Internet in the People's Republic of China
Encyclopedia
The first connection of the mainland
of the People's Republic of China
with the Internet
was established on September 20, 1987 between ICA Beijing and Karlsruhe University in Germany
, under the leadership of Prof. Werner Zorn and Prof. Wang Yunfeng. Since then the Internet in China has grown to host the largest base of net users in the world. The first email attempt was successfully sent out on September 14, 1987 with the contents "Across the Great Wall
, we can reach every corner in the world" (越過長城，走向世界). In the past decade, the Internet has emerged as a new cultural phenomenon in mainland China, much like in the West.
A majority of broadband subscribers are DSL, mostly from China Telecom
and China Netcom
. The price varies at different provinces, usually around US$10 – $20/month for a 1M DSL with unlimited downloads.
As of June 2011, Chinese Internet users spent an average of 18.7 hours online per week, which should result in a total of about 472 billion hours spent online in 2011.
Broadband
makes up the majority of Internet connections in China, with 363.81 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 the mobile phone Internet access has developed rapidly. 277 million are accessing the Internet via cell phones. The number of dial-up users peaked in 2004 and since then has decreased sharply.
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.
, ChinaNet
, CERNET
and CHINAGBN, are the "backbone" of the mainland China Internet. Later dominant telecom providers
also started to provide Internet services. Public Internet services are usually provided by provincial telecom companies, which sometimes are traded between networks. Internet service providers without a nation-wide network such as the Information Highway 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 of Internet users, since Internet traffic via the global Internet is quite slow. However, major Internet services providers are reluctant to aid rivals.
The June 2007 CNNIC report states that 54.9% Internet users are male, 57.9% are unmarried, and 51.2% are under 25 years old. The majority of Internet users have at least a college diploma. Among the users, 36.7% are students, and 25.3% are enterprise staff. 33.9% users earn more than 1500 yuan
a month, however, if student users are left out, this percent goes rises to 53.6%. By the end of 2010 China had over 300 million mobile internet users. China's Internet is highly internally referential, with fewer than 6% of China's websites linking to outside the country.
In 2003, Internet activists and journalists led an online uprising that eventually forced the abolishment of the Custody and repatriation
procedure, and the establishment of the constitutional committee in the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
. In June, 2006, New York Times reported the online throngs and Internet hunting fought corruptions but also led to violence.
or web forums, find music or videos, or download files.
web portal
s such as Sina.com
, Sohu
, and 163.com are quite popular among Internet users. For example, Sina claims it has about 94.8 million registered users and more than 10 million active users engaged in their fee-based services. Other Internet service providers such as the human resource
service provider 51job and the electronic commerce
web sites such as Alibaba.com
are less popular but more successful on their speciality. Their success led some of them to the make IPOs.
Because the PRC government blocks many foreign websites, many homegrown copycats of foreign websites have appeared.
Baidu
is the leading search engine, while most web portals also provide search functionality. Google China
has also entered the Chinese market.
are "flourishing"; the Chinese Wikipedia cannot be accessed from mainland China. But since 2008, the government unblocked the Wikipedia, but blocking off other certain areas that is sensitive to the government.
, Chinese consumers with Internet access spend an average of RMB10,000 online annually.
. However, the blocking of websites can be circumvented and is generally ineffective at preventing the flow of information to determined individuals. The effectiveness of the project is the limitation on access it creates for the majority of users who are not technologically savvy or intent on seeking information. Some argue that it is more effective at providing a Chilling effect rather than actually blocking content.
The Internet has provided some interesting tactics for the dissemination of news. In contrast to some early fears that the fluidity of web content would make it easy to rewrite history and strengthen the hand of the government, the opposite appears true. One common tactic in publishing sensitive topics is to post the article on a newspaper website, and then comply with government orders to take it down. By the time the article is removed, people will have read it negating the point of the censorship order.
However, in fear of closure, online service providers sometimes hire moderators known as big mama
to monitor user-provided content. Nevertheless, some officially supported websites such as the Strong Country Forum hosted by the People's Daily
are less restricted than others in discussing sensitive topics.
Forbes magazine featured an article entitled “Cracks In the Wall (Feb. 27, 2006):
Amnesty International notes that China “has the largest recorded number of imprisoned journalists and cyber-dissidents in the world.” The "offences" they are accused of include "communicating with groups abroad", "opposing the persecution of the Falun Gong", "signing online petitions" and "calling for reform and an end to corruption".
Inc. remain the Top 3 in terms of market share
. Key-word 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.
Currently, Baidu has launched the CPA platform, and Sina Corp has launched the advertising scheme for intelligent investment. The moves indicate the market trend of effective advertising with low cost. Online advertisements on automobiles, real estate and finance will keep growing rapidly in the future.
as of July 2011
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
of the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
with the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
was established on September 20, 1987 between ICA Beijing and Karlsruhe University in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, under the leadership of Prof. Werner Zorn and Prof. Wang Yunfeng. Since then the Internet in China has grown to host the largest base of net users in the world. The first email attempt was successfully sent out on September 14, 1987 with the contents "Across the Great Wall
Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups...
, we can reach every corner in the world" (越過長城，走向世界). In the past decade, the Internet has emerged as a new cultural phenomenon in mainland China, much like in the West.
Development
China had 485 million Internet users by June 2011. It is projected that China's Internet population will hit 718 million by 2013, accounting for 52.7 percent of the total population.A majority of broadband subscribers are DSL, mostly from China Telecom
China Telecom
China Telecom Corp. Ltd. is a Chinese state-owned telecommunication company. It is the largest fixed line service and 3rd largest mobile telecommunication provider in the People's Republic of China.-Sectors:...
and China Netcom
China Netcom
China Netcom, full name China Netcom Group Corporation Limited , abbreviated CNC, was a former telecommunication service provider in People's Republic of China...
. The price varies at different provinces, usually around US$10 – $20/month for a 1M DSL with unlimited downloads.
As of June 2011, Chinese Internet users spent an average of 18.7 hours online per week, which should result in a total of about 472 billion hours spent online in 2011.
Broadband
Broadband
The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
makes up the majority of Internet connections in China, with 363.81 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 the mobile phone Internet access has developed rapidly. 277 million are accessing the Internet via cell phones. The number of dial-up users peaked in 2004 and since then has decreased sharply.
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.
Structure
The first four major national networks, namely CSTNETCSTNET
CSTNET or China Science and Technology Network offers Internet services to the Chinese education, research, scientific and technical communities, relevant government departments and hi-tech enterprises, providing services such as network access, host trusteeship, virtual host and domain name...
, ChinaNet
ChinaNet
ChinaNet is China Telecom's internet service, and is one of two major commercial networks approved by the State Council to be a national Interconnecting Network in 1996, under Order No. 195, "Interim Regulation on International Interconnection of Computer Information Networks in the PRC", the...
, CERNET
Cernet
The China Education and Research Network is the first nationwide education and research computer network in China. The CERNET project is funded by the Chinese government and directly managed by the Chinese Ministry of Education...
and CHINAGBN, are the "backbone" of the mainland China Internet. Later dominant telecom providers
Telecommunications industry in China
The telecommunications industry in China is dominated by three state-run businesses: China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile. The three companies were formed by a recent revolution and restructuring launched in May 2008, directed by Ministry of Information Industry , Nationals Development and...
also started to provide Internet services. Public Internet services are usually provided by provincial telecom companies, which sometimes are traded between networks. Internet service providers without a nation-wide network such as the Information Highway 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 of Internet users, since Internet traffic via the global Internet is quite slow. However, major Internet services providers are reluctant to aid rivals.
Users
Renminbi
The Renminbi is the official currency of the People's Republic of China . Renminbi is legal tender in mainland China, but not in Hong Kong or Macau. It is issued by the People's Bank of China, the monetary authority of the PRC...
a month, however, if student users are left out, this percent goes rises to 53.6%. By the end of 2010 China had over 300 million mobile internet users. China's Internet is highly internally referential, with fewer than 6% of China's websites linking to outside the country.
In 2003, Internet activists and journalists led an online uprising that eventually forced the abolishment of the Custody and repatriation
Custody and repatriation
Custody and repatriation was an administrative procedure, established in 1982 and ended in 2003, by which the police in the People's Republic of China could detain people if they did not have a residence permit or temporary living permit , and return them to the place where they could legally...
procedure, and the establishment of the constitutional committee in the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress is a committee of about 150 members of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China , which is convened between plenary sessions of the NPC. It has the constitutional authority to modify legislation within limits set by...
. In June, 2006, New York Times reported the online throngs and Internet hunting fought corruptions but also led to violence.
Content
Most users go online to read news, to search for information, and to check email. They also go to BBSBulletin board system
A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...
or web forums, find music or videos, or download files.
Content providers
Chinese-language infotainmentInfotainment
Infotainment is "information-based media content or programming that also includes entertainment content in an effort to enhance popularity with audiences and consumers." It is a neologistic portmanteau of information and entertainment, referring to a type of media which provides a combination of...
web portal
Web portal
A web portal or links page is a web site that functions as a point of access to information in the World Wide Web. A portal presents information from diverse sources in a unified way....
s such as Sina.com
Sina.com
SINA is an online media company for China and Chinese communities around the world. SINA operates four major business lines: Sina Weibo, SINA Mobile, SINA Online, and SINA.net. SINA has over 100 million registered users worldwide...
, Sohu
Sohu
Sohu.com, Inc. is a search engine company headquartered in the Sohu.com Internet Plaza in Haidian District, Beijing, People’s Republic of China. This company and its subsidiaries offer advertising, a search engine, on-line multiplayer gaming and other services. For the fiscal year ended December...
, and 163.com are quite popular among Internet users. For example, Sina claims it has about 94.8 million registered users and more than 10 million active users engaged in their fee-based services. Other Internet service providers such as the human resource
Employment
Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...
service provider 51job and the electronic commerce
Electronic commerce
Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce, eCommerce or e-comm, refers to the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. However, the term may refer to more than just buying and selling products online...
web sites such as Alibaba.com
Alibaba.com
Alibaba Group is a privately owned Hangzhou, China-based family of Internet-based businesses that includes online marketplaces that facilitate business-to-business international and domestic China trade, retail and payment platforms, a shopping search engine, and data-centric cloud computing...
are less popular but more successful on their speciality. Their success led some of them to the make IPOs.
Because the PRC government blocks many foreign websites, many homegrown copycats of foreign websites have appeared.
Search engines
| China | Share of searches (%) |
|---|---|
| Baidu Baidu Baidu, Inc. , simply known as Baidu and incorporated on January 18, 2000, is a Chinese web services company headquartered in the Baidu Campus in Haidian District, Beijing, People's Republic of China.... |
54.6 |
| Google Google Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program... |
17.7 |
| Alibaba | 8.7 |
| Yahoo Yahoo! Search Yahoo! Search is a web search engine, owned by Yahoo! Inc. and was , the 2nd largest search engine on the web by query volume, at 6.42%, after its competitor Google at 85.35% and before Baidu at 3.67%, according to Net Applications.... |
7.9 |
| Sohu Sohu Sohu.com, Inc. is a search engine company headquartered in the Sohu.com Internet Plaza in Haidian District, Beijing, People’s Republic of China. This company and its subsidiaries offer advertising, a search engine, on-line multiplayer gaming and other services. For the fiscal year ended December... |
7.9 |
| TENCENT | 2.8 |
| SINA Sina Sina is a Persian name. "Sina" comes from a Hebrew word meaning: "explorer of knowledge". It is a popular male name in Iran, largely due to Avicenna... |
0.7 |
| ZHONGSOU.com | 0.6 |
| Bing Search Engine | 0.3 |
| 372.com | 0.2 |
Baidu
Baidu
Baidu, Inc. , simply known as Baidu and incorporated on January 18, 2000, is a Chinese web services company headquartered in the Baidu Campus in Haidian District, Beijing, People's Republic of China....
is the leading search engine, while most web portals also provide search functionality. Google China
Google China
Google China is a subsidiary of Google, Inc., the world's largest Internet search engine company. Google China ranks as the number 2 search engine in the People's Republic of China, after Baidu...
has also entered the Chinese market.
Online communities
Although Chinese write fewer e-mails, they enjoy other Internet communication tools and form their communities based on different interests. Bulletin boards on portals or elsewhere, chat cvrooms, Instant messaging groups, blogs and microblogs are very active, while photo-sharing and social networking sites are growing rapidly. Some Wikis such as the Baidu BaikeBaidu Baike
Baidu Encyclopedia is a Chinese language collaborative Web-based encyclopedia provided by the Chinese search engine Baidu. Like Baidu itself, the encyclopedia is heavily self-censored in line with government regulations....
are "flourishing"; the Chinese Wikipedia cannot be accessed from mainland China. But since 2008, the government unblocked the Wikipedia, but blocking off other certain areas that is sensitive to the government.
Online shopping
The rapidly increasing number of Internet users in China has also generated a large online shopping base in China. A large number of netizens have even been branded as having an "online shopping addiction" as a result of the growth of online shopping; according to Sina.comSina.com
SINA is an online media company for China and Chinese communities around the world. SINA operates four major business lines: Sina Weibo, SINA Mobile, SINA Online, and SINA.net. SINA has over 100 million registered users worldwide...
, Chinese consumers with Internet access spend an average of RMB10,000 online annually.
Online payment
Driven by prevalent Internet usage and the increase online retail sector, online payment services have also grown rapidly. In 2009, the online payment utilization rate reached 24.5%, with 94.06 million users and an annual growth rate of 80.9%.Censorship
The Golden Shield project 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 ChinaInternet censorship in the People's Republic of China
Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China is conducted under a wide variety of laws and administrative regulations. There are no specific laws or regulations which the censorship follows...
. However, the blocking of websites can be circumvented and is generally ineffective at preventing the flow of information to determined individuals. The effectiveness of the project is the limitation on access it creates for the majority of users who are not technologically savvy or intent on seeking information. Some argue that it is more effective at providing a Chilling effect rather than actually blocking content.
The Internet has provided some interesting tactics for the dissemination of news. In contrast to some early fears that the fluidity of web content would make it easy to rewrite history and strengthen the hand of the government, the opposite appears true. One common tactic in publishing sensitive topics is to post the article on a newspaper website, and then comply with government orders to take it down. By the time the article is removed, people will have read it negating the point of the censorship order.
However, in fear of closure, online service providers sometimes hire moderators known as big mama
Big mama
Big mama is a Chinese language neologism for an Internet censor on web bulletin board systems in the People's Republic of China.-Etymology:...
to monitor user-provided content. Nevertheless, some officially supported websites such as the Strong Country Forum hosted by the People's Daily
People's Daily
The People's Daily is a daily newspaper in the People's Republic of China. The paper is an organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China , published worldwide with a circulation of 3 to 4 million. In addition to its main Chinese-language edition, it has editions in English,...
are less restricted than others in discussing sensitive topics.
Forbes magazine featured an article entitled “Cracks In the Wall (Feb. 27, 2006):
Amnesty International notes that China “has the largest recorded number of imprisoned journalists and cyber-dissidents in the world.” The "offences" they are accused of include "communicating with groups abroad", "opposing the persecution of the Falun Gong", "signing online petitions" and "calling for reform and an end to corruption".
Internet advertising market
The size of China's Internet advertising market was RMB 3.3 billion in the third quarter 2008, up 19.1% compared with the previous quarter. Baidu.com Inc, Sina Corp and GoogleGoogle
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
Inc. remain the Top 3 in terms of market share
Market share
Market share is the percentage of a market accounted for by a specific entity. In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 67 percent responded that they found the "dollar market share" metric very useful, while 61% found "unit market share" very useful.Marketers need to be able to...
. Key-word 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.
Currently, Baidu has launched the CPA platform, and Sina Corp has launched the advertising scheme for intelligent investment. The moves indicate the market trend of effective advertising with low cost. Online advertisements on automobiles, real estate and finance will keep growing rapidly in the future.
Online encyclopedias
- Hudong, 5.4 million articles
- Baidu BaikeBaidu BaikeBaidu Encyclopedia is a Chinese language collaborative Web-based encyclopedia provided by the Chinese search engine Baidu. Like Baidu itself, the encyclopedia is heavily self-censored in line with government regulations....
, 3.5 million articles - Chinese WikipediaChinese WikipediaChinese Wikipedia is the Chinese language edition of Wikipedia, run by the Wikimedia Foundation. Started in October 2002, Chinese Wikipedia had over 270,000 articles as of September 2009 and 383,391 articles as of November 7, 2011...
, 365,000 articles
as of July 2011
See also
- China Internet ProjectChina Internet ProjectThe Berkeley China Internet Project is a participatory media and research network, with a focus on how the Internet affects China's media and politics...
- Communications in the People's Republic of ChinaCommunications in the People's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China possesses a diversified communications system that links all parts of the country by Internet, telephone, telegraph, radio, and television...
- Digital divide in the People's Republic of China
- Hu GeHu Ge (director)Hu Ge is an amateur director in the People's Republic of China who rose to fame through social satire and the Internet. His works, which are videos which can be downloaded from video-sharing sites such as YouTube, and freely distributed by his permission, are viewed by millions...
- Human flesh search engineHuman flesh search engineHuman Flesh Search is a primarily Chinese internet phenomenon of massive researching using Internet media such as blogs and forums. It has generally been stigmatized as being for the purpose of identifying and exposing individuals to public humiliation, usually out of Chinese nationalistic...
(HFSE) - ICP licenseICP licenseICP license is a permit issued by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to permit China-based websites to operate in China...
- Internet censorship in the People's Republic of ChinaInternet censorship in the People's Republic of ChinaInternet censorship in the People's Republic of China is conducted under a wide variety of laws and administrative regulations. There are no specific laws or regulations which the censorship follows...
- List of Internet phenomena in the People's Republic of China
- Media in the People's Republic of China
- Blocking of Wikipedia by the People's Republic of China
External links
- Chinese Internet Network Information Center In Chinese and in English.
- http://www.east-west-connect.com/15-years-chinese-internet-usage-13-pretty-graphs CNNIC data, reorganized and in English.
- Blogging in China (Channel 4 News)
- PBS article
- China celebrates 10 years of being connected to the Internet
- Structural maps of major networks in China
- China Malware War Gets Personal
- Website executives discuss China's Internet growth (China Daily)
- The Curious Case of Jia Junpeng