2004 July 20

On Jul 20, 2004, China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) published the "14th Statistical Survey Report on the Internet Development in China" in Beijing. According to the report, many macro data kept rapid increase. By Jun. 30, 2004, the total number of Internet users in China has reached 87.0 million, which increases by 27.9% over a 12 month period. In the mean time, the number of computer hosts in China has raised to 36.30 million. The bandwidth of international connection has reached 53.9 G, which is an increase by 190.3% over the same time of last year. Also, there have been 382216 CN domain names. In this report, surveys on the issues like the online chatting services and the online recruitment services have been conducted for the first time.

All the main figures have clearly shown that Internet has pervaded into each corner of our lives. Moreover, Internet has become one of the most influential, rapid-developing and promising industries in China.

As indicated by the report, there have been 13% more Internet users to use Internet banking to make payments than those who make payments on delivery. As many as 37.9% of the Internet users chose to pay for the purchases online either by credit card or debit card. Additionally, more and more users are looking for e-banking systems. It is estimated that the number of the Internet users who do online shopping will increase by 190.3% in the coming year. 

By June 30, 2004, the number of WWW sites has reached 6.27 million, increasing by 32.2% over a 12 month period. Geographically, most WWW sites (84%) are located in Northern, Eastern and Southern China. The site number has increased in North east, South west and North west of China. All of these have indicated that the Internet development situation is not equal among different regions of China although the trend of the overall Internet development in China is still growing up.

For the services provided by the Internet such as search engine, online education, online banking, online auction, Internet Ads, online news, online VOD services, charged email services, SMS, online recruitment, online information and online gaming, more and more users are giving credits to them. In the mean time, the number of broadband users has reached 31.10 million, an increase of 13.70 million over the past 12 months (an increase by 78.7% over a 6 month period). All these figures indicate a prospective Internet market in China.

The English version of the "14th Statistical Survey Report on the Internet Development in China" can be downloaded from: http://www.cnnic.cn/en/index/0O/02/index.htm