China's Skyrocketing Internet Use


Internet use in China has skyrocketed in recent years, giving China the second largest group of active Internet users in the world, behind only the United States. China's Internet community increased by more than 17% in 2005 to 110 million, representing a tenfold increase in the number of users since the end of 1999 and accounting for almost 10% of China's total population. The number of .cn Internet domains increased by over 27% last year, and number of IP addresses in China increased by more than 15 million to a total of 60 million in Mainland China, representing a two fold increase since early 2003.

China's Internet has also become more diverse in recent years, representing students, engineers, business managers, and government officers of varying income levels. These groups represent the current and future members of China's growing middle class. Internet use has also spread from China's major cities into less-developed provinces, providing web access to new segments of China's society. Provinces such as Xinjiang, Qinghai, and Tibet have all shown significant increases in Internet use as well as Internet hosting in the past few years.

The role of the Internet is also changing, as users increasingly understand its capabilities. Only two years ago, more than half of Internet users accessed the web primarily to get information. While this remains an important factor in Internet use, the percentages of users who access the Internet for entertainment and social purposes have both increased. Users are also more comfortable with making purchases online as well as utilizing online services such as banking.