Chinese Internet Community Reaches 253 Million

According to a recent Chinese government tally, 253 million people in the country regularly use the Internet, giving China the largest Internet using population in the world. This number is more than double the 137 million users counted just two years ago.

China has for some time been considered the world's next economic powerhouse. As western nations like the United States slow in production and development, rising countries like China and India are expected to be next in line for huge industry booms. But industry is not the only indicator that these countries are steaming into the twenty-first century -- so too is their citizen's desire for knowledge and, connected to that, skyrocketing Internet use.

So, what are all these people doing on the Internet? Well, it seems that overall, the Chinese look to the Internet to entertain them. In order of popularity, they use their computers for music, Instant Messaging, movies and TV, news, search engines, games and then email.  (Source: msnbc.com)

Interestingly for readers with a social science bent, over the past year 71.7% more Chinese Internet users employ the Internet for online payment purposes. This indicates that more Chinese citizens are achieving a standard of living that makes them both comfortable and able to use the Internet to pay bills and transfer money. This in turn signifies important demographic shifts within the population.

Regardless of how huge this number seems to a North American audience, the 253 million current Internet users comprise only a paltry 19% of the Chinese population. As a result, there is still a huge margin for growth.

Even though the government has recently announced a campaign to ban "all messages, whether text, audio or video, sexually suggestive, including ads and sites that promote violence, religious cults or unveil national secrets," the millions of Internet users in the country also suggest that the Chinese government's attempts to censor information obtainable online hasn't had a deterrent effect. (Source: efluxmedia.com)