22.5 million Net users in China

Net users in China have jumped from 8.9 million to 22.5 million in the past year

By Kristie Lu Stout
CNN.com Writer

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Internet use in China has rocketed by more than 152 percent to more than 22.5 million in the past year, a new report says.

The latest semi-annual study by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) reports that 3.64 million people in China surf on leased lines and 15.43 with dial-up connections.

The report, which covers November 2000 through to early January 2001, says the number of users accessing the Internet via both leased lines and dial-up connections was 3.43 million.

With the number of Internet users jumping from 8.9 million one year ago to 22.5 million, the China Internet market continues to be one of the fastest growing markets in the world.

According to the report, domain names ending in ."cn," the country suffix for China, reached 122,099. The total number of Chinese World Wide Web sites is now 265,405.

The CNNIC study also found that Beijing is home to 23.42 percent of China's Web sites, while Guangdong province hosts 14.24 percent, and Shanghai 10.61 percent.

China's surfers mostly young men

China's Internet surfing audience is mostly young (aged between 18 and 24) and male (almost 70 percent).

The report also says average Internet usage is at 13.66 hours per week, with email as the most popular service.

However, interest in ecommerce is lukewarm. Only 32 percent of those surveyed had purchased any goods online in the past year, and just 9 percent had bought something at an online auction.

Users surveyed overwhelmingly said that the biggest problem with Internet access in China is its lack of speed, followed by high prices.

The CNNIC report is the group's seventh report on the Internet in China. In 1998, CNNIC began to publish semi-annual statistical updates on the P.R.C. Internet.

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