Lu Yinfang, a primary school English teacher from Jinshan District, never imagined that she would begin surfing the Internet at the age of 40 and became one of the 12 competitors to become one of the city's "Digital Mothers."

Yesterday, Lu and nine other contestants were awarded the title.

The competition is designed to showcase the city's programs to get "a million families on the Internet," said Vice Mayor Yang Xiaodu yesterday. "Shanghai citizens should all improve their computer skills."

Saying that women were lagging behind local men in their understanding of computer skills, the Shanghai Women's Federation and the Shanghai Information Technology Development Commission offered free training to more than 50,000 women in the past year.

These trainees, together with 59 other applicants, attended the "Digital Mothers" competition. After two-month preliminary competitions, 12 contestants joined yesterday's event.

Lu is the oldest among the 12. Her desire to learn computer skills came about from a gift she received on Teachers' Day.

The gift was a vivid flash animation created by one of her students. It depicted a seedling growing big under sunshine.

"I felt so shameful at that time because I, as a teacher, had lagged behind my students in computer skills. So, I decided to learn computer for the sake of my students," she said

"I realize now that knowing nothing about the Internet is the same as being illiterate in modern times," Lu said.

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