China’s Internet Users Pass 200 Million News out of China claims the nation’s base of Internet users reached 210 million by the end of 2007, a gain of over 25 percent from 2006.
If there was ever any doubt about why companies like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Cisco would choose to work with the Chinese government, it should be erased as fully as a cool breeze on a hot summer day.
The growing audience for web services, and lucrative advertising, got a little bigger in mainland China last year. A report on ChinaTechNews cited figures from the central government on the increase:
News from the China Internet Network Information Center is that by December 2007, Chinese mainland’s Internet population had reached 210 million, which made China the second largest country in the world only next to the U.S. in terms of netizens.
CNNIC’s data shows that by December last year, there were 163 million broadband users and 50.4 million wireless users in China.
Participation in China’s Internet economy has led to plenty of criticism for American firms doing business there, while adhering to censorship requirements. The companies have repeated the same mantra when challenged over this: we have to obey local laws.
Fine, except one doesn’t see Internet companies fighting for the chance to crack the market in Burma (Myanmar, population ~47 million), where a military junta has held power for years and most definitely has a vigorous censorship policy in place. Some censoring nations are more acceptable than others, particularly with burgeoning middle classes of Internet users.
