210 million Internet users in China

The China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) released the "21st Report of China Internet Development" on January 17th in Beijing. By December 31, 2007, the total number of Internet users in China reached 210 million (only 5 million less than the United States); ranked second in the world; and the number is expected to become the world's largest in early 2008.

Data show that in 2007, China's Internet users increased by 73 million. The annual growth rate reached 53.3 percent, with an average daily increase of 20 million. However, despite today's Internet access rising to 16 percent; it is still below the world's average of 19.1 percent.

More farmers turn to Internet, nearly 40% of new Internet users in rural areas.

CNNIC data show that the rapid growth of Internet users in rural areas is an important new aspect of Internet use. Among all new users, 29.2 million, or 40 percent, are in rural areas. By the end of December 2007, there were 52.6 million Internet users in China; and the annual growth rate reached 127.7 percent. The rapid growth of Internet users in rural areas makes rural areas a big potential consumer market. As the popularization of village informationization continues and policies such as "every village has access to the Internet" and "every village has a website" are going smoothly, the rural Internet market will certainly be promising.

CNNIC report conducted a detailed analysis of new users for the first time. Among new users in 2007, the proliferation among all levels is clear: Internet users under the age of 18 and over the age of 30 grew rapidly; users with an education level of and below high school had rapid growth; and more low-income people began to access the Internet.

All enter the broadband network era, daily growth of .CN domain names reaches 20,000.

Data show that the number of broadband Internet users in China reached 163 million, accounting for 85.9 percent of total Internet users; and China has entered the era of broadband networks. Additionally, 50.4 million mobile phone users have wireless Internet access.

The development of basic Internet resources is also "doing its part." By the end of December 2007, there were 135 million IP addresses in China; but compared with the basic needs of each IP address for one Internet user, the gap remains large.

The report revealed that China's total number of domain names reached 11.93 million; and the annual growth rate is as high as 190 percent. There are 9 million national domain .CN names, increasing four times over the same period in 2006; and the daily growth of 20,000 is miraculous in the history of the domain name. Websites with a .CN domain exceeded 1 million for the first time: two-thirds of all 1.5 million websites in world. In addition, the numbers of websites, web pages and bytes on a page all have grown by more than 60 percent; and Internet users now have access to increasing diverse information resources.

Entertainment becomes the focus of network applications, 181 million users listen to music online.

The interpretation of various Internet applications models is a major high point of this report. Investigations revealed that the most common application for China's Internet users is transfers; and entertainment has become the country's most important network application. The top seven categories of network application are: online music, instant communication, network television, network news, search engines, online games, and e-mail. Applications pertaining to online entertainment, such as online music and network television, rank significantly ahead; and 94.2 percent of Internet users give a positive evaluation of Internet entertainment.

Data shows that as many as 181 million Internet users listen to online music. Internet users who use instant messaging are as many as 170 million; and that is nearly 40 percent of the Internet users who choose instant messaging online as a first foothold. Internet-based applications such as network news and e-mail fall behind; and email applications ranked at the top before 2007. - By People's Daily Online