Beijing, January 15: The number of internet users in China, already the largest in the world, rose to 384 million by the end of 2009, a government-linked industry body said on Friday.
The online population in the world’s most populous nation increased by 28.9% last year from the end of 2008, the China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC) said in a report published on its website.
Users accessing the internet with mobile phones jumped by 120 million in 2009 to 233 million, with the fast expansion of the country’s third-generation (3G) network, allowing high-speed transmission of images and video, it said.
The report added that Chinese web users are most interested in music, news and search engine services.
China’s spiralling online population has turned the internet into a forum for citizens to express their opinions in a way rarely seen in a country where the traditional media is under strict government control.
—-Agencies