Wal-Mart moving into these rural areas will be good in some aspects such as consistent product quality and cheaper prices, but I'm worried that it might eradicate local customs and specialty items. We have seen Wal-Mart do this already here in the US, where local business people with markets and speciality foods or traditional products are forced out of business because they simply cannot compete on such a large scale. China has been in a sense sprinting towards modernization and new technologies, fashions, and lifestyles, while this is a good thing, it would be a huge shame if they completely lost their rich cultural heritage. I'm not saying Wal-Mart, by itself, is going to force this to happen, but it would be a huge contributing factor. 

I think that it would be extremely successful for both the locals and Wal-Mart if somehow a system could be worked out where Wal-Mart bought a majority of its products from local farmers etc. putting money into the local market and helping it to expand. In return people could do all of their shopping at Wal-Mart. Maybe they could help each other to both be more successful. Also, Wal-Mart will be able to expose the rural chinese population to a wide variety of consumer goods, which could potentially make there lives easier.