China's internet users jump 30%

[Rubber Duck]

More propaganda from the IDNers. Well, no the BBC actually, but Rick will still tell you that that they all want to go online in English. So I guess that figure of 132 Million Internet user of which 52 Million are on Broadband connection is pretty meaningless!

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6216231.stm

Either way the Chinese Internet is set to outgrow the US almost as quickly as Toyota will supplant GM.

Most people have them parked with a Beijing based service, which admittedly isn't very satisfactory, but we are expecting other services to open for China in the New Year.

Google run Adwords and Adsense in Chinese within China, but they are not the market leader. Google are doing this in just about every significant market in world. I have even seen Tamil Adwords.

People in Western economies need to broaden their perspectives a bit. If you right these people off like we did the Japanese a few decades ago now, you will reap the consequences.

[domainstosell]

Wow, that's staggering. I wish I had bought more Chinese domains...

[Beachie]

"132 million, state media reports"

That last bit sums it up. Do you really believe it, or do you think it might be propoganda?

Internet traffic in China is filtered and monitored by the Government - they only see what the Communists want them to see, so just because you own a bunch of Chinese IDNs, doesn't mean they'll be clicking on your U.S.-hosted parking page any time soon.

I lived in Singapore for some time, where traffic is also filtered by the Govt. You'd be suprised what they won't let you see, especially considering they're a very Westernised country.

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/china/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2234154.stm

"Among the measures, all internet users have to register with a police bureau in their neighbourhood within 30 days of opening a web account"

[Rubber Duck]

Frankly, on balance I think I would prefer to rely on statistics coming out of the PRC than those coming out of the US.

At the end of the day the PRC government isn't answerable to anyone, so what possible motivation could they have for falsifying the data. Bush on the other hand, well it started with a rigged election and it has gone down hill ever since!

[bwhhisc]

Frankly, on balance I think I would prefer to rely on statistics coming out of the PRC than those coming out of the US.
At the end of the day the PRC government isn't answerable to anyone, so what possible motivation could they have for falsifying the data. Bush on the other hand, well it started with a rigged election and it has gone down hill ever since!

Just the facts. As 'some' like to see them! lol

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications...k/geos/xx.html

[Beachie]

Frankly, on balance I think I would prefer to rely on statistics coming out of the PRC than those coming out of the US.

At the end of the day the PRC government isn't answerable to anyone, so what possible motivation could they have for falsifying the data. Bush on the other hand, well it started with a rigged election and it has gone down hill ever since!

So you're saying Bush is falsifying the number of Internet users? Weird.

China's motivation is to cast off the stigma of being a backward, repressed Communist regime. That's their motivation. Isn't that obvious?!?

[Duckinla]

Frankly, on balance I think I would prefer to rely on statistics coming out of the PRC than those coming out of the US.

At the end of the day the PRC government isn't answerable to anyone, so what possible motivation could they have for falsifying the data.

Hard to even respond to that. First the premise is wrong. There is no such thing as a leadership that is not concerned about it's image. Second the U.S. has an independant media to verify or disagree with the info coming from the government. Third, if you really feel this way, you either haven't thought it through very far or it puts your overall judgement in question.

[touchring]

The 132 million i believe is based on the number of subscribers (of which 50 million are DSL), which is an inaccurate assessment of the number of users.

In the age of wireless lan, would you believe each subscription serves only 1 user?

[DNWizardX9]

I believe cybercafes are quite commonplace in China. Alot of users are using internet cafes .

[domainuncle]

This might be due to huge population in addition to increasing business interest in the area.

[touchring]

I believe cybercafes are quite commonplace in China. Alot of users are using internet cafes .

People go to cybercafe to play LAN games. Internet surfing is done at home or at work. Based on 50 million DSL lines, assuming just 3 users per line (for corporate accounts, one line can possibly be shared between 50 users), that will be 150 million users just on DSL subscription alone.