According to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), the online population in China has reached 210 million, a whopping 53% increase from last year’s 137 million online population. This puts China on pace to surpass the online population in the U.S. sometime this year. As it stands, China’s online population is only 5 million behind the American online population, according to the Chinese government’s Xinhua News Agency.
An interesting note is that despite the impressive growth in the number of its Web inhabitants, China’s online penetration rate is only at 16% among citizens six years-old and older. The penetration rate among U.S. adults is 75%, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. This penetration rate is even higher among U.S. teens, which are not even included in the 75% figure.
“China is approximately 15 years behind,” said John Horrigan, associate director at Pew.
The fastest growth for the Chinese online population in 2007 was observed among users between 18 and 30 years-old, while a surprising 40% of all new Web users (or 29 million users) are located in rural areas of the country.
A key difference between China and the U.S. is the use of cybercafés, which are crucial for about one-third of the Chinese population. Pew indicates that 93% of U.S. Web users have home access.
Another critical difference is censorship, which plagues Web users in China and has led to numerous Internet-related imprisonments.
The top seven most popular Web applications were: music (86.6%), instant messaging (81.4%), videos (76.9%), news (73.6%), search engines (72.4%), online games (59.3%), and e-mail (56.5%).
Sources:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080118/ap_on_hi_te/china_internet_
boom;_ylt=AtGggEL6hNdNm6OMJa_8pkr6VbIF
http://www.sda-india.com/sda_india/psecom,id,102,site_layout,
sdaindia,news,22942,p,0.html
Digg 
