China's Internet population has overtaken the United States' to become the world's biggest with about 220 million web surfers, a research firm said Friday. The Chinese figure dates from late February, when the US online population was estimated at about 217 million, according to BDA China, a Beijing-based technology consulting and research firm.
"There are two major drivers. One is continued strong growth in broadband users. The other is the popularity of Internet cafes in relatively small cities," said Liu Bin, an analyst with BDA China. The United States has occupied the number one position since the birth of the Internet as a network of computers under the auspices of the US Department of Defence in 1969, the state-run China Daily newspaper said. But by the end of 2008, China is expected to have 280 million Internet users, according to BDA China.
That will be a 33 percent rise from the 210 million China had at the end of last year, according to the China Internet Network Information Centre, a government-backed institution. In a country as big as China with a population of over 1.3 billion people, different factors are key to rising Internet use in various regions.
In the cities, growth is boosted by constant infrastructure upgrading carried out by telecom operators, which enables more and more families to get access to broadband. Already 160 million Chinese use broadband Internet, according to estimates from BDA China.
The situation in the countryside - home to a majority of China's population but only about one fourth of its Internet users - is different. "There will be more users using Internet cafes. In some small towns, many users don't have broadband access at home, but will go to Internet cafes to play online games," said BDA China's Liu.
The fast-growing online population has made the Internet a new forum for average Chinese to express opinions in a free-wheeling way rarely seen on the strictly government-controlled traditional media.
The appeal of the web has stirred up Beijing's fears about potential social unrest, and President Hu Jintao called last year for efforts to "purify" the Internet. The latest example of government crackdowns on Internet use is an announcement in January that only state-controlled entities would be allowed to operate websites that post audio-visual content.
While the government is concerned about the Internet's subversive potential, its overall attitude is somewhat ambivalent, as it also hails its ability to boost the knowledge and skills of the Chinese population.
Companies also have ambiguous feelings about the Internet, but for another reason - they find it hard to make money on it. Obstacles to a more lucrative Chinese Internet include fundamental issues such as reliable and safe payment systems, according to observers.
"In December 2007, the online shopping rate of Chinese netizens was 22.1 percent," the China Internet Network Information Centre said in its latest half-yearly report from January.
Overall, finding a way to turn the huge numbers of Internet users into profit is a major task, observers argue. "While the volume of communications users will continue to rise, the focus in China will increasingly shift to deriving greater value from these consumers," BDA China's chairman Duncan Clark told the China Daily.