The number of internet users is up to 137 million according to the latest report from the China Internet Networking Information Center.
A report released by the Internet Society China put the total number at 136 million. A difference of a million would be big if it was about The Netherlands. In China, with its huge population, it is less relevant.
It’s a growth of 23.4 percent compared to January last year. If this growth continues China will overtake the United States, where 210 million Americans are active on the Internet, in 3 years.
I have the report but need some more time to see if it has interesting tidbits in there worth mentioning in a next post.
At the same time China’s president Hu Jintao has vowed to ‘purify’ the Internet for all the 137 million users.
From Reuters
Hu, a strait-laced communist with little sympathy for cultural relaxation, did not directly mention censorship.
But he made it clear that the Communist Party was looking to ensure it keeps control of China’s Internet users, often more interested in salacious pictures, bloodthirsty games and political scandal than Marxist lessons.
The party had to “strengthen administration and development of our country’s Internet culture”, Hu told the meeting on Tuesday, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
“Maintain the initiative in opinion on the Internet and raise the level of guidance online,” he said. “We must promote civilized running and use of the Internet and purify the Internet environment.”
I would say, Good luck with that.
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Gemme van Hasselt is an Internet Marketing Consultant, living in Shanghai, China.
