China's Internet users second the world

BEIJING (Reuters and Xinhua) - The number of Internet users in China reached 78 million by the end last month. According to the report, given by Hu Qiheng, chairwoman of the Internet Society of China, at the Second Internet Conference of China, by the end of the year there would be 500,000 websites and 30 million online computers in China.

The Internet entered China in 1994 and in recent years, the number of users has been increasing by 5 to 6 per cent monthly. Currently the number of Internet users in China is second only to the number in the United States. The Ministry of Information Industry estimates that by 2005, online computers will reach 40 million and 15 per cent of the population of China will be surfing the Internet.

In comparison with developed countries, the Internet in China is still in its first stage. Online operation of businesses is not so widespread in China as it is in developed countries. Although 47 per cent of the 8.3 million small and medium companies in China have Internet connections, only 11.1 per cent of them conduct e-business. In comparison, 60 per cent of small companies, 80 per cent of medium sized companies and 90 per cent of large ones in the United States are doing e-business.

Xi Guohua, vice-minister of information industry, said the ministry will strengthen its macro planning and guidance of the Internet industry and push forward the upgrading of the Internet with a focus on market, encouraging the development of all sorts of public data bases to speed up the establishment of a system for information sharing, and promoting the use of the Internet in fields such as the industrial sector, education, culture and health care.