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Beijing Now Nation's "most wired"

BEIJING, April 14, (Xinhuanet) The Chinese capital has the highest rate of Internet use in the nation, with 28% of Beijingers going online last year.

But the number of total Chinese Internet users, or netizens, was only 6.2% at the end of 2003, the China Internet Network Information Centre's latest report (CNNIC) reveals.

Following Beijing in terms of netizen numbers are Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangdong, with rates of 26.6%, 14.4%, and 12.1% respectively. There were about 80 million netizens in the country by the end of 2003, a drastic jump from the 620,000 users recorded in 1997.

About one-third of the population in Beijing and Shanghai are netizens, but in poorer areas such as Henan, Guizhou and Inner Mongolia, the total is around the 3 to 4% mark.

About 60% of the Chinese capital's Internet users are students, technicians and business and governmental staff. Most are under 35. About 30% of Beijing's computer savvy citizens surf the Net for information, while the remainder use computers for study and other purposes. Families on average spend about 150 yuan (US$18) on Internet services per month.

On-line users aged from 18 to 24 account for 33.2% of Internet users in Shanghai, and under 18 account for 23.3%, and 25 to 30, 17.7%.

Netizens pay around 100 yuan (US$12) for the Internet service every month in both Shanghai and Shandong, and people spend an average of 14 hours each week surfing on the network.