So far Internet use across China stands at around 20 percent, said Wang, adding that when its use has spread to remote rural areas it will have an even more profound effect on society and the economy.

Wang Weijia, CEO of Mtone Wireless Corp, a domestic mobile communication service provider, was also positive about the future development of the Internet in China. "In the next 10 years, people will spend more time on cell phones than on computers, thus wireless Internet will be the trend," he said.

Privacy issue

For sure the Internet has brought much fun, convenience and freedom to users, but it is a double-edged sword, and horrible things can happen to the netizens as well, one of them being privacy violation.

There once was an unfortunate girl who was dumped by her boyfriend because of the Internet. The girl told one of her good friends about her problems in her relationship seeking some consoling. Unexpectedly, the girl's friend came back to her three days later, presenting her with a disk containing information about her boyfriend's affair with another girl: their emails, records of online chatting and all the related files on his computer.

This is a true story cited in the book Who's Peeking at Your Privacy by Chinese writer Zhao Shuizhong, who spent two years investigating online privacy.

There is a widespread saying that goes: On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog, hailing the great advantage of its anonymity. "Considering what happens in the real world, the saying should go like this: On the Internet, every one knows you're a dog," said Zhao Fujun, a Chinese Internet law expert.

In the cyberworld, the power of technology can penetrate any security shield and obtain any information including your name, telephone number, marriage record, family information, workplace name, income records and bank account details.

In March 2006, several websites appeared showing videos and still photos of cats being stomped to death by a sexy woman wearing stockings and high heels, which outraged many Chinese netizens who then vowed to uncover who the woman was.

One month later another similar case appeared on the Internet. A husband complained on a website saying that his wife was having an affair with a university student. Later the student fell victim to "public outrage:" his contact information was dug up and publicized, and he began to receive threatening calls. The student had to disappear to escape public condemnation.

Nothing is truly private in the cyber- world. "When you are surfing the Web you may think you are anonymous, but there are various ways that information about you or your activities can be collected without your knowledge or consent," said Zhao Shuizhong, adding that personal information might be leaked via emails, browsers, cookies or cryptography.

Technology should be held responsible for Internet privacy violation, Zhao Fujun said. But Internet users should also raise their own awareness about how to protect their privacy when using it. On the part of the government, it should step up moves to introduce legislation on Internet privacy protection, he added.

Digital divide

There's no denying there is a gap between urban and rural areas in China in terms of information: the digital divide is the common term for the gap between those with regular, effective access to digital and information technology, and those without it. It encompasses both physical access to technology hardware and, more broadly, skills and resources that allow for its use.

Rural and urban areas of the country are provided with unbalanced levels of information industry infrastructure, according to Jiang Yaoping, Vice Minister of the Information Industry of China, addressing the opening ceremony of the China Day of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecom World 2006 in Hong Kong.

According to the latest data released by the China Internet Network Information Center, more than 20 percent of urban residents in China have access to the Internet, compared with only 3 percent in the countryside.

In recent years China has made some progress in this regard through projects like "telephone linkage to villages," said Jiang, citing that 98.8 percent of Chinese villages are now connected to the outside world by telephone. But as a developing country, China still has a long way to go in providing universal telecommunication services, he added.

In April 2007, the World Bank and Peking University Public Policy Institute jointly released a report saying that information and communication technologies are vital for China to sustain its rapid economic growth and for it to become an innovation-driven society.

However, the report also said high Internet fees, insufficient regulation, dependence on foreign technology and a lack of talent are the four main factors that block China's information industry development.

The price of Internet use in China accounts for 10 percent of the total income level, which is almost 10 times that of developed countries, and the high price is leading to an increasing digital gap between urban residents and rural groups in the country, the report stated.

China needs to further reform laws and regulations in areas such as telecommunications, access to government information, data protection and privacy. It also needs to invest more to provide rural residents with access to telecom infrastructure, said Jin Shengxi, a Chinese IT columnist.

China is now drafting its first telecom law and will soon set up its first universal service fund, which subsidizes telecom operators for providing services in rural areas, according to Jin.

China Internet Timeline

In September 1987, with the support of a scientific research group led by Professor Werner Zorn, of Karlsruhe University in Germany, a working group built up an email node and successfully sent out an email to Germany on Sep 20. The email title was "Across the Great Wall we can reach every corner in the world."

In later December 1992, Tsinghua University Network (TUNET) was set up and went into service. TUNET was the first college network to adopt TCP/IP structure in China.

In May 1994, the National Research Center for Intelligent Computing Systems opened the first BBS in the Chinese mainland-Dawn BBS

On November 15, 1996, the Shihuakai Corporation built the Shihuakai Internet Café besides the capital gymnasium; it was the first Internet café in China

On January 1, 1997, People's Daily's online version was launched. This was the first key news website of the Central Government. The same year, CNNIC published the first "Statistical Report on Internet Development in China."

In September 1999, China Merchants Bank took the lead in providing an online banking service called "All in One Net," making it the first online commercial bank in China.

On May 25, 2001, the Internet Society of China (ISC) was founded with the approval of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. It was established under the direction of the Ministry of Information Industry.

On March 20, 2003, a youth from Hubei Province named Sun Zhigang was beaten to death in Guangzhou. Online media around the nation actively participated in reporting the tragedy and raised public concerns across the country, for the first time demonstrating the Internet's great power as the media to voice public opinion in China.

In August 2005, Chinese leading Internet search engine Baidu ignited a buying spree of its shares when it had its initial public offering on the Nasdaq.

At the end of 2006, a virus called "Nimaya" broke out across China's Internet. Millions of computers were affected and damaged. An investigation showed that 90 percent of new viruses in 2006 had traits of being for profit. The purpose of virus producers veered from showing off their techniques to pursuing illegal profits.

In January 2007, the Statistical Report of Internet Development in China published by CNNIC showed the netizen population in China had reached 137 million by the end of 2006, and the average time spent online was 16.9 hours per person per week.