, racing to catch up with the rest of Asia.

Mobile phones and cameras have become must-haves - everywhere you go, people are talking, texting, and surfing.

An explosion of capitalism has given cities like Shanghai and Beijing futuristic skylines. Big business and consumer technology alike have found a new home here.

The country is already the world's largest producer of mobile phones, PCs and cameras, which it can churn out in their millions - and all because of China's biggest resource: people.

It is worth taking a minute to look at the statistics, because they are truly amazing. China is the world's most populous country, with 1.3 billion people. On size alone, it is fast becoming a technology superpower and it almost has no choice in the matter. For example, even though only 8% of its people have access to the internet, this equates to 100 million people online, second only to the U.S.

The Chinese Government is very keen to make sure its internet infrastructure is up to the job. It is quite literally bringing its people up to speed. Dorothy Yang, research director at IDC Analysts, told Click: "About 70 to 80% of internet users use broadband. One reason is that broadband access is quite cheap in China - it only costs about $10-15 a month for unlimited internet access."

No longer just a tech producer, China is becoming a gargantuan tech consumer.

It will come as little surprise that China is now the world's largest cell phone market, with more than 380 million mobiles. And, just like internet penetration, the number is rising at an impressive rate.

Just like the rest of the world, they are in love with their phones.

But perhaps here, more than in most countries, phones have an added value. In a place where public displays of affection and freedom to say what you want are still not to be taken for granted, mobile phones offer new privacy for conversation and romance.

Walk into a mobile phone store and you are offered only two choices of network, but a multitude of home-made brands of handset, some designed to satisfy even the most demanding user: I found one box that was a MP3 player, an MPEG4 video player, a PDA, a two megapixel camera with flash and a video camera.

Nonetheless, despite all the bells and whistles, the home-made jobs often lack the style and glamour of the established brands, which most Chinese still opt for.