New statistics released by the Chinese Government show that China is due to surpass the United States as the nation with the most internet users in the coming months.
The state-owned China Internet Network Information Center said that China’s total number of Internet users rose 53% to 210 million at the end of 2007 up from 137 million at the end of 2006 and 162 million in June 2007. According to the WSJ, China is now just five million users shy of surpassing the United States as the world’s largest Internet market.
Chinese internet stocks listed in the United States and elsewhere soared in 2007 has the market continued to grow at massive rates. Notably though most Chinese access the internet via internet cafe’s, although home or business internet use is also rapidly growing.
soon India will be in second place..
So it begins…. the US slowly loses its dominance in Internet Technology.
5 million users, that will take about a day to accumulate. Seriously, it is staggering how many people actually live in China. Anyhow, good on them, hopefully the censorship will fall away soon as well.
Internet in China is completely different from here at the united states. In the US, internet becomes the backbone of business. It is essential tool for shopping, traveling, marketing and entertainment in additional to news and media. But in China, the internet is pretty much used for games, news and entertainments: video and music. Although the number of users is huge, most of users are playing internet games online. Yes, there are a lot of users who spend a lot of time on line. But the business value of the internet is low.
Goes to show that if you intend to rule the Internet, the strategy cannot be limited to the US alone…it has to be Global.
There is China, India (as Nanda said) and others are coming…
No matter how many users there are in China, all those restrictions they have, makes it a not so attractive market.. see the Yahoo case for example…
The aim of Internet is to make the life simpler. This should not be addiction.
The the number of users does not make big difference.The large factor is for what purpose we are using Internet.
Congrats to China, well-done!
I think it tells us what NOT to do with our younger generation. They need to lve life and not spend all their time on useless social sites, downloading music and movies , or on mindless games. But then again, this is indicative of lazy azz parents who spend all their time as well on the web trying to : hook up”
What a pity !
Why do you think that all 200 million users in China only play games and use social networks online? Come on, more people do that in the US than anywhere else.
@Norman, not sure that’s true, but no matter, as the standard of living in China goes up you’re going to see some real changes afoot. Interesting to see online ad spends in China in 5 years
http://www.leveragingideas.com
In China,the first line cities ,more home and business internet user than internet cafe(we always called it “Net Bar” 网吧)，Second line and other cities there will be more Net Bar Users for internet games.
China’s broadband sector has been growing at a 79 percent compound annual growth rate over the last three years. The strong growth will continue to boost the broadband market, which will reach 79 million subscribers by 2007 and 139 million by 2010. Represents less than 5% of the population. This is why video penetration is lagging the us market. But it will come on strong within 5 years. Look or a Chinese Youtube powered by our realviewtv technology.
Techcrunch Chinese version?
soa blog translator is a must
The most popular Chinese website is sina.com. There is english version and you can have a look yourself. The most popular blog in China is Xu Jinglei, a movie star who wrote about Harry Potter. THe most popular blog in US is Engadget. You can see the difference here.
It’s to bad TC is hardly covering any startup and tech news in the apac region… Come one guys, theres lots of interesting stuff happening here!
Would disagree.. there’s not so much interesting stuff happening in the apac region.
I don’t like the current distant with the Chinese. we’re out of touch with them.
are there any stats as to how many of them are English speakers?
How does a one man service (i.e.) blog reach those crowds without having to learn the language and culture? is that even possible? Why didn’t my damn high school offer a Chinese language’s class.
so many whys. fuck!
*ignore the messy and incorrect grammar. i’m embarrassed already! haha
@Faramarz: Google is your friend, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.....population. Your high school was probably crap, but besides that, china is still just now working it’s way out of the third world (consider the average income per person), read http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/xw/t268200.htm.
Lots of eyes without a lot of money, hope your ideas don’t need revenue.
Interesting stuff, but I think this comes down to an issue of quality over quantity. Sure globilization is great, don’t get me wrong, and I support other nations growing, but let’s not get overly excited and start using this as another “America sucks and I’m ashamed to be an American” talking point. I’m not pointing any fingers, don’t get me wrong, I’m just making a preemptive statement because I know how quickly we all start to feel guilty for whatever it is our country has done to others throughout the decades and we extend that to everything. I’m very happy to see other nations keeping up and competing with us, but I think we still win the internet battle by quality and value (as was discussed earlier, the business aspects) over the sheer number we are competing against.
Today it might me china..but, tomorrow its definitely India. Internet market is rapidly growing in India. Just like television, we can expect a computer & internet connection in a majority of the indian houses within a span of few years. Internet literacy is gaining more & more importance in India.
Allready e-govt. has been implemented in some of the govt. offices(not just in urban areas but also in few rural villages). Once it reaches all the indian villages, nobody may be able to beat India interms of Internet usage.
China is changing everyday, and while the second tier internet bandwidth used to be for games and chatting, that is changing fast.
You have high tech development (Intel, MOT, etc) in Chengdu… Ford in Chongqing… Boeing in Xi’an… Dell in Xiamen… and so on.
The second tier cities of China, primarily provincial capitals are growing at much fast rates than Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou.. and more people are moving to these cities to work.
Surfing is how it all started in the states, and after a few years of looking at AOL home screens, a large portion of internet users realized that there was more to the internet than chat rooms.
Why would you expect China to be any different?
r
http://www.allroadsleadtochina.com
As for TC in Chinese. There are already plenty of Chinese language sites that essentially serve the same fucntion. Not saying it shouldn’t be looked at, but it is a model that is already in place on several levels.
I think it has to do with demographic of china. I bet highest usasage growth is coming from Gen Y, most likley Z, hence it reflects in what is most popular online. I think US and rest of the world simply has a 10/15 year head start in regards to general usage by age group how savvy its users are in each age group.
Still, give China 5 to 10 years, and I think you’ll see a rapid shift to using the internet as a business utiltily.
I have just one question for the Chinese: why don’t you click on ‘em Chinese ads? You know who you are.
Jitendra - the Internet is not just something to ‘make life simpler’. It is a complete market in its own right, so yes the number of people using it, and who they are, is pretty important.
I guess I should start to learn Chinese
I don’t think the bloggers might be feeling comfortable in China since most of the time you’ll find human right issues & censorship there.
I’ve always wanted an excuse to move to China,… now I’ve got one!
@19: According to Wikipedia, whose numbers appear to be two or three years old, China has the second highest number of English speakers in the world with 300m, second only to India with 350m. The US at the time was a mere third with 250m, followed closely by the EU with 230m.
The sourcing for the India and China numbers is dubious, apparently a speech by Gordon Brown, but the order sounds right. Although the US population is now 300,000,000 we can safely assume that the number of English-speakers in China has grown too - probably faster because it’s about education.
I keep saying - kids in school these days should be learning Mandarin, not French, German and Spanish. (Spanish is more useful in American schools since it’s quickly becoming a native language in their own country.) Are our schools teaching languages to prepare them for the modern world or are they teaching them to be able to say please and thank you when they’re on their summer hols?
Just a thought. These stats are put out by the Chinese government - who is actively trying to overtake the U.S. Might it just be possible the numbers are, shall we say, inaccurate?
Very Valuable Info.
http://tekno-world.blogspot.com
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9424936/
“Urban incomes in China now average about $1,000 a year, while in the countryside incomes still average just over $300. ”
I guess the internet bubble gum advertising market is going to explode. Because that’s about all they can afford.
Can anyone say Tofu?
It is not a surprise China will become number one in all field what could we do they are numerous.
It is not a surprise China will become number one in all field what could we do they are numerous.
Maybe we should learn Chinese in case English won’t be on the web in the future but hopefully It won’t happen.
It is certain, and we do not have to surprise by these numbers, if depending on the population of the country thus will be the amount of Internet users… in addition that every day offers more services online and around del world the amount of users increases!!!
This shows that today the one keeps USA As a world power is the only power in militar.por in everything else lose credibility.
obviously none of you are ‘qualified’ to comment on the chinese market - unless u are in china and that u’re actually experiencing this phenomenon.
come n be an expat here before talking your brains out.
ever since i landed here and met other fellow expats, then i/we realized just how lame the ‘outside’ coverage were.
take a real look at the cake before actually trying to hold it - let alone eat it, guys.
If a large percentage of them are accessing the internet from internet cafes, then I have to wonder if China isn’t ripe for more web based applications than we are?
US, India, China…. nowadays? it’s not really surprising!
nhick
http://www.itrush.com
Figures released by the Chinese government? Pahh. I was in China last year and I only saw about 9 people on the net…
@allofyou / thebeijinger - I’m looking forward to being on the ground over there myself; heading over in 10 days.
Say what you will about the politics and censorship, China is this era’s Wild West, full of danger, opportunity, and adventure.
I’m reading a book right now called “One Billion Customers” - a fascinating look at the evolution of business in China - recommended to anyone who plans on doing anything global…
http://www.amazon.com/One-Bill.....amp;sr=8-1
As a Chinese living in Canada, I agree with posting #4 of Norman: the business value of Chinese internet is very low.
I did an experiment last year. I set up a Chinese website with Google AdWords. The website got hundreds visits in China every day, but Google AdWords didn’t record even one cent! In the same period, my another English website, which has only 30-60 visits per day, can generate $.30 - $1.00 dollar daily. Realizing how little value Chinese market was, I closed the website after one week.
This experiments taught me how tough Chinese internet market is. And for anyone who doesn’t speak Chinese and need to hire translators or programmers, the risk is even higher.
Also, don’t expect any original ideas would succeed in China. Because big Chinese websites can easily copy your ideas and promote their own clones with their huge networks and resources. Examples: Chinese version of Youtube （www.tudou.com） and Facebook （www.xiaonei.com）. Other examples: Yahoo China failed in China; and Baidu beats Google as China’s #1 search engine.
To sum up, Chinese internet has low value. If you don’t have much cash to burn, don’t go there.
I was inspired by Robert Scoble and others interested in learning more about the Chinese blogosphere to start blogging about the Chinese blogosphere in the hopes of creating more awareness in the overall blogosphere about this multilateral world we live in. We are at a tipping point where Americans will need to pay attention to what is happening in the rest of the world. There are some great blogs about China out there already: Danwei, Zonaeuropa (ESWN), Digital Watch, RConversation, TechBlog86, CWRblog, Chinalyst, Imagethief…if anyone wants a pointer to some great China blogs drop a comment on my blog with what you are interested in and I’m happy to send you off to the great content that is out there.
Chinese bloggers are almost all located within sina.com, sohu.com, 163.com or tom.com. I have not seen anyone with own domain name which earns income through ads. THis is the fundamental difference I think. I am going to China soon and will interact with Chinese friends working on internet and will be back with more direction impressions.
Post #45 got to the point! Thanks.
Just forget to mention that I post a very best book I have ever read on how to apply colleges in one of the most popular chinese website in US. There are over 3000 clicks in two days of the post since Chinese parents care about their children’s education very much. The book is linked to my amazon associate which is ca 40% discount of retailed price. I am so surprised that not even one person bought the book! Not only in China, even Chinese website here has traffic no business value.
All Americans:
The economy is heading towards depression in the USA …
Line up at the Chinese embassies to apply for immigrations to China!!!
I am going to the Chinese embassy …
Yet another technology invented in the US benefiting the world.
@47/@48 - incomprehensible.. you only wise..
Half of them are farming WoW gold.
So who are the leading Portals in China and how does the cometition with US portals look like?
Major players in China and US comparation
Search Baidu Market Cap $9.26 B EPS 2.12, 3 month traffic reach -18%
Google Market cap 187.73, EPS 12.78 3 months traffic reach 8%
Sina.com Market cap 2.17B, EPS 0.88, rearch -45%
Yahoo Market cap 27.77 billion EPS 0.51 reach 8%
I did not get it, most of the chinese internet players’ traffic reach is going down recently. But Google and Yahoo are growing steadily.
Very good for China…
It’s the next big player in the market for my opinion…
@54 - EPS meaningless without $/share alongside.. in any case, meaningless comparison
Post 40 hits the nail on the head…..
Look, I’ve been here in China since 97. Until you actually have your feet on the street here, and get to know business in China, you simply just don’t “get it”. If people want to ignore the explosive metrics ( ie: 200 million + internet users; 500 million + mobile phone users), that is fine, but those people are living in denial.The energy, excitement, and overall feeling of inevitability here is palpable - ignore at your own peril. For the life of me I can’t figure out how smart and savvy business professionals can today discount what’s going on over here.
Invariably it seems, as evidenced in posts above, someone will trot out the old “what about the human rights and evil government?” arguments. Folks, China aint the enemy, unless we decide to make them the enemy. People here are the same as people in the states. Tech applications that add value to people’s lives in San Rafael will also add value to people’s lives in Shanghai, Chengdu, Beijing, and on and on. There’s over 100 cities here with over 1 million citizens. Do the math.
it is my hometown! i love China!
http://www.vdoob.com/love/China
After did some more research, I was convinced that chinese internet industry is a bubble which is very similar to dot come bubble here at US. The internet traffic reach has been decreased for all the major players sina, tom, 163.com, Baidu, and sohu. The increase of stock price and decrease in the internet traffic reach is not match and does not make sense, From business point of view. I love China too, and I believe China has great potential. But that will come untill China developed its own high tech industry, like South Korean. South Korean successfully developed its own brands like Sumsong. Which is Chinese brand?
True, today the majority of their users may be playing games. The fact that they are not using the net for business really has to do with the type of restrictive economy they are rtying desparately to get out of. As they move closer and closer to a free western style economy, because the Internet user infrastructure will already have been in place for a while, and with savvy users, they very quickly will bypass us in the business use of the Internet.
Same thing holds for India though I suspect that their usage would be more business support oriented from the get go.
Thanks for sharing. I hope this will translate into more business for our web hosting operation in Shanghai
yes,sure,china is raising.
Hi Duncan, look and the Internet Usage Stats as well as penetration rates and exrapolate. We are facing a different future: http://www.felgner.ch/2007/11/understand.html. Harald
The trend is global, not just interactive. More and more people travel to China every month. We’ve been witnessing this pattern for quite a while now. BTW, to check China visa requirements you can visit http://china.visahq.com )
I was inspired by Robert Scoble and others interested in learning more about the Chinese blogosphere to start blogging about the Chinese blogosphere in the hopes of creating more awareness in the overall blogosphere about this multilateral world we live in. We are at a tipping point where Americans will need to pay attention to what is happening in the rest of the world. There are some great blogs about China out there already: Danwei, Zonaeuropa (ESWN), Digital Watch, RConversation, TechBlog86, CWRblog, Chinalyst, Imagethief…if anyone wants a pointer to some great China blogs drop a comment on my blog with what you are interested in and I’m happy to send you off to the great content that is out there.
@Abasha, if the U.S. economy into what you call a depression (which is actually incorrect, we’re facing a recession.) China will be affected, and I gurantee the blow will be more devastating there than the U.S.
Anyways, considering that I’m an daily forumer, I don’t see Chinese people that often, actually I see more people from Scandinavia than anywhere else.
The international Language for Internet Business is English.
Wher you can make all work and communication in English with low price in Domain Tax and with a governmental language also in English you have a good basis like dot com for a intresting consumer friendly Top Level Domain.
India is the biggest Democracy in the World with excellent free Universities and the World Leading Standard for Software and IT Business.
And a main language in India is Indian English = Indish
http://www.indish.in
And Google’s chief executive Eric Schmidt has predicted
that India and not China will become the world’s biggest Internet market in “about five or ten years from (2006) now , based on current trends.”.
Thanks