According to a China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) report released on January 17, the country's online population gained another 73 million in 2007-a yearly growth rate of 53.3 percent-to reach a record high of 210 million users.

China is adding 200,000 more Internet users daily and quickly approaching the day when it will surpass the United States numerically, which currently has 215 million netizens.

Liu Bing, Director with the Department of Internet Research and Development under CNNIC, says China's economic boom is the major factor in the surge.

"These days, the concept of the Internet as a recreation tool is gaining currency and an increasing number of people are turning to it for online entertainment," Liu said. "The Internet's low cost amid all-round surging prices gives people an extra incentive to go on the Internet for fun."

Ever popular

In past CNNIC reports, those between 18-30 with high school education or above made up the majority of Internet users. However, 2007 was a turning point for the diversification of the online population.

According to the report, the numbers of netizens aged under 18 beginning to use the Internet in 2007 posted the most robust growth, led by a high proportion of middle and primary school users. Furthermore, the population of netizens over 30 has also begun to swell. Internet fever is spreading through all age groups, and now reaches people in low-income and low-education groups.

Liu ruled out possible changes to current Internet revenue streams in China, which could arise from changes in the composition of Internet population.

"Advertisements, search engines, online games and value-added mobile services will remain the main sources of income for the Chinese Internet industry," he said. "Constrained by their hi-tech thresholds, businesses like e-commerce and online education are less likely to see sharp profit growth."

Rural vitality

Rural areas also made significant contributions to the increase in China's online population. In 2007, rural netizens numbered 52.62 million, representing an exponential annual growth rate of 127.7 percent, far exceeding the 38.2-percent growth rate in urban areas. This means 40 percent of the 73 million new users last year were from rural areas.

"This could not have happened without a helping hand," Liu said. In line with the 11th Five-Year Plan, the Chinese Government has earmarked 3 billion yuan ($416.67 million) to incorporate all villages and towns into the fixed-line phone and Internet network. Rural governments have already begun installing Internet information kiosks in some areas. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Information Industry distributed universal service funds in collaboration with other ministries in an attempt to spur the development of rural telecommunication technology.

"Some quasi-non-governmental organizations like CNNIC are also dedicated to this cause," noted Liu. In November 2007, CNNIC spearheaded a project to launch websites in every county of Tibet Autonomous Region and has completed operation and training of staff in eight pilot government websites in Tibet.

Huge gaps still exist between urban and rural Internet development. In rural areas, proportion of Internet users is still a measly 7.1 percent, according to the CNNIC report, far behind the urban proportion of 27.3 percent. This leaves much room for improving rural Internet communications in the future.

Further development

Another highlight of the CNNIC report was how Chinese netizens spend their online time. Entertainment topped the list of activities, with accessing music online as the favorite activity registering a use rate of 86.6 percent. Using instant messenger and watching online films were next in line, with use rates of 81.4 percent and 76.9 percent, respectively. According to the survey, 94.2 percent of netizens said the Internet had enriched their leisure time.

Recreational use does not automatically mean the Internet has already become a pivotal social infrastructure, according to Yan Hongqiang, Vice Director with the Bureau of Telecommunications Regulation under the Ministry of Information Industry.

Kang Guoping, Inspector General of Blogchina.com, holds a similar opinion. "The dedication of netizens to online entertainment will undermine the social effects of the Internet," Kang said. "Our government departments should take full advantage of the Internet for maximum social achievement. For example, Americans enjoy great access to public services and information through such things as Mapquest, Google maps and Weather.com. What do we have in China? Without adequate applications, even our broadband is under-utilized."

Mobile access lags behind

As a communication tool, mobile phones have become common in China. According to statistics from the Ministry of Information Industry, China boasts 530 million valid SIM cards. The CNNIC report showed that there are 400 million mobile users in China, each of whom owns an average of 1.33 SIM cards.

Free from the location constraints of traditional Web access, mobile phones have started to become complementary devices for Internet use. Surfing the net via mobile phone has become trendy. In the past half year, 50.4 million netizens have accessed the Internet by mobile phone, or 12.6 percent of all mobile phone users.

As one of the Internet users with mobile access, Kang confessed to only reading online news on his mobile phone. "Even those who are well acquainted with the Internet like I am only use low-level applications," Kang said.

It was also noted in the CNNIC report that low speed and high costs are standing in the way of mobile Internet use in China. Without the third generation (3G) technology, mobile access is slow. As a result, downloading a video through a mobile phone doesn't make sense to those who can download the same video on their computer much faster and at little or no cost.

As a leading player in mobile-accessed Internet services, South Korea has about 51.3 percent of its mobile users accessing the Internet by mobile phone. It will take many painstaking efforts for China to catch up with its neighbor in this regard.

Mastering the domain

As a top-level domain name, CN has become a symbol of China. More importantly, the domain name CN bears heavily on China's information security. Registering with the domain name CN is conducive to guaranteeing that the Internet decision-making power stays in China, safeguarding its information security and sharpening its competitive edge in international information tussles. As for users, the domain name CN is administered by Chinese organizations, where Chinese laws have binding force regarding Internet disputes.

For a long time, the domain name COM was nearly synonymous with the Internet itself. However, 2007 could be seen as a watershed. As the CNNIC report said,

China's online population is bursting and has been accompanied by an escalating number of registered CN domain names. In 2007, 7.82 million domain names were created in China, reaching a total of 11.93 million, with an annual growth rate of 190.4 percent. Most of the newly registered domain names are CN, and there has been a daily growth of about 20,000 in the past year. The domain name CN has so far gained a dominant position in China, holding 75.4 percent of the total, followed by 20.4 percent having the domain name COM. China currently ranks second in the world for its top-level domain name, only second to the 11.28 million of German DE.