Chinese online community hits 68 million

NEWS Internet subscribers in China grew by 8.9 million during the past six months. China had 68 million internet users as of the end of June, 8.9 million more than six months ago, according the country's official Xinhua news agency. The agency cited statistics released on Monday by the China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC). China's net users now constitute 5.3 per cent of its 1.3 billion population, according to the Centre's latest report on net usage. The report said that China had 25.72 million computers connected to the internet and 473,900 websites, including 250,651 under the .cn domain. This is an increase of 23.5 per cent, 27.5 per cent and 39.6 per cent respectively, compared with six months ago. Those connecting to the internet via dial-up accounted for 45 per cent of total users, while broadband Internet users reached 9.8 million, a significant rise from last 6.6 million six months ago. CNNIC statistics also show that websites under the .cn domain registered in the more heavily populated and industrial north, east and south account for 76.4 per cent of the national total, while those registered in the less developed northeastern, southwestern and northwestern China make up a very small proportion, said the Xinhua report. China is the most populous country in the world and one of the fastest growing internet markets. According to market measurement firm Nielsen/Netratings, user numbers are doubling every 12 to 18 months. As of April last year, China was second only to the US in the number of citizens who go online, followed by Japan, Germany and the UK.