Chinese internet users surges past half a billion

2011 has been declared a watershed year for many Chinese, who were seen to have found their long-hushed voice with hundreds of thousands using weibo to gather, discuss and disseminate major news items and social issues.

Last July’s Wenzhou deadly train crash, the hit-and-run of a toddler who was left to die by 18 passers-by – plus mass protests against pollution in Dalian and corruption in Wukan, sparked heated debate and intense criticism of officials.

The figures also a show the number of those surfing the web by mobile phone rose 17.5 per cent to 356 million.

Internet use for business and education is encouraged by the government.

But the medium poses a huge dilemma to propaganda officials as they attempt to form and “guide public opinion”.

Several years ago, the Government erected the Great Fire Wall which blocks out all material it considers subversive or pornographic.

One of the main complaints among visitors to China – especially on business – is the very slow as well as heavily censored internet connection.

Many net-savvy Chinese and expats, however, breech the wall by using a VPN – virtual private network – to access banned web and social media sites such as Twitter, the most popular microblogging platform in the world.

All told, the CNNIC figures show internet use increasing by 12.5 per cent year-on-year from December 2010 to December 2011, with those in China now on line representing 38.3 per cent of the 1.3 billion population.

Internet use in the world’s most populous country has been booming since 2004, which recorded 94 million users.

Internet Growth in China

2004 94 million

2005 111 million

2006 137 million

2007 210 million

2008 298 million

2009 384 million

2010 457.3 million

2011 513.1 million

SOURCE: CNNIC

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