500 million Chinese Now Access the Internet

A report published by the admitedly not-entirely-unbiased China Internet Network Information Center, based, a state-operated entity, released a report revealing just how quickly China is growing to dominate the internet. CINIC reveals that fully 37% of China’s population is accessing the internet, which is 513 million people.

The internet has been censored in China for many years and many websites still are. Having 500 million Chinese natives using the internet more frequently can definitely help businesses in China.

An interesting fact, though, is that 70% of those accessing the net are accessing it through a mobile phone. Of course, a careful reading of the report shows that the number of actual internet users might be quite a bit lower: the report considers someone as internet connected if they have logged on in the past half year and are older than 6. As you might imagine, that could include lots of people who might not actually have internet access. So as always, take this report with a grain of salt.

Nevertheless, China is quickly becoming the dominant country on the internet. While English is still dominant, Mandarin sites are exploding, following an explosion of users. We are coming upon a time when we will have an internet split between two dominant languages, with two diametrically opposed approaches to governance.

One can only wonder what affect that will have on the internet as a whole. On the plus side, however, it might encourage bilngualism, something notably absent in many native English speakers. My only worry is that the golden age of the internet might be past.

China loves its internet censorship, and even if SOPA isn’t being voted on right now, something like it will pass eventually. The lobby is too strong to be put off forever. So, what will the internet look like when the two largest groups of internet users are censored?

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