16.9 MILLION AND COUNTING
CNNIC report finds growing number of Net users, lists top sites
Among the 16.9 million Internet users, 2.58 million used special lines, 11.76 million used dial-up connections, and 2.56 million used both means for Internet access.
(27 July 2000) The number of China’s Internet users, who connected to cyberspace via 6.5 million computers, reached 16.9 million by June 30, 2000, according to the latest "Statistical Report on China’s Internet Network Development," released on July 27 by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).
Among the 16.9 million users, 2.58 million used special lines, 11.76 million used dial-up connections, and 2.56 million used both means for Internet access. Also, 590,000 users used other appliances, such as mobile phones and home information technology appliances, to attain Internet connections, the July 27 Zhongguo Xinwen She (China News Service) reported.
By the end of June, there were a total of 99,734 domain names registered under .cn and 27,289 Web sites. The international bandwidth for the networks was 1,234M.
The report also listed new rankings of China’s Web sites. The 10 most influential Web sites and the number of votes received were as follows:
Sina Beijing: 79,532
Sohu:63,987
Netease: 60,352
Capitol Online: 45,005
Yahoo! China: 38,005
163Net: 28,047
21CN: 25,949
China.com: 21,612
Chinaren.com: 20,006
Yesky: 17,092
CNNIC divided the report into three parts: an overview of China’s Internet network developments; results of the survey on Internet users’ demographic features and habits; and Internet development trends in recent years. The survey focused on the following areas:
Statistics on the number of host computers; the number of Internet subscribers; the number of registered domain names and their distribution; the international bandwidth for the networks and the number of Web sites in China.
Brief statistical analysis of the geographic distribution and other characteristics of Internet subscribers.
Factors affecting Internet usage as well as user habits and opinions on hot topics.
The "Statistical Report on China’s Internet Network Development" is an important record of China’s Internet developments, the article noted. CNNIC published its first report in November 1997. Since 1998, it has updated its report every January and July.
The survey methods included automatic online searches, online surveys and random sampling. CNNIC conducted an online survey from May 22 to June 30 that was supported by many well- known domestic Internet service providers and Internet content providers (ICPs), which placed links to the questionnaire on their respective home pages.
Of the 629,361 questionnaires returned, 573,902 were deemed usable for statistical analysis. After random sampling, 3,679 questionnaires were analyzed.
Recent CNNIC developments
CNNIC’s previous survey, which was released on Jan. 18, revealed that the number of China’s Internet users had soared to 8.9 million by Dec. 31, 1999, a 122 percent increase over the 4 million figure reported in June 1999. The new 16.9 million figure therefore reflects a 90 percent increase from the January statistics.
Much like the newly released survey, the January results also showed Sina Beijing at the top of the list of most popular Web sites, followed by Netease and Sohu, according to a ChinaOnline report from the beginning of this year.
In June 2000, the leaders of major Chinese Web sites and polling centers criticized CNNIC’s survey methodology. Prominent Web sites, such as Sina.com, 8848.com, Sohu.com and the DangDang Online Bookstore, objected to the poll that asked Internet users to select China’s 10 most popular Web sites.
Moreover, survey and research professionals accused the CNNIC of poaching on their professional territory, the June 20 Zhongguo Jingying Bao (China Business) reported.
According to the article, Yuan Yue of Horizon Marketing Research said CNNIC’s survey was more like an election poll, methodologically, and that it was intrinsically defective since it lacked open methods and certification. He added that the legitimacy of the poll was questionable because the State Economic and Trade Commission (SETC) has long prohibited all kinds of ranking and recommendation activities. National appraisal activities are subject to the special approval of the SETC, the story said.
Sina.com, 8848.com, Sohu.com and the DangDang Online Bookstore, however, did not remove themselves from CNNIC’s consideration. This may suggest that although domestic Web sites are willing to criticize the CNNIC either in words or in writing, they still are reluctant to lose the opportunity to be named to China’s top 10 and gain the resulting publicity, the Zhongguo Jingying Bao said. Thus, all the major Chinese Web sites provided links to the CNNIC survey and asked their visitors to vote for their respective site.
Earlier this month, the online version of Renmin Ribao (People’s Daily) conducted a survey regarding CNNIC’s top-10 poll. 40 percent of the more than 6,000 people who participated said they would not take part in CNNIC’s survey because they do not believe the results, the July 8 Jisuanji Shijie Ribao (China Computerworld) reported. |
