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172 million Internet users in ChinaPosted by Maya Alexandri, October 22, 2007 10:08 AM
At the Seventh China Hi-Tech Trade Fair, held recently in Shenzhen, Ministry of Information Vice-Minister Lou Qinjian announced that, as of September 2007, China had 172 million Internet users.
This figure represents a 10 million increase over the last count, by China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), released in July 2007, which found that China had 162 million Internet users. This rate of increase is consistent with the rate of growth of China's Internet population since January 2007, when CNNIC counted 137 million Internet users. Thus far in calendar year 2007, approximately 4 million Chinese people go online for the first time every month. Nonetheless, this latest surge in Internet usage coincides with a period of increased surveillance and restriction of Internet activity, in advance of the 17th Party Congress. The closing of Internet data centers and the consequent shutting down of thousands of websites doesn't seem to be deterring Chinese people from going online. Indeed, it's possible that the restrictions on press reporting, both on- and offline, is actually spurring Internet use. In the first half of 2003, for example, during the SARS crisis, 9 million Chinese people went online for the first time, and almost 50% of users reported an increase in their Internet usage during SARS. Silencing the press anywhere is likely to pique interest, and despite the surveillance, China's Internet is still a place to sate such curiosity. As blogger Lian Yue said in a recent email interview with your correspondent, "For people who have even just a little Internet experience, you can pretty much get any information you want to know." Links and Sources
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Comments on 172 million Internet users in China
Doesn't it seem a little careless to use the SARS period as an example for this theory?
It seems more likely to me that the people logging on for the first time during the SARS period were looking for information about SARS itself, rather than becoming curious about restrictions on a medium with which they had never had any experience...
In unrelated news NBA commissioner David Stern announced during the recent NBA China Games that there are now 30 million basketball players in China, which leads one to wonder if there is a "China Basketball Information Center" producing statistical data on domestic basketball ownership.
照这个速度,到明年四月底,中国网民将突破2亿大关。 吼吼