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China has been on the internet intermittently since May 1989 and on a permanent basis since 20 April 1994, although with limited access. In 2008, China became the country with the largest population on the Internet and, , has remained so. As of July 2016, 730,723,960 people (53.2% of the country's total population) were internet users. China's first foray into global cyberspace was an
email Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" mean ...
(not TCP/IP based and thus technically not internet) sent on 20 September 1987 to
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; german: Karlsruher Institut für Technologie) is a public research university in Karlsruhe, Germany. The institute is a national research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in 2009 ...
. It said "Across the
Great Wall The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand Li (unit), ''li'' wall") is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against Eurasian noma ...
, we can reach every corner in the world" (). This later became a well-known phrase in China and , was displayed on the desktop login screen for QQ mail.


History

By the end of 2009, the number of Chinese domestic websites grew to 3.23 million, with an annual increase rate of 12.3%, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. As of first half of 2010, the majority of the Web content is user-generated. As of June 2011, Chinese internet users spent an average of 18.7 hours online per week, which would result in a total of about 472 billion hours in 2011. China had 618 million internet users by the end of December 2013, a 9.5 percent increase over the year before and a penetration rate of 45.8%. By June 2014, there were 632 million internet users in the country and a penetration rate of 46.9%. The number of users using mobile devices to access the internet overtook those using PCs (83.4% and 80.9%, respectively). China replaced the U.S. in its global leadership in terms of installed telecommunication bandwidth in 2011. By 2014, China hosts more than twice as much national bandwidth potential than the U.S., the historical leader in terms of installed telecommunication bandwidth (China: 29% versus US:13% of the global total). As of March 2017, there are about 700 million Chinese internet users, and many of them have a high-speed internet connection. Most of the users live in urban areas but at least 178 million users reside in rural towns. A majority of broadband subscribers were DSL, mostly from China Telecom and China Netcom. The price varies in different provinces, usually around US$5 – $50/month for a 50M – 1000M ADSL/Fiber (price varies by geographic region). By 2013, broadband made up the majority of internet connections in China, with 363.8 million users at this service tier. The price of a broadband connection places it well within the reach of the mainland Chinese middle class. Wireless, especially internet access through a mobile phone, has developed rapidly. 500 million were accessing the internet via cell phones in 2013. The number of dial-up users peaked in 2004 and since then has decreased sharply. Generally statistics on the number of mobile internet users in China show a significant slump in the growth rate between 2008 and 2010, with a small peak in the next two years. In April 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) proposed that "satellite internet" should be a part of new national infrastructure. By the next month,
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...
,
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...
,
Fuzhou Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute ...
,
Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a municipality in Southwest China. The official abbreviation of the city, "" (), was approved by the State Co ...
,
Chengdu Chengdu (, ; simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese provin ...
, and
Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern provi ...
had each proposed regional action plans to support the new
satellite internet constellation A satellite internet constellation is a constellation of artificial satellites providing satellite internet service. In particular, the term has come to refer to a new generation of very large constellations (sometimes referred to as a megaco ...
project with a goal to provide domestic China satellite internet to rural areas. Beginning in 2019, US (
SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal o ...
Starlink Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX, providing satellite Internet access coverage to 45 countries. It also aims for global mobile phone service after 2023. SpaceX started launching Starlink satellites in 2019. As ...
) and UK ( OneWeb, 2020) private companies had begun fielding large internet satellite constellations with global coverage; however China does not intend to
license A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
non-Chinese technical solutions for satellite broadband within the
jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. J ...
of Chinese law.


Structure

An important characteristic of the Chinese internet is that online access routes are owned by the PRC government, and private enterprises and individuals can only rent bandwidth from the state. The first four major national networks, namely CSTNET,
ChinaNet China Telecommunications Corporation (Chinese: 中国电信集团有限公司), known as its trading name China Telecom, is a Chinese state-owned telecommunication company. It is the largest fixed-line service and the third largest mobile te ...
, CERNET and CHINAGBN, are the "backbone" of the mainland Chinese internet. Later dominant telecom providers also started to provide internet services. In January 2015, China added seven new access points to the world's internet backbone, adding to the three points that connect through Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Public internet services are usually provided by provincial telecom companies, which sometimes are traded between networks. Internet service providers without a nationwide network could not compete with their bandwidth provider, the telecom companies, and often run out of business. The interconnection between these networks is a big concern for internet users, since internet traffic via the global internet is quite slow. However, major internet services providers are reluctant to aid rivals.


Userbase

The January 2013 China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) report states that 56% of internet users were male, and 44% were female, and expresses other data based on sixty thousand surveys. The majority of Chinese internet users are restricted their use of the internet to Chinese websites, as most of the population has a lack of foreign language skills. English-language media in China often use the word " netizen" to refer to Chinese internet users in particular.


Content

According to
Kaiser Kuo Kaiser Kuo (; born March 7, 1966) is a Chinese American freelance writer and musician. Career Kaiser previously worked as director for international communications for Chinese search engine Baidu. Before that he was a technology correspondent fo ...
, the internet in China is largely used for entertainment purposes, being referred to as the "entertainment superhighway". However, it also serves as the first public forum for Chinese citizens to freely exchange their ideas. Most users go online to read news, to search for information, and to check their email. They also go to BBS or web forums, find music or videos, or download files.


Content providers

Chinese-language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the ...
infotainment Infotainment (a portmanteau of ''information'' and ''entertainment''), also called soft news as a way to distinguish it from serious journalism or hard news, is a type of media, usually television or online, that provides a combination of inf ...
web portal A web portal is a specially designed website that brings information from diverse sources, like emails, online forums and search engines, together in a uniform way. Usually, each information source gets its dedicated area on the page for displayi ...
s such as
Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. () is a Chinese multinational technology and entertainment conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is also the wo ...
,
Sina.com Sina Corporation (, "new wave") is a Chinese technology company. Sina operates four major business lines: Sina Weibo, Sina Mobile, Sina Online, and Sinanet. Sina has over 100 million registered users worldwide. Sina was recognized by '' Southe ...
,
Sohu Sohu, Inc. () is a Chinese Internet company headquartered in the Sohu Internet Plaza in Haidian District, Beijing. Sohu and its subsidiaries offer advertising, a search engine (Sogou.com), on-line multiplayer gaming (ChangYou.com) and other se ...
, and 163.com are popular. For example, Sina claimed it has about 94.8 million registered users and more than 10 million active ones engaged in their fee-based services. Other Internet service providers such as the human resource service provider 51job and the
electronic commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manage ...
web sites such as Alibaba.com are less popular but more successful on their specialty. Their success led some of them to make IPOs. All websites that operate in China with their own domain name must have an ICP license from the
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the Chinese government, established in March 2008, is the state agency of the People's Republic of China responsible for regulation and development of the postal service, Internet, wireles ...
. Because the PRC government blocks many foreign websites, many homegrown copycats of foreign websites have appeared.


Search engines

Baidu is the leading search engine in China, while most web portals also provide search opportunities like Bing, Sogou.


Online communities

Although the Chinese write fewer emails, they enjoy other online communication tools. Users form their communities based on different interests. Bulletin boards on portals or elsewhere, chat rooms, instant messaging groups, blogs and microblogs are very active, while photo-sharing and social networking sites are growing rapidly. Some Wikis such as the
Sogou Baike Sogou, Inc. () is a Chinese technology company that offers a search engine. It is a subsidiary of Tencent. The offices of Sogou are located on the southeast corner of Tsinghua University in Beijing. Sogou also has offices in Chengdu co-locat ...
and Baidu Baike are "flourishing".


Social media

China is one of the most restricted countries in the world in terms of internet, but these constraints have directly contributed to the staggering success of local Chinese social media sites. The Chinese government makes it impossible for foreign companies to enter the Chinese social media network. Without access to the majority of social media platforms used elsewhere in the world, the Chinese have created their own networks but with more users – which is why every global company pays attention to these sites. Some Chinese famous social medias are
Sina Weibo Sina Weibo (新浪微博) is a Chinese microblogging (weibo) website. Launched by Sina Corporation on 14 August 2009, it is one of the biggest social media platforms in China, with over 582 million monthly active users (252 million daily ac ...
, QQ,
Qzone Qzone () is a social networking website based in China which was created by Tencent in 2005. It allows users to write blogs, keep diaries, send photos, listen to music, and watch videos. Users can set their Qzone background and select accessori ...
, Renren,
Douban Douban.com (), launched on 6 March 2005, is a Chinese online database and social networking service that allows registered users to record information and create content related to film, books, music, recent events, and activities in Chinese cit ...
etc. And in recent years, the use of
WeChat WeChat () is a Chinese instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile app in 2018, with over 1 billion monthly active users. WeChat has b ...
has become more and more popular among people in China.


Online shopping

The rapidly increasing number of Internet users in China has also generated a large online shopping base in the country. A large number of Chinese internet users have even been branded as having an "online shopping addiction" as a result of the growth of the industry. According to
Sina.com Sina Corporation (, "new wave") is a Chinese technology company. Sina operates four major business lines: Sina Weibo, Sina Mobile, Sina Online, and Sinanet. Sina has over 100 million registered users worldwide. Sina was recognized by '' Southe ...
, Chinese consumers with Internet access spend an average of RMB10,000 online annually.


Online Mapping Services

China has endeavored to offer a number of online mapping services and allows the dissemination of geographic information within the country.
Tencent Maps Tencent Maps is a desktop and web mapping service application and technology provided by Tencent, offering satellite imagery, street maps, street view and historical view perspectives, as well as functions such as a route planner for traveling ...
(腾讯地图), Baidu Maps (百度地圖) and Tianditu (天地圖) are typical examples. Online mapping services can be understood as online cartography backed up by a
geographic information system A geographic information system (GIS) is a type of database containing geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with software tools for managing, analyzing, and visualizing those data. In a ...
(GIS). GIS was originally a tool for cartographers, geographers and other types of specialists to store, manage, present and analyze spatial data. In bringing GIS online, the Web has made these tools available to a much wider audience. Furthermore, with the advent of broadband, utilizing GIS has become much faster and easier. Increasingly, non-specialist members of the public can access, look up and make use of geographic information for their own purposes.
Tianditu Tianditu (; also Map World in logos) is China’s official free web mapping service. It was launched by China’s State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (SBSM) on 22 October 2010. Tianditu seeks to offer functions similar to those provided by G ...
is China's first online mapping service. Literally World Map,
Tianditu Tianditu (; also Map World in logos) is China’s official free web mapping service. It was launched by China’s State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (SBSM) on 22 October 2010. Tianditu seeks to offer functions similar to those provided by G ...
was launched in late October 2010. The Chinese government has repeatedly claimed that this service is to offer comprehensive geographical data for Chinese users to learn more about the world.


Online payment

The method of directly paying by online banking is required to be able to make online banking payment after opening online banking and can realize online payment of UnionPay, WeChat Pay, online payment by credit card, and so on. This payment method is directly paid from the bank card. The third-party payment itself integrates multiple payment methods, and the process is as follows: 1. Recharge the money in online banking to a third-party. 2. Pay by third-party deposit when the user pays. 3. The fee is charged for withdrawal. Third-party payment methods are diverse, including mobile payments and fixed-line payments. The most commonly used third-party payment is Alipay, Tenpay, Huanxun, Epro, fast money, online banking, and as an independent online merchant or a website with payment services, the most common choice is nothing more than Alipay, Huanxun payment, Epro payment, fast money these four. As of January 2015, Alipay, owned by Alibaba Group has 600 million counts of users and has the largest user group among all online-payment providers.


Online gaming

As of 2009, China is the largest market for online games. The country has 368 million internet users playing online games and the industry was worth US$13.5 billion in 2013. 73% of gamers are male, 27% are female. In 2007, the Ministry of Culture (MoC) and General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) along with several other agencies implemented the Online Game Anti-Addiction System which aimed to stop video game addiction in youth. This system restricted minors from playing more than 3 hours a day and required Identification (ID) checking in order to verify you are of age. Later in 2019, the Chinese government announced in November that gamers under the age of 18 would be banned from playing video games between the hours of 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. In addition, gamers under 18 would be restricted to 90 minutes of playing during the weekdays and 3 hours of playing during weekends and holidays as per new guidelines. As of 2021, the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) further restricted rules limiting playtime for under-18s to one hour per day from 8p.m. to 9 p.m. and only on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.


Adult content

Although restrictions on political information remain strong, several sexually oriented blogs began appearing in early 2004. Women using the web aliases
Muzi Mei Muzi Mei (; born 1978) is a journalist and blogger from Guangzhou, China, who became an Internet celebrity in late 2003. Her blog contained frank descriptions of her sexual encounters with various men, which is believed to be a first for China. ...
(木子美) and Zhuying Qingtong (竹影青瞳) wrote online diaries of their sex lives and became minor celebrities. This was widely reported and criticized in mainland Chinese news media, and several of these bloggers' sites have since been blocked, and remain so to this day. This coincided with an artistic nude photography fad (including a self-published book by dancer Tang Jiali) and the appearance of pictures of minimally clad women or even topless photos in a few Chinese newspapers, magazines and on several websites. Many dating and "adult chat" sites, both Chinese and foreign, have been blocked. Some, however, continue to be accessible, although this appears to be due more to the Chinese government's ignorance of their existence than any particular policy of leniency.


Censorship

The
Golden Shield Project The Golden Shield Project (), also named National Public Security Work Informational Project, is the Chinese nationwide network-security fundamental constructional project by the e-government of the People's Republic of China. This project i ...
was proposed to the State Council by Premier Zhu Rongji in 1993. As a massive surveillance and content control system, it was launched in November 2000, and became known as the Great Firewall of China. The apparatus of China's Internet control is considered more extensive and more advanced than in any other country in the world. The governmental authorities not only block website content but also monitor the Internet access of individuals; such measures have attracted the derisive nickname " The Great Firewall of China." However, there are some methods of circumventing the censorship by using proxy servers outside the firewall. Users may circumvent all of the censorship and monitoring of the Great Firewall if they have a secure VPN or SSH connection method to a computer outside mainland China. Disruptions of VPN services have been reported and many of the free or popular services are now blocked. On 29 July 2017,
Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancest ...
complied with an order from the Chinese government to remove all VPN apps from its App Store that were not pre-approved by the government. Different methods are used to block certain websites or pages including DNS poisoning, blocking access to IPs, analyzing and filtering URLs, inspecting filter packets and resetting connections.


Memes

The
Baidu 10 Mythical Creatures The Baidu 10 Mythical Creatures (), alternatively Ten Baidu Deities, was initially a humorous hoax from the interactive encyclopedia Baidu Baike which became a popular and widespread Internet meme in China in early 2009. These hoaxes, ten ...
, initially a humorous
hoax A hoax is a widely publicized falsehood so fashioned as to invite reflexive, unthinking acceptance by the greatest number of people of the most varied social identities and of the highest possible social pretensions to gull its victims into pu ...
, became a popular and widespread
internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...
in China. These ten hoaxes reportedly originated in response to increasing online censorship and have become an icon of Chinese internet users' resistance to it. The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television issued a directive on 30 March 2009 to highlight 31 categories of content prohibited online, including violence, pornography and content which may "incite ethnic discrimination or undermine social stability". Many Chinese internet users believe the instruction follows the official embarrassment over the " Grass Mud Horse" and the " River Crab". Industry observers believe that the move was designed to stop the spread of parodies or other comments on politically sensitive issues in the runup to the anniversary of the 4 June Tiananmen Square protests.


Cyber attacks

In the second quarter of 2014, China was by far the main country of origin of cyber attacks, with 43% of the worldwide total.


Internet advertising market

The size of China's online advertising market was RMB 3.3 billion in the third quarter 2008, up 19.1% compared with the previous quarter.
Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. () is a Chinese multinational technology and entertainment conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is also the wo ...
, Baidu.com Inc,
Sina Corp Sina Corporation (, "new wave") is a Chinese technology company. Sina operates four major business lines: Sina Weibo, Sina Mobile, Sina Online, and Sinanet. Sina has over 100 million registered users worldwide. Sina was recognized by '' Southe ...
remain the Top 3 in terms of
market share Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those units would have a ...
. Keyword advertising market size reached RMB 1.46 billion, accounting for 43.8% of the total Internet advertising market with a quarter-on-quarter growth rate of 19.3%, while that of the online advertising site amounted to RMB 1.70 billion, accounting for 50.7% of the total, up 18.9% compared with the second quarter.China's Internet advertising market hits RMB 3.34 bln in Q3
. News.alibaba.com. Retrieved on 16 April 2012.
Currently, Baidu has launched the CPA platform, and Sina Corp has launched an advertising scheme for intelligent investment. The moves indicate a market trend of effective advertising with low cost. Online advertisements of automobiles, real estate and finance will keep growing rapidly in the future.


Online encyclopedias

*
Sogou Baike Sogou, Inc. () is a Chinese technology company that offers a search engine. It is a subsidiary of Tencent. The offices of Sogou are located on the southeast corner of Tsinghua University in Beijing. Sogou also has offices in Chengdu co-locat ...
, 15+ million articles *
Baike.com Baike.com (), formerly Hudong and Hoodong (), is a for-profit social network in Chinese, including the world's largest Chinese encyclopedia. It is one of the two largest wikis in China, along with Baidu Baike, claiming to have more than 18 mill ...
claiming to have more than 18 million articles as of 2020 * Baidu Baike, 3.5 million articles * Chinese Wikipedia, articles


See also

* Golden projects * Telecommunications in China ** Telecommunications industry in China *
Internet censorship in China Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China (PRC) affects both publishing and viewing online material. Many controversial events are censored from news coverage, preventing many Chinese citizens from knowing about the actions of th ...
*
Golden Shield Project The Golden Shield Project (), also named National Public Security Work Informational Project, is the Chinese nationwide network-security fundamental constructional project by the e-government of the People's Republic of China. This project i ...
* China Internet Project * Human flesh search engine (HFSE) * List of Internet phenomena in China * List of Internet slang in China * Media of China * All-China Youth Network Civilization Convention


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Internet in China Computer-related introductions in 1994