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Online community of 221m matches US as world's biggest China's fast-growing internet population has
risen to tie the United States for the world's biggest, with 221 million
people online at the end of February.
The figure, reported by Xinhua News Agency yesterday, reflects China's
explosive growth in web use despite government efforts to block access to
material considered subversive or pornographic.
It was a 61 percent increase over the 137 million internet users
reported by the government at the start of last year.
China lags the the United States, South Korea and other markets in
online commerce and other financial measures, but these are rising fast
and companies have raised millions of dollars from investors.
Beijing promotes internet use for business and education but operates
extensive online censorship. Web surfers have been jailed for posting or
e-mailing material that criticizes communist rule or is deemed a violation
of vague national security laws.
Most recently mainland web surfers have been blocked from seeing
foreign sites with video about protests in Tibet and the security
crackdown there.
China's internet penetration is still low, with 16 percent of people
online, compared with a world average of 19 percent, Xinhua said.
The United States had 221 million internet users in March, according to
Nielsen/NetRatings. The US growth rate is lower, suggesting that when
March figures for China are released they may show the mainland has
already overtaken it.
China's web population is projected to keep growing by 18 percent
annually, reaching 490 million by 2012 - a number larger than the entire
US population. 2008-04-26 |
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