Statistical Report on Internet

Development in China
(January 2013)

China Internet Network Information Center

Preface
In 1997, state competent departments decided through discussion to let China Internet
Network Information Center (CNNIC) organize relevant Internet entities to jointly carry out
Internet development survey. Ever since then, CNNIC has published 30 statistical reports on
Internet development in China, and this report is the 31st report. Internet has become a key sector
that affects the development of our society and economy and changes people's lifestyle. All the
reports of CNNIC have witnessed the whole development process of Chinas soaring Internet
industry. With precise and objective data, the reports provide significant basis for government
departments and companies to understand the development of Internet in China and make
relevant decisions. Therefore, they have attracted much attention from all circles and have been
cited widely both at home and abroad.
Since 1998, CNNIC has been issuing the Statistical Report on Internet Development in
China every January and July by convention. The continuous survey and study on the scale of
Internet users, structural features, access modes and network applications were provided in the
31st report, which follows regular contents and style.
Data collection in this Report also received great support from the government, enterprises
and all walks of life. All surveys went smoothly under the guidance of the Ministry of Industry
and Information Technology, and data collection of basic resources was completed in time with
the close cooperation of Internet organizations, survey websites and media. We hereby express
our sincere gratitude to all of them. Meanwhile, we would like to extend our sincere thanks to
Internet users who have participated in our 31st statistical survey on Internet development.

China Internet Network Information Center

January 2013

Contents
Preface .............................................................................................................................................. 1
Abstract............................................................................................................................................ 4
Chapter I Introduction ................................................................................................................. 7
I. Survey Methodology ............................................................................................................. 7
(I) Survey on Individual Internet Users............................................................................. 7
(II) Enterprise Survey........................................................................................................ 9
(III) Online Survey .......................................................................................................... 10
(IV) Automatic Online Search and Data Report ............................................................. 11
II. Definitions of Terms in the Report ..................................................................................... 12
Chapter II Size and Structural Features of Internet Users .................................................... 15
I. Size of Internet Users........................................................................................................... 15
(I) Overall Size of Internet Users .................................................................................... 15
(II) Size of Mobile phone Internet users ......................................................................... 18
(III) Size of Internet Users in Provinces.......................................................................... 20
(IV) Size of Rural Internet Users .................................................................................... 22
II. Attributes of Internet Users ................................................................................................ 23
(I) Gender Structure ........................................................................................................ 23
(II) Age Structure ............................................................................................................ 24
(III) Education Structure ................................................................................................. 24
(IV) Occupational Structure ............................................................................................ 25
(V) Income Structure....................................................................................................... 26
III. Access Modes.................................................................................................................... 27
(I) Internet Access Devices ............................................................................................. 27
(II) Locations to Use Internet .......................................................................................... 28
(III) Online Duration ....................................................................................................... 29
Chapter III Basic Internet Resources.......................................................................................... 29
I. Overview of Basic Resources .............................................................................................. 29
II. IP Addresses ....................................................................................................................... 30
III. Domain Names .................................................................................................................. 31
IV. Websites............................................................................................................................. 32
V. Webpages ............................................................................................................................ 33
VI. International Internet Bandwidth ...................................................................................... 34
Chapter IV Internet Applications of INTERNET USERS ................................................... 36
I. Overall Condition of Internet Applications.......................................................................... 36
(I) Acquisition of Information ......................................................................................... 38
(II) Business Transactions ............................................................................................... 39
(III) Communication ....................................................................................................... 44
(IV) Online Entertainment .............................................................................................. 48
II. Application of Mobile Phone Internet Users ...................................................................... 52
Chapter V Internet Application of SMEs............................................................................... 61
I. Development of Basic Internet Conditions for SMEs ......................................................... 61
2

(I) Popularization of Computer ................................................................................... 61

(II) Popularization of Internet ...................................................................................... 61
(III) Popularization of Broadband ............................................................................... 64
II. Development of E-commerce and Internet Marketing of SMEs ........................................ 67
(I) Popularization of E-commerce .............................................................................. 67
(II) Application of Internet Marketing .......................................................................... 70
III. The Features and Trends of Internet Application of SMEs ............................................... 70
Appendix 1 Attached Tables of Basic Internet Resources .............................................. 72
Appendix 2 Organizations Supporting the Survey ............................................................ 85
Appendix 3 Introduction to CNIDP ........................................................................................ 86

Abstract
1. Basic Information
By the end of December 2012, China has had 564 million Internet users, with a total of 50.9
million new ones. The Internet penetration rate of 42.1%, a growth of 3.8% compared with
the end of 2011.
By the end of December 2012, China has had 420 million mobile Internet users, 64.4 million
more than that at the end of 2011. Among all the Internet users, those using mobile phones to
access Internet increased from 69.3% at the end of 2011 to 74.5%.
The rural Internet users accounted for 27.6% of the total in China, reaching 156 million,
which rose slightly compared with the figure in 2011, with an increase of 19.6 million over
the end of 2011.
The ratio of Internet users using desktops dropped to 70.6% by nearly 3% over the end of last
year. The ratio of Internet users using laptops dropped slightly to 45.9% compared with the
figure at the end of last year. The ratio of Internet users using mobile phones rose quickly
from 69.3% to 74.5%.
China had a total of 13.41 million domain names, including 7.51 million .CN domain
names, a proportion of 56.0%, and 280,000 . domain names. The total number of
websites, namely the number of websites registered by the registrants of website domain
names (including accessions both from home and abroad) continued growing, reaching 2.68
million.
By the end of December 2012, the ratio of the interviewed small- and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs) depending on computer-based offices reached 91.3%, and that having
access to Internet 78.5%. The penetration rate of fixed broadband hit 71.0%, the proportions
of online sale and online purchase 25.3% and 26.5% respectively, and the ratio employing
4

internet to carry out marketing and promotion 23.0%.

2. Trends and Features

The growth of Internet users continued the slow-down tendency, and mobile phone
Internet users kept growing vigorously
In 2012, the Internet penetration rate reached 42.1% in China, rising 3.8% over the previous
year. The growth extent further contracted compared with the last year. Mobile phone Internet
users hit 420 million, growing at the annual rate of 18.1%. Of all Internet users, the proportion of
those using mobile phone to access the Internet kept rising, further strengthening its position as the
top Internet access terminal. However, compared with PC Internet users (including both desktops
and laptops), the scale of mobile phone Internet users still had a big gap to fill.

The growth rate of .CN domain names attained 112.8%, accounting for more than half
of the total number of domain names across China.
By the end of December 2012, China has had a total of 7.51 million .CN domain names, a
big increase of 112.8% compared with the same period of last year, accounting for 56.0% of the
total number of domain names in the country. The number of .COM domain names hit 4.83
million, accounting for a proportion of 36.0%.

Users of microblog kept growing, and mobile users saw a gradually dominating trend
By the end of December 2012, China has had a total of 309 million microblog users, an
increase of 58.73 million. Of the internet users, microblog users accounted for 54.7%, up by 6%
over the end of last year. A considerable number of users accessed microblogs and published
microposts via mobile phones. By the end of 2012, the mobile phone microblog users has hit 202
million, namely 65.6% of microblog users used their mobile phones to access microblogs.

Online shopping and group shopping kept growing at a high rate

By the end of December 2012, China has had a total of 242 million online shoppers, and the
utilization ratio of online shopping rose to 42.9%. Compared with 2011, online shoppers grew by
48.07 million at a rate of 24.8%. Against the background that the growth of Internet users slowed
5

down gradually, the application of online shopping still kept a momentum of rapid growth. The
absolute growth of Internet users outperformed that in 2011, 4% higher than the growth rate in the
same period of last year. China had a total of 83.27 million group shopping users, and the
utilization ratio rose to 14.8% by 2.2% over the end of the 2011. The number of group shopping
users increased by 28.8% across the year, keeping a relatively high growth rate.

E-commerce applications on mobile phones witnesses an all-round significant growth in

utilization ratio
E-commerce applications witnessed fast development in the field of mobile phone terminal,
growing in an all-sided manner. Compared with 2011, the proportion of mobile phone Internet
users shopping online via mobile phones grew by 6.6%, and the total number was 2.36 times as
great as that at the end of last year. In addition, the proportion of mobile phone group shopping
users in the total number of mobile phone Internet users went up 1.7% over the end of last year,
that of mobile phone online payment up 4.6%, and that of mobile phone online banking up 4.7%.
The users of the three mobile applications all grew by more than 80%.

The construction of Internet infrastructure for SMEs required further improvement

and the application level of Internet needed further enhancement
At present, the Internet penetration rate among SMEs in China still remained at a low level,
and the broadband construction needed to be pushed forward further. Meanwhile, compared with
the penetration rates of online purchase and online sale of some member countries at the end of
2011 published by OECD, the portion of online sale among SMEs in China was 25.3%, and that
of online sale was 26.5%, both remaining at a low level. Apart from lacking the information-based
driving force, Chinas SMEs had a limited understanding to online purchase, and the environments
of laws and regulations and systems of logistics and payment could only provide restricted
supports, so we still lagged far behind the world advanced level in terms of the penetration rate of
online purchase.

Chapter I Introduction
I. Survey Methodology
(I) Survey on Individual Internet Users
1.1 Survey Population
Permanent residents at the age of 6 or above who have fixed-line telephones
(including home phones, PHS and dormitory telephones) or mobile phones.

Sample size
Totally 60,000 survey samples in which 30,000 for fixed-line telephones and the other
30,000 for mobile phones, covering 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities
directly under the Central Government in Mainland China.

Division of survey population

The survey population can be divided into three categories:

Subpopulation A: Survey subpopulation using fixed-line telephones (including
residents with home phones, PHS users, students with dormitory telephones, and other
users with dormitory telephones);
Subpopulation B: Survey subpopulation with mobile phones;
Subpopulation C: Survey subpopulation with both fixed-line telephones and mobile phones
(there is overlap between subpopulation A and subpopulation B, the overlapped part is
subpopulation C), C=AB.

1.2 Sampling method

CNNIC surveys subpopulation A, B and C. Double sampling is adopted for the survey
so as to cover more Internet users. The first sampling frame is subpopulation A, the
people with fixed-line telephones. The second sampling frame is subpopulation B, the
people with mobile phones.
For the survey population with fixed-line telephones, stratified two-stage sampling is
adopted. To ensure the sufficient representativeness of samples, the whole country is
divided into 31 tiers according to the province, autonomous region and municipality
directly under the central government and the sampling is made independently at each
tier.
The self-weighted sampling method is adopted for each province. The sample sizes
are allocated for each district, city and prefecture (including the governed districts and
counties) in accordance with the proportion of the people at the age of 6 or above in the
city covered by fixed-line telephones in the total population covered in the whole province.
Sampling in subpopulation B is similar to that in subpopulation A. The whole country
is divided into 31 tiers according to the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities
directly under the central government, and sampling is made independently in each tier.
Samples are allocated in accordance with the proportion of the residents in each district or
city to make the sample allocation in each province conform to the self-weighting method.
To ensure the residence fixed-line telephones are taken in almost identical
opportunities in each district, city or prefecture, that is, the local number with more
8

residence fixed-line telephones will more likely be taken, and for easier operability in the
visit and implementation work, the residence fixed-line telephone numbers in each district,
city and prefecture are taken according to the following procedures:
The survey of the subpopulation with mobile phones is to take all mobile phone local
numbers in each district, city and prefecture; then certain 4-digit numbers are generated
randomly in combination with the valid sample size in each district, city or prefecture, and
then combined with the mobile phone numbers in each district, city or prefecture to form a
number library (local number + the random 4-digit number); randomly order the number
library; dial and visit the randomly ordered number library. Survey of the subpopulation
with fixed-line telephones is similar to that of the subpopulation with mobile phones: a
random number is generated to form a telephone number with the local number, then
these numbers are dialed and visited. To avoid repeated sampling, only the people with
fixed-line telephones are visited.

1.3 Survey method

The computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) system is adopted for the
survey.

1.4 Differences between survey population and targeted population

A study for the population who are not covered by telephones in 2005 by CNNIC
shows that Internet users are very few in this subpopulation. Currently, the subpopulation
is downsizing gradually with the development of our telecom industry. In this survey, there is
an assumption, i.e.
Internet users who are not covered by fixed-line telephones and mobile phones are
negligible.

(II) Enterprise Survey

2.1 Survey target

The target population of telephone survey is small and medium-sized enterprises with
legal personality in Mainland China, excluding privately-owned businesses.

2.2 Sampling method

Stratified random sampling is adopted in the survey. The sampling size in each
province is based on the economic census data and random sampling is carried out in
accordance with the enterprise yellow page data of each province. The number of final
valid samples is 4,500.

2.3 Implementation method of the survey

The method of telephone survey (CATI) is adopted in this project. The methods for
controlling the randomness and accuracy are as follows:
1) Calls are made from 9 am to 6 pm on working days.
2) The SME libraries are visited by random dialing by province, city and industry. After
the survey is accomplished, the telephone investigation company is asked to provide the
detailed dialing information of all the phones for random checks.
3) To avoid the randomness being influenced by the put-through rate, numbers that
cannot be connected will be dialed for at least three times.
4) To avoid the influence of investigators personal perspective to the investigation, it
is stated that items that are not needed to be read out cannot be given any prompt and the
questions should be asked properly.
5) After telephone survey, the data are pre-processed to check the logical relation
between the value of a variable and the variable itself. Unqualified samplings shall be all
deleted.

(III) Online Survey

Online survey focuses on the use of typical Internet applications. CNNIC conducted
10

online survey from November 1 to December 31, 2012. The questionnaire is on the
CNNIC website, and the links are available on government websites and major websites
of China. Internet users voluntarily participated in and filled out the questionnaire. After the
questionnaires were returned, questionnaires validity was verified and invalid
questionnaires were sieved out by special techniques. Totally 157,172 valid
questionnaires were received.

(IV) Automatic Online Search and Data Report

Automatic online search is used to conduct technical statistics about quantity of
domain names and websites, and their geographical distribution. Statistical data for
reporting mainly includes the number of IP addresses and international Internet
bandwidth.

4.1. Total number of IP addresses

The data of IP addresses counted by provinces come from the IP address databases
of Asia-Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC) and CNNIC. Registered data that can
clearly distinguish the provinces of the addresses in each database can be added
respectively by provinces to generate data of each province. As address allocation is a
dynamic process, the statistical data are only for reference. The Ministry of Industry and
Information Technology, as the national competent department of IP addresses, will
require our IP address allocation organizations (such as China Telecom) to report the IP
addresses they own biannually. To ensure accuracy of IP data, CNNIC will compare and
verify APNIC statistical data and the reported data to confirm the final quantity of IP
addresses.

4.2. Total number of domain names and websites in China

Total number of domain names and websites in China can be attained by adding the
following two portions of data:
11

The first portion is the number of domain names and websites with .CN, which was
obtained by CNNIC through automatic online search on computers; the second portion is
the number of China gTLD and websites provided by domestic registries of top level
domains. The data include: number of all gTLD and the relevant websites; number of
gTLD classified by .COM, .NET and .ORG and corresponding websites; and number
of gTLD classified by the province where the registrar is and corresponding websites.

4.3. International Internet bandwidth

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology can obtain regularly the number
of total bandwidth of Internet connecting Chinese carriers with other countries and regions
through the report system of telecom enterprises. The reported data are included in the
Statistical Report on Internet Development in China.

II. Definitions of Terms in the Report

INTERNET USERS: Chinese residents at the age of six or above who have used
Internet in the past 6 months.
Mobile INTERNET USERS: Internet users who have used mobile phones to
access and surf Internet in the past 6 months, but not limited to those surfing Internet via
mobile phones only.
Computer INTERNET USERS: Internet users who have used computer to
access and surf Internet in the past 6 months, but not limited to those surfing Internet via
computers only.
Rural INTERNET USERS: Internet users who have been living in rural areas
of China in the past 6 months.
Urban INTERNET USERS: Internet users who have been living in urban
areas of China in the past 6 months.
IP ADDRESS: as the basic resource in Internet, the IP address functions to
indentify online computers, servers and other devices on Internet. Connection with the
12

Internet can be realized only when an IP address (in any form) is acquired.
DOMAIN NAME: Domain name in the Report only refers to the English domain
name, which is a string comprised of numbers, letters, and hyphens (-) and separated by
dots (.). It is a hierarchical structural Internet address identifier corresponding to the IP
address. The common domain names are divided into two categories: country code
top-level domain (ccTLD), such as the domain names ended with .CN which represents
China; and generic top-level domain (gTLD), such as the domain names ended with
.COM, .NET and .ORG.
WEBSITE: It refers to the web sites with domain name itself or WWW. + domain
name as the web address, including the web sites under our top-level domain name
.CN and gTLD. The registrant of the website is within the territory of P.R.C. For example:
for the domain name of [Link], it has only one website and the corresponding web
address is [Link] or [Link]. Other web addresses like [Link] and
[Link] with such domain name as the suffix are regarded as different channels of
the website.
Enterprises/ SMEs: The enterprises mentioned in this report all refer to
small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and privately-owned businesses are
excluded in accordance with the definition stated in the Regulations on the
Standard for the Classification of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises jointly
issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Bureau
of Statistics of China, the National Development and Reform Commission and the
Ministry of Finance. In the Regulations on the Standard for the Classification of
Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises, SMEs are classified into three types:
medium-sized, small-sized and mini-sized. The specific standards are stipulated in
accordance with such indicators as enterprises practitioners, operating income
and total assets and in combination with the industry characteristics.

Scope of survey: Unless otherwise expressly indicated, data in this Report only
refer to mainland China, excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
Deadline of survey data: The deadline of the statistical survey data is
13

December 31, 2012.

14

Chapter II
Size and Structural
Features of Internet Users
I. Size of Internet Users
(I) Overall Size of Internet Users
By the end of December 2012, China has had 564 million Internet users, with a total of
50.9 million new ones. The Internet penetration rate reached 42.1% in China, rising 3.8% over
the previous year. The growth extent further contracted compared with the last year.
Size of Chinese Internet users and Internet penetration rate

50.0%

100000
42.1%

10,000 persons

38.3%
34.3%
35.0%

75000

28.9%
22.6%

56400
51310

50000
8.5%

20.0%

45730

16.0%
38400

10.5%

29800
21000

25000
11100

5.0%

13700

-10.0%
2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Number of Internet users

Internet penetration rate

Source: CNNIC Statistical Survey on Internet Development in China

Figure 1 Size of Chinese Internet users and Internet penetration rate

15

After analyzing the willingness of non-Internet users to use Internet, it can be concluded that
Internet development in China will keep the trend of slowing-down growth in the future. In the
mid-year research conducted in 2011, 65.0% of non-Internet users said that it was sure or it was
highly possible that they would not use Internet in the next six months; however, by the end of
2012, the percentage had raised to 77.3%. In comparison, potential Internet users who do not use
Internet currently but will consider it in the next six months only occupy 13.4%, keeping a
gradually declining trend. The result indicates that potential Internet users who have intention to
use Internet are gradually becoming Internet users while for those who have no intention to use
Internet, there is not a remarkable increase in Internet-accessing intention.
Intention to use Internet in the future for non-Internet users
positive

uncertain

negative

90%

68%
65,0%

72,9%

69,5%

77,3%

45%

23%

17,5%
17,5%

16,3%

17,0%

14,3%

10,2%

9,3%

Dec-11

Jun-12

Dec-12

0%
Jun-13

13,4%

Source: CNNIC Statistical Survey on Internet Development in China

Figure 2 Intention to use Internet in the future for non-Internet users

Among non-Internet users with different intentions to use Internet in the future, they have
different reasons for not using Internet. For those with strong intention to use Internet (i.e.
potential Internet users), restrictions from life style (lack of time) and hardware condition (without
device to access Internet, Internet is not available at the local area) are comparatively more
apparent (see Figure 3). As the infrastructure construction for Internet is improving, charges for
Internet access and Internet terminals gradually declines, restrictions can be removed in the
external environment, thus the momentum for the growth of Internet users in the future lies mainly
16

in those potential users with the joint efforts from the government and Internet industry and the
development of technology.
Intention to use Internet and reasons f or not using Internet f or nonInternet users
80

66

60

42

40

35

36

34 33 33

30

27
23
16

20

15 14 15

11

13

10
5 4
4

8 8

12

0
Ignorance of

Having no

Internet access

computer/

Internet access

not available

Internet

devices like

lack of time

Too young/ too

old

computer

definite

possible

possibly not

certainly no

uncertain

Source: CNNIC Statistical Survey on Internet Development in China

Figure 3 Intention to use Internet and reasons for not using Internet for non-Internet users

For non-Internet users who have no intention to use Internet in the future, their main reasons
lie in that they are ignorant of computer and Internet, or they are too old. It is a complicated
situation: for some, applications on Internet are distant from their daily life, therefore, they do not
have enough impetus to learn and accept new things and their demand for Internet is not strong;
there is a technological threshold for using Internet, with requirements for certain knowledge and
skills. No matter it is because the lack of demand, or because there is a threshold, the solutions for
those problems not only lie in the measures of infrastructure construction and downturn of charges,
but also innovation for the application of Internet, targeted service modes for different groups of
17

people, closer connection between online and offline worlds, and intelligent and easy Internet
hardware.
The development of next generation Internet and mobile Internet brings opportunities for the
fulfillment of those changes. In 2012, the Chinese Government formulated a series of policies for
the research, development and application of these technologies: in February, the path and
timetable for the development of IPv6 were finalized; in March, the Ministry of Industry and
Information Technology held a meeting on the popularization and speed acceleration of broadband
and proposed the strategy of Broadband China; and in May, the 12th Five-Year Development
Plan for Communications Industry was issued, which set development targets and plans for new
services such as popularization of broadband, Internet of things, and cloud computing.
Accelerating the application of new technologies, these policies will boost consecutive innovation
of Internet.

(II) Size of Mobile phone Internet users

By the end of December 2012, China has had 422 million mobile phone Internet users, 64.4
million more than that of the end of 2011. Among all the Internet users, those using mobile phones
to access Internet increased from 69.3% at the end of 2011 to 74.5%.

18

Size of Chinese mobile phone Internet users and the

percentage in all Internet users
60000

10,000 persons

66.2%

74.5%

80%

41997

60%

69.3%

60.8%
45000
35558

39.5%
30000

30274
40%

23344
24.0%
11760

15000

20%

5040
0

0%
2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

size of mobile phone Internet users

percentage of mobile phone Internet

Source: CNNIC Statistical Survey on Internet Development in China

Figure 4 Size of mobile phone Internet users

The size of mobile phone Internet users increased sharply in 2012, surpassing the number of
users who use desktops in the middle of the year. Meanwhile, as the majority of mobile phone
Internet users use feature phones rather than smart phones, they are left behind by users with PC
terminals in terms of time spent on Internet, depth of application, and abundance in functions.
The meanings of fast penetration of mobile Internet lie in that, on the one hand, it brings a
great upsurge of mobile Internet innovation. Smart mobile terminals where smart phones play the
main role provide large innovation space for practitioners in Internet with its novel terminal
interactive mode and usage environment and habit. A large amount of popular mobile applications
appeared in 2012 and attracted more and more Internet users to access into mobile Internet. On the
other hand, the development of mobile Internet makes it possible to use Internet for people and
areas where Internet access and terminal availability are limited, including residents living in
distant rural areas, migrant workers, and groups with low income and poor education background.
Terminals that are inexpensive and easy to operate meet their primary demands to use Internet,
19

and boost further popularization of Internet. With the prices for smart terminals decreasing, a huge
amount of low-end smart phones were introduced to the market. And as the rate for traffic flow
decreases, these groups of people would turn to smart phone users gradually. Great potentials wait
ahead for the mobile Internet market, especially with people who were not able to access to
Internet in the age of traditional Internet.

(III) Size of Internet Users in Provinces

The sizes of Internet users in 31 provinces (municipalities directly under the central
government and autonomous regions) in the Mainland China experienced growth at different
levels in 2012 where Guizhou, Anhui, Guangxi and Jiangxi, provinces with lower penetration rate
of Internet, witnessed the highest growth. While the growth rates in Beijing, Shanghai, and
Guangdong, where the penetration rate were comparatively high, slowed down.
By the end of 2012, 8 provinces and municipalities had Internet users accounting for at least
half of their residents. Among which, the penetration rate of Internet in Beijing and Shanghai
attained to about 70%, reaching the level of countries with high penetration rate such as North
American countries, most Western European counties, Japan and South Korea. And penetration
rate in Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang and Tianjin reached about 60%. In Liaoning and Jiangsu, it
attained 50% in 2012, sharing a similar level with Russia and Brazil, two emerging market
economies. In terms of the growth rate of Internet users, except in Tianjin, the growth rates in
other 7 provinces were below the national average level.
The penetration rates in Shanxi, Hainan, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Hebei, Shaanxi, Chongqing,
Ningxia, Shandong and Hubei were between 40% and 50%. Specifically, the penetration rates in
Hebei and Ningxia grew by over 4%, making them top two with the highest growth rate.
However, Internet penetration rates in Inner Mongolia, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Guangxi, Hunan,
Tibet, Sichuan, Anhui, Gansu, Henan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Jiangxi were all below 40%,
indicating that penetration rate in different regions and areas differs a lot from each other.

Table 1 Size of Internet users and penetration rate of Internet in provinces (municipalities directly
20

under the central government and autonomous regions) of the Mainland China between 2011 and 2012
Province

Size (10,000

Penetration

persons)

rate

Growth rate

Ranking of

Ranking of

penetration

growth rate

rate
Beijing

1458

72.2%

5.8%

27

Shanghai

1606

68.4%

5.3%

29

Guangdong

6627

63.1%

5.2%

30

Fujian

2280

61.3%

8.5%

23

Zhejiang

3221

59.0%

5.5%

28

Tianjin

793

58.5%

10.3%

18

Liaoning

2199

50.2%

5.1%

31

Jiangsu

3952

50.0%

7.2%

25

Shanxi

1589

44.2%

13.1%

13

Hainan

384

43.7%

13.6%

10

12

Xinjiang

962

43.6%

9.1%

11

21

Qinghai

238

41.9%

14.7%

12

Hebei

3008

41.5%

15.9%

13

Shaanxi

1551

41.5%

8.6%

13

22

Chongqing

1195

40.9%

11.9%

15

16

Ningxia

258

40.3%

24.5%

16

Shandong

3866

40.1%

6.7%

17

26

Hubei

2309

40.1%

8.5%

17

24

965

38.9%

12.9%

19

14

Jilin

1062

38.6%

10.0%

20

20

Heilongjiang

1329

34.7%

10.2%

21

19

Guangxi

1586

34.2%

17.2%

22

Hunan

2200

33.3%

13.6%

23

10

Tibet

101

33.3%

12.7%

23

15

Sichuan

2562

31.8%

14.9%

25

Anhui

1869

31.3%

17.9%

26

Gansu

795

31.0%

13.6%

27

11

Henan

2856

30.4%

10.6%

28

17

Guizhou

991

28.6%

17.9%

29

Yunnan

1321

28.5%

15.9%

30

Jiangxi

1267

28.5%

16.5%

30

Inner
Mongolia

21

The whole
country

56400

42.1%

9.9%

(IV) Size of Rural Internet Users

By the end of December 2012, the rural Internet users accounted for 27.6% of the total in
China, reaching 156 million, which rose slightly compared with the figure in 2011, with an
increase of 19.6 million over the end of 2011.

Urban-rural structure of Internet Users

80%

73.5%

72.4%

60%

40%
27.6%

26.5%

20%

0%
Urban

Rural

2011

2012

Source: CNNIC Statistical Survey on Internet Development in China

Figure 5 Urban-rural structure of Internet users

In recent years, changes of urban-rural structure among Internet users have remained stable.
It connects to the rapid urbanization advanced by our country. Permanent population in urban
areas surpassed that in rural areas in 2011, making the urbanization rate break the threshold of
50%. Rural population have declined to 657 million from 728 million in 2008, therefore, the
percentage of rural Internet users did not increase remarkably. Currently, gaps remain in Internet
penetration rate in rural and urban areas: by the end of 2012, the rate among urban residents has
reached about 60% while it was 23.7% in rural area. However, the growth rate in rural area has
become slightly higher than that in urban areas starting from 2011. The trend of enlarging gaps of
Internet penetration was over, reflecting achievement of the popularization work in rural area.

22

Urban-rural Internet penetration rate and urbanization progress

Urban Internet penetration rate

Rural Internet penetration rate

70%
60%

55,1%

54,3%

53,5%

50%

53,4%

40%
30%

45,7%

59,1%

50,3%

48,7%

20,2%

23,7%

2011

2012

35,9%

20%

10%

56,7%

17,5%
14,8%

11,6%

0%
2008

2009

2010

Source: CNNIC Statistical Survey on Internet Development in China

Figure 6 Urban-rural Internet penetration rate and urbanization progress

II. Attributes of Internet Users

(I) Gender Structure
As of the end of December 2012, the sex ratio of Internet users was 55.8:44.2, similar to that
of 2011. Gaps remain in use rate of Internet for male and female residents.
Gender structure of Internet users
60%

55.9%

55.8%
44.1%

44.2%

40%

20%
0%
male

female

2011

2012

Source: CNNIC Statistical Survey on Internet Development in China

Figure 7 Gender structure of Internet users

23

(II) Age Structure

Percentage of Internet users between the age of 10 and 19 has declined from 26.7 % in 2011
to 24.0%, relating to the population decline of that age. Besides, percentage of Internet users
above the age of 40 increased at different levels for different age sections. And penetration speed
of Internet among these groups accelerated.

Age structure of Internet users

40%
29,8% 30,4%

30%

26,7%

25,7% 25,3%

24,0%

20%
11,4% 12,4%

10%

4,1% 4,4%

1,7% 1,7%

0,7% 1,8%

0%
below 10

1019

20-29

30-39

2011

40-49

50-59

60

2012

Source: CNNIC Statistical Survey on Internet Development in China

Figure 8 Age structure of Internet users

(III) Education Structure

Internet penetration rate among people with high school and junior college degree and above
education background has attained a comparatively high level, and among people with junior
college degree and above in particular, was saturated. The growth momentum of Internet users is
from people with low education background. By the end of 2012, percentage of Internet users with
the education background of elementary school and below has grown up to 10.9%.

24

Education structure of Internet users

40%
35,7%35,6%
33,3%

32,3%

30%

20%

10,9%

10%

10,5% 9,8%

8,5%

11,9%11,3%

0%
Elementary
education and
below

Junior high
school

Senior high/ Junior college University and

vocational
above
secondary
school/
technical
2011 school
2012

Source: CNNIC Statistical Survey on Internet Development in China

Figure 9 Education structure of Internet users

(IV) Occupational Structure

As Internet penetration rate among students stays at a high level and high school and
elementary school students decline each year, students, as the largest group of Internet users, has
dropped to 25.1% in 2012. Percentage of people of individually-owned business/ freelancers
ranked the second, reaching 18.1%. In companies and enterprises, managers account for 3.1% and
general employees account for 10.1% in all Internet users. And among party and government
organs and institutions, the leading cadres and common clerks account for 0.5% and 4.2%
respectively. And professional technicians take up 8.1%.

25

Occupational structure of Internet users

30,2%
25,1%

Students
0,7%
Leading cadres in party and government 0,5%

Common clerks in party and government

Managers in enterprises/ companies
General employees in enterprises/ companies
Professional technicians
Employees in commerce and service industry

Workers in manufacturing enterprises

People of individually-owned businesses/
Rural migrant workers
Workers in agriculture, forestry,
The retired

Jobless/ unemployed/ laid-off people

Others
2011

5,2%
4,2%
4,0%
3,1%
9,9%
10,1%
8,3%
8,1%
3,5%
3,8%
3,5%
4,1%
16,0%
18,1%
3,0%
3,5%
4,0%
5,5%
1,8%
2,3%
8,6%
9,8%
1,3%
1,8%

0%
2012

10%

20%

30%

40%

Source: CNNIC Statistical Survey on Internet Development in China

Figure 10 Occupational structure of Internet users

(V) Income Structure

Internet users with monthly income of above RMB 3,000 increase steadily, accounting for
28.8%, which is 6.5% higher than the end of 2011.

Among which, students' income includes living expenses provided by their families, salary from work-study
program, scholarship and other income. Farmers income includes living expenses from their offspring, income
from agricultural production, and government subsidy. The jobless, unemployed and laid-off peoples income
includes living expenses from their offspring, relief fund, subsidy, pension and basic living allowance from
government. The retired peoples income constitutes of living expenses from their offspring, and retirement
pension.
26

Personal income structure of Internet users

3,8%
4,7%

Over 8,000 (yuan)

5,0%
5,6%

5,001-8,000

13,5%

3,001-5,000

18,4%
17,9%
18,0%

2,001-3,000
11,9%
10,1%

1,501-2,000

10,1%

1,001-1,500

8,2%
12,5%
12,3%

501-1,000

17,5%

Below 500

14,2%
7,9%
8,4%

No Income
0%

5%
2011

10%

15%

20%

25%

2012

Source: CNNIC Statistical Survey on Internet Development in China

2012.12

Figure 11 Structure of monthly income of Internet users

III. Access Modes

(I) Internet Access Devices
The ratio of Internet users using desktops dropped to 70.6% in 2012 by nearly 3% over the
end of last year. The ratio of Internet users using laptops dropped slightly to 45.9% compared to
the figure of the end of last year. The ratio of Internet users using mobile phones rose quickly from
69.3% to 74.5%.

27

Internet access devices

80%

73.4% 70.6%

69.3%

60%

74.5%

46.8% 45.9%

40%

20%
0%

Desktop

Laptop

2011

Mobile phone

2012

Source: CNNIC Statistical Survey on Internet Development in China

Figure 12 Internet access devices

(II) Locations to Use Internet

As more and more homes become Internet accessible, 91.7% of Internet users went online at
home at the end of 2012, a 2.9 percent growth compared to that of the end of last year. It showed
that household Internet access rate was on the rise. Percentage of Internet users who access to
Internet at Internet bar or computer room at school dropped considerably, among which using
Internet bar dropped 5.5% and using public computer room at school dropped 3%. Decline of use
rate of public places with Internet access devices is the inevitable result of higher possession of
personal Internet access devices and improvement on the condition of Internet access.
Locations for Internet users to use Internet with computers

100%

88,8% 91,7%

80%
60%

40%

27,9%

33,2% 32,4%
22,4%

20%

18,7% 15,7%

13,6% 13,3%

At school

Public places

0%
At home

Internet bar

At work

2011

2012

Source: CNNIC Statistical Survey on Internet Development in China

Figure 13 Locations for Internet users to surf Internet with computers

28

(III) Online Duration

Weekly average of time spend online in 2012 was 20.5 hours, 1.8 hours more than that of
2011.
Weekly average online duration per Chinese Internet
user
24

hours

20.5
18.7

16

0
2011

2012

Source: CNNIC Statistical Survey on Internet Development in China

Figure 14

2012.12

Average weekly online duration of Internet users

Chapter III Basic Internet Resources

I. Overview of Basic Resources
China had 331 million IPv4 addresses and 12,535/32s of IPv6 addresses at the end of
December 2012.
Total domain names were 13.40 million, among which .CN domain names reached 7.51
million, a 112.8% growth and took up 56.0% of all domain names in China. And the number of .
domain names reached 280,000.
There were altogether 2.68 million websites, a 16.8% growth compared to that of the same
time last year.
International Internet bandwidth reached 1,899,792 Mbps, with a growth rate of 36.7% to
that of the same time last year.

29

Table 2

Comparison of China Internet basic resources from 2011-2012

IPv4

December

December

2011

2012

Wherein, .CN Domain name

Wherein, . Domain name
Website
Wherein, .CN website
Wherein, . website
International Internet bandwidth (Mbps)

Annual
growth rate

330,439,936

330,534,912

94,976

0.0%

9,398

12,535

3,137

33.4%

7,748,459

13,412,079

5,663,620

73.1%

3,528,511

7,507,759

3,979,248

112.8%

IPv6 (/32s)
Domain name

Annual growth

283,484

2,295,562

2,680,702

385,140

16.8%

951,609

1,036,864

85,255

9.0%

4,095

1,389,529

1,899,792

510,263

36.7%

II. IP Addresses
China has had 12,535/32s IPv6 addresses by the end of December 2012, a remarkable 33.4%
growth compared to that of the same time last year and ranking the third worldwide. According to
Notice on the Development Proposal of the Next Generation Internet in the 12th Five-Year Period,
small scale commercial pilots of IPv6 will be gradually carried out before the end of 2013. It is to
form the commercial modes and technology evolution path and make preparation for the overall
deployment of IPv6. Plentiful address resource is the foundation for the smooth implementation of
that process.
Number of IPv6 addresses
15000

/32s

12499

12535

2012.6

2012.12

12000
9398

9000
6000

3000
58

63

395

401

429

2009.6

2009.12

2010.6

2010.12

2011.6

0
2011.12

Source: CNNIC Statistical Survey on Internet Development in China

2012.12

Figure 15 Number of IPv6 addresses in China

Total number of our IPv4 addresses remained, which was 331 million at the end of December
30

2012.

Figure 16 Changes of IPv4 addresses resources in China

III. Domain Names

The total number of domain names increased to 13.41 million as led by the great growth
of .CN domain name. The growth rate reached 73.1% compared to that of the end of last year.
Table 3

Number of domain names in each category

Number

Proportion in total domain names

CN

7,507,759

56.0%

COM

4,834,690

36.0%

NET

629,154

4.7%

283,484

2.1%

ORG

145,414

1.1%

11,578

0.1%

13,412,079

100.0%

Others
Total

China has 7.51 million .CN domain names as of the end of 2012, increasing by 112.8%
compared to that of the same time last year and accounting for 56.0% of all China domain names.
And .COM domain names were 4.83 million, taking up 36.0%. Beside, number of . domain
names reached 280,000.

31

Table 4

Number of domain names in each .CN category

Number

Proportion in total CN domain names

cn

6,158,126

82.0%

[Link]

1,059,202

14.1%

[Link]

126,059

1.7%

[Link]

58,117

0.8%

[Link]

52,889

0.7%

[Link]

45,588

0.6%

[Link]

4,026

0.1%

[Link]

3,711

0.0%

[Link]

41

0.0%

Total

7,507,759

100.0%

IV. Websites
China has had 2.68 million websites by the end of June 2012. The number has increased 0.38
million in the year with the growth rate of 16.8 %.

Figure 17 Number of Websites in China

Note: Websites with the domain name of .[Link] are excluded.

Websites whose domain names registrants are within the territory of the P.R.C.
32

V. Webpages
By the end of 2012, China has 122.7 billion webpages, growing by 41.7% compared with
that of 2011.

Figure 18 Number of Webpages in China

Average number of webpages of a single website and average number of bytes of a single
webpage in 2012 remained the growth momentum in 2012, indicating that the content on the
Internet was more abundant: average number of webpages of a single website reached 45,800, a
21.4% growth to the same period last year; and average number of bytes of a single webpage was
42KB, a 10.2% growth.

Table 5 Number of Webpages in China

Unit

2011

Total number of

Growth

2012

rate

86,582,298,393

122,746,817,252

41.77%

59,364,979,522

60,379,347,181

1.71%

webpages

Static webpages

Proportion in total
webpages

Dynamic webpages

Proportion in total

Data source: [Link], Inc. (Beijing)

33

68.56%

49.19%

27,217,318,871

62,367,470,077

129.15%

31.44%

50.81%

webpages
Size of the webpage

KB

3,313,529,625,009

5,140,463,284,447

55.14%

37,717

45,789

21.40%

38

42

10.21%

(total byte)
Average webpages of
each website
Average bytes of each

KB

webpage

VI. International Internet Bandwidth

By the end of December 2012, China has had 1,899,792 Mbps of international Internet
Gateway bandwidth, up 36.7 % in the whole year.

Figure 19 Changes of Chinas international Internet gateway bandwidth

34

Table 6 International Internet gateway bandwidth of major backbone networks

International Internet bandwidth (Mbps)
China Telecom

1,048,848

China Unicom

586,279

China Mobile

206,563

China Education and Research Network

35,500

China Science and Technology Network

22,600
2

China International Economy and Trade Net

1,899,792

Total

35

Chapter IV Internet Applications

of INTERNET USERS
I. Overall Condition of Internet Applications
The use of internet applications in 2012 had a similar tendency to that in 2011. The
utilization ratio of instant messaging, No. 1 internet application, kept rising, e-commerce
applications were rapidly developing and the utilization ratios of traditional internet applications
such as e-mail and forum/BBS were on a decline.
Users of microblog kept growing, and mobile users saw a gradually dominating
trend
The number of microblog users reached 309 million in 2012, a 58.73 million increase over
the end of 2011. The rapid expansion of microblogs had come to an end, but the annual growth
was still as high as 23.5%. A considerable number of users accessed microblogs and
published microposts via mobile phones. By the end of 2012, the mobile phone microblog
users has hit 202 million, namely 65.6% of microblog users used their mobile phones to
access microblogs.
Online shopping and group shopping kept growing at a high rate
Online shopping users reached 242 million, and the utilization ratio increased to 42.9%.
Online shopping users increased by 48.07 million, or 24.8%, compared with 2011. Against the
background that the growth of Internet users slowed down gradually, the application of
online shopping still kept a momentum of rapid growth. The absolute growth of Internet
users outperformed that in 2011, 4% higher than the growth rate in the same period of last
year. The number of group shopping users was 83.27 million, increasing the utilization ratio to
14.8%, a 3.3% growth over the end of 2011. The increase in the number in a year was as high as
28.8%.
E-commerce applications on mobile phones witnessed an all-round significant
36

growth in utilization ratio

E-commerce applications witnessed fast development in the field of mobile phone
terminal, growing in an all-sided manner. Compared with 2011, the proportion of mobile
phone Internet users shopping online via mobile phones grew by 6.6%, and the total
number was 2.36 times as great as that at the end of last year. In addition, the proportion
of mobile phone group shopping users in the total number of mobile phone Internet users
went up 1.7% over the end of last year, that of mobile phone online payment up 4.6%, and
that of mobile phone online banking up 4.7%. The users of the three mobile applications
all grew by more than 80%.

37

Table 7 Usage of Network Applications in China from 2011 to 2012

2012

2011
Internet

Application

Internet

Number of users

users

Number of users

users

Annual

(in 10,000)

utilization

(in 10,000)

utilization

growth rate

ratio

ratio

Instant messaging

46775

82.9%

41510

80.9%

12.7%

Search engine

45110

80.0%

40740

79.4%

10.7%

Online music

43586

77.3%

38585

75.2%

13.0%

37299

66.1%

31864

62.1%

17.1%

Online video

37183

65.9%

32531

63.4%

14.3%

Online game

33569

59.5%

32428

63.2%

3.5%

Microblog

30861

54.7%

24988

48.7%

23.5%

27505

48.8%

24424

47.6%

12.6%

E-mail

25080

44.5%

24578

47.9%

2.0%

Online shopping

24202

42.9%

19395

37.8%

24.8%

Online literature

23344

41.4%

20268

39.5%

15.2%

E-banking

22148

39.3%

16624

32.4%

33.2%

Online payment

22065

39.1%

16676

32.5%

32.3%

Forum/BBS

14925

26.5%

14469

28.2%

3.2%

Travel booking

11167

19.8%

4207

8.2%

Group shopping

8327

14.8%

6465

12.6%

28.8%

3423

6.1%

4002

7.8%

-14.5%

Blog/Personal
space

Social networking
website

Online stock
investment

(I) Acquisition of Information

1. Search engine
The number of users of search engine was 451 million in China by the end of 2012,
representing an increase of 43.7 million over the end of 2011 and an annual growth rate of 10.7%,
4

In the report, definition of travel booking covers booking air tickets, hotel, train tickets, and travel routes via
Internet, which is different from that in the previous report. Booking train tickets is added in the report.
38

and 80.0% of the internet users used search engine. As a basic application on the internet, search
engine is an important tool for internet users to obtain information. Its utilization ratio had kept
around 80% since 2010, making it the No. 2 application on the internet.
The use of search engine entered the stage of stable development on the whole, and this
market gradually shifted its emphasis from the sole increase of number of users to the
improvement of user experience. The new competition in 2012 drove the existing search engine
companies to develop, promoting the development of the whole search engine market. On one
hand, the search engine industry strengthened self-discipline and sorted out the search results
which reduced false information and dangerous links and increased the access security; on the
other hand, the search engine companies increased input in technology, improved search quality
and incorporated the personalized and social networking elements in an effort to display the search
results in an intelligent manner.

(10,000 persons)

Figure 20 Number of Users and Utilization Ratio of Search Engine in China from 2011 to 2012

(II) Business Transactions

1. Online shopping
The number of online shopping users reached 242 million and utilization ratio of online
shopping rose to 42.9% by the end of December 2012. There was a growth of 48.07 million, or
24.8%, in the number of online shopping users compared with 2011.
While the growth of number of internet users gradually slowed down, there was a sharp
39

growth in online shopping. The growth in number of online shopping users in 2012 was 14.63
million more than that in 2011 and the growth rate was 4% higher than the same period of 2011.
The growth and growth rate in 2011 were 33.44 million and 20.8% respectively. Now, the
residents consumption played a more important role in driving the development of national
economy and online retailing gave an impetus to the increase of consumption. The mobile online
shopping became an important driving force in the increase of number of online shopping users.
The number of mobile online shopping users increased by 136.5% annually in 2012 to 55.5
million. The increase of users purchase power and the combination of online consumption habit
and the forms of mobile and social online shopping promoted the growth of online retail market.
The frequent promotion of e-commerce companies offering low prices also stirred up the interest
of users, leading to the surge in number of online shopping users.
The market structure was in a rapid optimization stage while the online shopping users
rapidly increased in number. The main B2C e-commerce companies implemented the strategy of
establishing an open platform, and there was competition as well as cooperation between the
companies. The traditional companies became an important part of the market and strengthened
their position in the market. However, the problems of online shopping fraud, user information
leakage, and disordered competition of companies were more prominent in 2012 due to the
industrys regulation measures that lagged behind the market development, and this industry was
in a stage where many conflicts existed.

40

Figure 21 Number of Users and Utilization Ratio of Online Shopping in China from 2011 to 2012

2 Group shopping
The number of users of group shopping was 83.27 million by December 2012, and the
utilization ratio increased by 3.3% to 14.8% compared with the end of 2011. The users of group
shopping increased by 28.8% in a year and the growth rate of users was still high.
2012 was a year when the group shopping industry changed its strategy from expansion to
the maintenance of status quo, and the main service providers sought to make progress while
maintaining stability. The closing of quite a number of group shopping websites put a stop to the
craze for overnight success in group buying business, but this consumption model was already
well known by the users and performed well in e-commerce and travel booking market. Old brand
e-commerce companies and emerging service providers of group shopping already had a stable
customer base locally in the fields of e-commerce, group shopping of goods and travel booking.
Very notably, the performance of non-independent group shopping websites backed by old brand
e-commerce companies or other internet service companies was quite eye-catching, and these
websites continuously generated value for the sellers and had better marketing capability in
addition to the isolated group shopping activities by taking advantage of the platform.
The group shopping industry will have diversified development in the future while it gets
more concentrated and the group shopping service will further integrate with the other internet
services. The mobile group shopping is still an important growing sector. The users of mobile
group shopping increased by 88.8% to 19.47 million in 2012.

41

Figure 22 Number of Users and Utilization Ratio of Group shopping in China from 2011 to 2012

3Online Payment
The number of users and utilization ratio of online payment were 221 million and 39.1%
respectively by December 2012. There was a growth of 53.89 million, or 32.3%, in the number of
users of online payment compared with 2011.

Figure 23 Number of Users and Utilization Ratio of Online Payment in China from 2011 to 2012

The rapid growth of number of online payment users was attributable to the prosperity of
online consumption. With the rapid development of Chinas online retail market, the types of life
services for which payment could be made online kept expanding and the transaction scale kept
increasing, leading to the popularity of online payment. The convenient forms of payment such as
express payment and Katong (card-through) payment made payment more operable which led to
popularity of online payment among more people. The establishment of technical standards of
mobile payment and the efforts made by companies in payment business in mobile payment
resulted in the rapid growth of number of mobile online payment users. The number of mobile
online payment users reached 55.31 million by December 2012, and the annual growth rate of
users was 80.9% and utilization ratio of mobile online payment was 13.2%.
In 2012, the Peoples Bank of China continued to issue the Payment Business License,
promulgated the administrative measures of business segments and permitted third-party payment
42

companies to engage in the payment and settlement business of traditional financial field. While
the market supervision was improved and the market was segmented, an industrial pattern was
formed that included payment companies, traditional banks, e-commerce giants and
telecommunication operators. The service providers and modes of payment will be more
diversified in the future and the risks of online payment will be greater; therefore, efforts should
be made to improve government supervision policies, strengthen cooperation among companies
and improve consumers sense of security so as to improve the online payment security.

4Travel Booking
The number of internet users that had booked air tickets, hotels, train tickets and travel
itinerary on the internet by the end of December 2012 was 112 million, accounting for 19.8% of
the total number of internet users. The proportion of Chinese internet users who had booked air
tickets, hotels, travel itinerary and train tickets online were 9.0%, 7.2%, 5.4% and 14.0%
respectively.

Figure 24 Number of Users and Utilization Ratio of Online Travel Booking in China from 2011 to
2012

As online booking of train ticket gained instant popularity, the number of users who booked

In the report, definition of travel booking covers booking air tickets, hotel, train tickets, and travel routes via
Internet, which is different from that in the previous report. Booking train tickets is added in the report.
43

train tickets online increased substantially to 78.97 million. The users who booked air tickets,
hotels and travel itinerary online were relatively limited groups of people compared with other
applications, and the penetration rate was still low and there was plenty of room for the users of
these applications to grow in number. The rapid growth in the residents demand in leisure travel,
expansion of high-speed rail network and availability of more choices of tourist routes will lead to
more online travel booking and drive the growth of travel booking market.

Utilization Ratios of Travel Services Booking of Chinas Internet Users in 2012

Online train ticket booking

Online air ticket booking

Online hotel booking

Online travel itinerary booking

Source: CNNIC Statistical Survey on Internet Development in China

Figure 25 Utilization Ratios of Travel Booking Services of China's Internet Users in 2012

The travel booking industry went through a profound transformation due to the use of mobile
internet, and the companies were improving their services in mobile travel services to improve the
customer experience of wireless travel services. As travel booking service and mobile internet had
inherent connection, wireless travel services closely connected with such applications as LBS,
group shopping and mobile payment, and there will be more application settings and the online
travel service industry will mature.

(III) Communication
1. Instant Messaging
The number of instant messaging users in China was 468 million by the end of December
44

2012, representing a growth of 52.65 million, or 12.7%, compared with the end of 2011. The
utilization ratio of instant messaging was 82.9%, up by 2% over the end of 2011.
The utilization ratio of instant messaging declined from 2007 and picked up in 2010, and
since the end of 2011, instant messaging had become No. 1 application on China's internet. The
utilization ratio of instant messaging products continuously increased as the products met the
demands of users, and the continuously innovated mobile instant messaging products attracted
increasingly more users.
The instant messaging industry had developed for years. With the constant improvement of
product functions by the manufacturers, the instant messaging products met increasingly more
demands of people and became more appealing to users, and the products therefore became an
important communication tool for people in daily life.

The instant messaging products on

smartphone brought more vitality to the instant messaging market. The mobile instant messaging
industry rapidly developed with the popularity of smartphones, especially the sale of the
smartphones of RMB 1000 or so. The mobile instant messaging products changed peoples way of
socializing, and the integration of OTT service and O2O model made them more than just a
chatting tool. The research and development of new technologies of mobile instant messaging
products led to the growth in the number of mobile instant messaging users which then led to the
growth in the number of instant messaging users.
Number of Users and Utilization Ratio of Instant Messaging from 2011 to 2012

(10,000 persons)

Number of users of instant messaging

Utilization ratio of instant messaging

Source: CNNIC Statistical Survey on Internet Development in China

Figure 26 Number of Users and Utilization Ratio of Instant Messaging in China from 2011 to 2012

2. Blog/Personal Space
The number of users of blog and personal space was 372 million by the end of December
45

2012, representing an increase of 5435 compared with the end of 2011. 66.1% of the internet users
used blog and personal space, up by 4% compared with the end of 2011.
The space websites such as Qzone had similar basic functions to those of blog websites at the
early stage of development, and they were the same type of internet application. In recent years,
the space websites were transformed to social networking websites through redesign and therefore
met the demands of internet users for socializing; therefore, the number of users was on the rise.
Meanwhile, the number of blog users was on a year-on-year decline, and the development model
was transformed from grassroots to elite. Blogs of some super-bloggers and specialized blogs
were viewed by many and were influential, while microblogs and social networking websites
which were more interactive were chosen by normal users as a way to communicate and reflect on
life. Only 24.8% of the internet users were still using blogs which were 140 million by the end of
December 2012.

3Microblog
The number of microblog users was 309 million by the end of December 2012, representing a
growth of 58.73 million, or 23.5%, over the end of 2011. 54.7% of the internet users microblogged,
up by 6% compared with the end of 2011.

Number of Users and Utilization Ratio of Microblog from 2011 to 2012

(10,000 persons)

Number of users of microblog

Utilization ratio of microblog

Source: CNNIC Statistical Survey on Internet Development in China

Figure 27 Number of Users and Utilization Ratio of Microblog in China from 2011 to 2012

Microblog became a mainstream application used by China's internet users after the
46

development in 2011, and its vast number of users made it a communication center of public
opinions. Microblog was reshaping the creation and communication of public opinions. Normal
users, opinion leaders and traditional media all turned to microblog to different degrees as a way
to obtain news, publish news, express opinions and stir up public opinions, which resulted in high
growth rate in number of personal users of microblog in 2012.
The change in the behavior of microblog users was more worth noting than the growth in
number of users at current stage. The second half of 2012 saw stagnant and even less activity of
microblog users on the PC. According to the data of Chinese Internet Data Platform, the number
of daily active users of microblog was on a month-on-month decline in the second half of 2012,
decreasing from 112 million (peak value) in July to 87 million in December, and the daily visiting
time of microblog also dropped from 11.72 million hours (peak value) in July to 7.78 million
hours in December. The reasons behind this tendency were as follows: on one hand, microblog
lost the sense of freshness to users, which caused the retention to microblog to weaken; on the
other hand, part of the microblog users chose to read and post microblog on their mobile phones
instead. 202 million microblog users visited microblogs on their mobile phones by the end of 2012,
accounting for 65.6% of the microblog users, and the tendency of users to choose mobile internet
made microblog one of the products with the greatest development potentials in the mobile
internet era.

4Social networking websites

The number of users of social networking websites was 275 million by the end of December
2012, up by 12.6% over the end of 2011. The proportion of users of social networking websites in
the internet users was 48.8%, slightly higher than 2011.
Social networking function was fully integrated into various internet applications. On one
hand, a group of new applications with social networking elements such as photo-sharing
application, private social network and shopping sharing application emerged in 2012. Especially
in the mobile internet field, many popular mobile applications in 2012 had social networking
function because of the communication function of mobile phone. On the other hand, the internet
applications such as searching, online shopping and media were incorporating the social
networking element so as to enrich their functions, improve the customer experience and have
47

new service and profit-making models. While the whole internet had the tendency of incorporating
social networking function, the traditional social networking websites which required real-name
registration increased platform functions, incorporated new social networking component and
shifted the emphasis of business to mobile devices, which led to the growth in number of users of
social networking websites in 2012. However, as the growth in the number of users of traditional
social networking websites which required real-name registration leveled off or slowed down on
the whole, the addition of these applications could not lead to a significant growth in number of
users; therefore, some social networking websites chose a different path when developing mobile
applications and offered brand-new products.

Figure 28 Number of Users and Utilization Ratio of Social Networking Websites in China from 2011 to
2012

(IV) Online Entertainment

1. Online Games
The number of users of online games was 336 million by the end of 2012, and the penetration
rate dropped to 59.5% from 63.2% in 2011. The growth in number of users was 11.42 million and
the growth rate was only 3.5%, hitting a record low. The number of users of online games in China
had kept low since 2010 due to the environment and the internal factors of gaming industry.
First of all, the rapid development of mobile internet brought more challenges than
opportunities to online games. On one hand, the increase in the use of mobile internet led to the
decline in the use of games; on the other hand, as games were a product emphasizing great
48

customer experience, it was hard to develop gaming on the mobile phone which had limited size
of screen.
Second, internal problems still existed in the online gaming industry. The large client games
which had a dominant position in the gaming industry had developed for a long time, and the
industry was losing regular users who were getting tired of those games. And the online games
lacked variety and it was more difficult to innovate, which led to the difficulty in attracting new
users. The internal problems further prevented the development of the industry.
Last, the change in structure of users of online games leads to the revolution of the industry.
The user platform is essential in the competition of online gaming products according to the
development tendency. The quality of the platform on which the mobile games are based decides
the fate of the products as the promotional and payment issues are involved. Moreover, the model
of profit-making on mass production was no longer workable for the online gaming industry, and
the utilization ratio declined. The increase in individual demands makes it hard for a single
gaming product to meet the demands of a vast number of users, so the division of market decides
if the game operation can make profit.

Figure 29 Number of Users and Utilization Ratio of Online Games in China from 2011 to 2012
49

2. Online Literature
The number of online literature users in China was 233 million by the end of December 2012,
representing an annual growth of 30.77 million, or 15.2%, over the end of 2011. The utilization
ratio of online literature was 41.4%, up by 1.9% over the end of 2011.
The utilization ratio of online literature did not keep up with the popularity of internet, and
the online literature was still an application whose development was slower than that of the whole
internet. As a new form of literature, the online literature was popular in the earlier stage of its
development due to its low threshold when a vast number of works were written and distributed
on the internet to a vast number of readers, which led to the rapid development of online literature.
However, the online literature is now in a predicament. On one hand, the low threshold resulted in
a large number of low-quality works; on the other hand, in order that the online literature could be
updated and distributed rapidly, it was written in such a way that it was less like the works of
literature; and to adapt to the taste of the readers, the online literature became stylized. The low
quality, lack of innovation and stylizing are the problems existing in online literature and prevent
the development of online literature.

Figure 30 Number of Users and Utilization Ratio of Online Literature in China from 2011 to 2012
50

3. Online Video
The number of online video users reached 372 million by the end of 2012, representing a
growth of 46.53 million, or 14.3%, over the end of 2011. 65.9% of the internet users watched
online videos, up by 2.5% compared with the end of 2011.

Figure 31 Number of Users and Utilization Ratio of Online Videos in China from 2011 to 2012

In 2012, China's online video companies continued to provide the users with high-quality
online video services and took a proactive approach in tackling the problems that existed in the
industry. In order to improve the service quality, the companies improved the web content and
increased the videos of films and television serials; had more close cooperation with television
station in various forms from the elementary form of synchronous broadcasting and joint
promotion to the in-depth cooperation such as joint production and development of peripheral
programs in the stage of content planning and production to maximize the distribution scope and
influence of the program; and increased the input in the content they produced themselves (some
of the high-quality content could be broadcasted in the television channel) and formed their own
characteristics. These efforts led to the steady rise in the number of online video users.
On the basis of that, the companies adopted various strategies to tackle the problems which
were the result of non-rational competition in the industry in recent years to control the costs,
increase the profit-making ability and protect the healthy development of the industry. First,
meticulous effort was made in the purchase of content, and the irrational increase of prices of
51

copyrights of television serial to be broadcasted on the internet was contained through the joint
purchase of copyrights. Second, attempts were made to affect the behaviors of users. For example,
the time of cinema advertising was prudently extended as could be tolerated by the users to
increase the profits from advertising, and efforts were made to explore the possibility of paid
video model. To conclude, the online video industry was in a positive situation on the whole in
2012 both from the aspects of the number of users and the industry environment.

II. Application of Mobile Phone Internet Users

With the popularity of smartphones, efforts made by internet companies and development of
wireless internet, Chinas mobile internet developed well in 2012 with various applications having
good performance. The applications relating to communications and information acquisition
developed faster and were still the mainstream applications of the mobile phone, and the numbers
of their users and their utilization ratios all significantly increased. The penetration rates of the
applications relating to entertainment and e-commerce were comparatively low, but the
development speed of these applications was fast and the utilization ratio of the whole sector was
risingThereforethis sector was a highlight of the industry.

52

Figure 32 Applications of Mobile Phone Internet Users from 2011 to 2012

The instant messaging became the most popular application on mobile phone with its
utilization ratio ranking top 1.
The number of users of mobile phone instant messaging was 352 million by the end of 2012.
Its utilization ratio was 83.9% and had been steady after the surge in 2011. Instant messaging
ranked top 1 among the applications on mobile phone and became the most popular application on
mobile phone.
The instant messaging on mobile phone allowed users to communicate with their friends
53

anywhere at any time, which was the characteristic of mobile social networking. The interactive
elements such as messages, photos and vocal and video materials and functions such as
geographical positioning and two-dimensional code scanning were added to the mobile instant
messaging, which made the communication more convenient and interesting and attracted more
and more mobile internet users who became addicted to it and always stayed online.
Instant messaging had become a standard preset application in the mobile phone with the
promotion of instant messaging service providers and the number of its users kept rising. While
the number of instant messaging users kept rising, the functions of instant messaging were
increasing in 2012. The instant messaging was developed from a pure chatting tool to an
integrated platform integrating the functions of social networking, news and recreation as well as
the e-commerce service and service for customers which were companies so that the users could
obtain all kinds of resources very conveniently. The instant messaging became an important
mobile internet portal and had great commercial value.

Figure 33 Number of Users and Utilization Ratio of Mobile Instant Messaging in China from 2011 to
2012

The mobile search rapidly developed and had obvious advantages as a portal.
The number of users and utilization ratio of mobile search in China were 291 million and
69.4% respectively by the end of 2012, representing a growth of 32.0% and 7.3% respectively
over the end of 2011.
The utilization ratio of mobile search ranked No. 2, making the mobile search a core
54

application on the mobile internet. The substantial increase in number of users was a result of the
rigid demand of mobile phone internet users for mobile search service and showed the advantages
of mobile search as a portal in mobile internet. The mobile search is similar to the search for
information on the computer and also satisfies the users demand for conveniently finding
information anywhere at any time. The mobile search will be more useful with the development of
mobile internet and the expansion of information on the internet. To develop the mobile search
and based on the characteristics of localization and time fragmentation of mobile phone use, the
mobile search will be developed in two directions in the future. First, the localized information
service will be improved so that more accurate search results will be available to users according
to the users positions and behavioral preferences. Second, the interaction will be strengthened.
The input of photos and voices compensates for the loss of part of the customer experience caused
by the limited size of screen of mobile phone and enables users to key in and find information in
fragmented time.

Figure 34 Number of Users and Utilization Ratio of Mobile Search in China from 2011 to 2012

The mobile microblog developed the fastest with strong momentum.

The number of internet users who used microblog on mobile phone was 202 million by the
end of 2012, and the utilization ratio of mobile microblog was 48.2%, up by 9.7% over 2011,
making mobile microblog an application on mobile phone with the fastest growing utilization ratio
for two consecutive years. The mobile microblog became a mainstream application on mobile
phone with strong development momentum.
55

Figure 35 Number of Users and Utilization Ratio of Mobile Microblog in China from 2011 to 2012

The rapid development of microblog on mobile phone was due to two reasons. First, the
users carried their mobile phones with themselves, so they could learn the latest news and publish
personal comments anywhere at any time via the microblog which became an important way for
them to obtain information and communicate with friends; second, the microblog was less affected
by the limited size of screen of mobile phone as the characters published on microblog were short,
photo sharing was fast and operation was convenient, so the microblog could be conveniently used
by users in fragmented time.

The growth rate of number of mobile video users ranked No. 2, making mobile video a new
highlighted recreational application.
The number of Chinas internet users who watched videos online or downloaded videos on
mobile phones was 130 million by the end of 2012, and the utilization ratio of mobile video was
32.0%, up by 9.5% over 2011, making the mobile video the second fastest developing application
following mobile microblog and a new highlighted recreational application of 2012.

56

Figure 36 Number of Users and Utilization Ratio of Mobile Online Video in China from 2011 to 2012

The mobile video attracted increasingly more users due to the following reasons: 1. The
access to 3G and Wi-Fi high-speed internet provided basis for the development of mobile video as
the limitation of internet traffic on mobile video was reduced. With the popularity of 4G
technology and expansion of wireless network coverage, the number of users of mobile video will
further increase. 2. The widening of screen of smartphone and the introduction of application of
high-definition mobile video improved users experience of watching video on mobile phone and
attracted more internet users to use the application who gradually got used to watching video on
mobile phone instead of on the computer at home. 3. The interaction and cooperation between
mobile video and social networking websites, microblog websites and portal websites, etc greatly
promoted the development of mobile video service.

The utilization ratio of mobile online game increased and the mobile online game became a
new force driving the development of online game.
The number of users of mobile online game in China was 139 million in 2012 and the
utilization ratio was 33.2%, up by 3.0% compared with 2011.

57

Figure 18 Number of Users and Utilization Ratio of Mobile Online Game in China from 2011 to 2012

The growth in number of online game players was slow and the utilization ratio of online
game kept declining in recent years. The growth in number of players of online game on the
computer was especially slow. According to CNIDP ([Link] the daily number of
people active on the fighting game platform dropped from 139 million to 135 million and the daily
playing time of a person dropped from 12 minutes 20 seconds to 8 minutes 38 seconds on average
in December compared with January 2012. Although the emergence of web games enriched the
bearing form of games, the web games failed to become a strong driver of growth in the number
of new users as their contents and playing methods were basically the same as client games. On
the contrary, with the popularity of smartphone and development of mobile internet in 2012, there
was a rapid growth in the number of users of mobile online game, which injected new vigor into
the online game industry.
The mobile online game rapidly developed and became a way of recreation. More and more
users liked to play games in fragmented time such as when they were at the bus station and metro
station, in a queue or at dinner. With the popularity of smartphone, the mobile online game will
gradually cover all the age groups instead of only the group of young people. Convenient and fun,
the mobile online game will attract many older users in addition to young people, unlike the online
game on the computer with the threshold of use. The mobile online game also faces many
problems while attracting a large amount of users which pose a challenge to its further
development. First, the visual effect of the screen of mobile phone and the limitation on operation
have a great adverse effect on users experience in operation of games on mobile phone; second,
58

playing games on mobile phone consumes much electricity in the cell and users get less addicted
to the game due to this concern; third, there are a large number of mobile online game companies
providing games with homogeneous contents that lack innovation, which makes the mobile online
game less attractive to the users.

The number of users of e-commerce applications was increasing on the whole, and the
growth in number of users of mobile shopping was the largest.
With the improvement of the environment of mobile internet and the popularity of
smartphone in China, the e-commerce applications on mobile phone developed rapidly in China
and the sector was growing on the whole in 2012. The utilization ratio of mobile online payment,
mobile online banking, mobile shopping and mobile group shopping rose by 4.6%, 4.7%, 6.6%
and 1.7% respectively compared with 2011, and the growth rates of the numbers of users of these
applications were all more than 80%. The utilization ratio of mobile shopping grew the fastest.
The number of users of mobile shopping was 2.36 times that of the end of 2011 and the increase in
number was the largest.

Figure 38 Number of Users and Utilization Ratio of Mobile Online Shopping in China from 2011 to
2012

First, shopping on mobile phone removed the limitation of conventional shopping on places
and made it possible for the transactions to be concluded anywhere at any time, which was an
important reason why consumers liked it. Second, as the mobile shopping developed, the purchase
of clothes and cosmetics, film tickets and prepaid phone card and booking of hotels and travel
itinerary, etc could all be done on the mobile phone, which met the various demands of consumers
in life and brought convenience to them. Third, the development of applications of shopping on
mobile phone and payment on mobile phone improved the users experience of shopping on
59

mobile phone. More and more consumers could complete the whole processes of shopping on
mobile phone instead of making payment on the computer after looking things up on the mobile
phone, which greatly increased the shopping efficiency. Last, with the development of the
functions such as two-dimensional code, bar code and comparison shopping, more and more
consumers started to shop online instead of shopping offline, bringing a new driving force of
growth in the use of mobile shopping.

60

Chapter V Internet Application of

SMEs
I. Development of Basic Internet Conditions for
SMEs
(I) Popularization of Computer
By the end of December 2012, the ratio of the interviewed SMEs depending on
computer-based offices 6 has reached 91.3%. As an important part to information
technology of enterprises, computer is the basis for Internet application of enterprises.
Now, SMEs in China have reached a high level in computer popularization, and have
possessed the conditions required for in-depth Internet application and information
construction.

(II) Popularization of Internet

By the end of December 2012, the ratio of the interviewed SMEs depending on
internet-based offices7 has reached 78.5%. The proportion of enterprises depending on
internet-based office is one of the core indicators for the development level of Internet
application in enterprises. Limited by the popularization of hardware devices, computers
remained to be the major Internet access tools for SMEs. However, according to the
survey results, now the internet popularization rate of SMEs in China was far behind the

Computer refers to desktop or laptop, excluding some equipment with embedded computing function,
such as cell phone, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or television.
7
Enterprises depending on Internet-based offices mean that enterprises directly use internet in various
activities. Although some enterprises use internet media to conduct advertising/ promotion, they do not
directly use internet to work. Those ones are not included. Any equipment possessing the internet access
function (not limited to computer) can be served as tools accessing internet, including mobile phone,
PDA, game machine and digital television which can access Internet through fixed or mobile network.
61

popularization rate of computers, and it was very common that computers were not
accessed to Internet. With the development of Internet, the functions of computer have
been enriched greatly, therefore, cultivating the internet awareness of SMEs and further
increasing their internet access proportion would pave the road for the in-depth
implementation of internet applications of enterprises.
Table 1 lists the internet popularization rates of enterprises in some member states of
OECD8 by the end of 2011 or even earlier. We can know from the table that there is still a
large gap between the internet popularization rate of SMEs in China and that of some
developed countries. In developed countries, for small- and mini-sized enterprises
employing not more than 50 persons, the Internet popularization rate has basically
reached 95%. Among those countries, the average Internet popularization rate of the 27
countries of European Union reached 94.2%, and in 2010, Korea witnessed an Internet
popularization rate of 98.2%. Besides, for enterprises with a scale of 50 persons and
above in most countries, the internet popularization rate reached nearly 100%.

Table 1 The proportions of enterprises depending on internet-based offices in some developed

countries (classified by the staff scale)
%

250 persons and

10-49 persons

50-249 persons

Australia (2010) (*)

95.9

99.1

99.9

Austria

97.9

99.5

100.0

Belgium

95.1

99.5

99.8

Canada (2007) (*)

93.7

98.9

99.6

Czech

95.6

98.8

99.7

Denmark

97.4

98.4

99.8

Estonia

94.9

98.9

100.0

27 member states of EU

94.2

98.7

99.6

Finland

99.8

100.0

100.0

France

95.1

99.6

99.7

Germany

96.0

98.7

99.7

Greece

92.4

98.9

100.0

Hungary

87.9

96.5

99.0

Iceland (2010)

97.3

100.0

100.0

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD for short.

62

above

250 persons and

10-49 persons

50-249 persons

Ireland

91.7

99.2

99.2

Israel (2008)

91.0

100.0

100.0

Italy

93.8

97.7

99.5

Japan (*)

..

98.4

99.8

Republic of Korea (2010) (*)

98.2

99.9

100.0

Luxembourg

96.2

99.1

100.0

Mexico (2008) (*)

89.3

94.1

97.2

Holland

99.6

100.0

100.0

New Zealand (*)

95.8

98.7

99.4

Norway

96.6

98.3

98.7

Poland

92.6

99.1

99.7

above

Portugal

94.2

100.0

100.0

Slovakia

97.1

98.9

100.0

Slovenia

96.7

99.6

100.0

Spain

96.2

99.3

99.9

Sweden

95.3

100.0

99.3

Switzerland (2008) (*)

100.0

100.0

100.0

Turkey (2010)

89.7

96.9

98.4

U.K.

94.3

98.9

99.2
Data Source: OECD

Notes:
1.

The data were issued by OECD at the end of 2011 or even earlier, and for those not issued at the
end of 2011, the time is marked in the table.

2. For most European countries, the statistics cover manufacturing, construction, wholesale and retail,
hotel and restaurant, transport, storage and communications, financial agency and insurance, real
estate, leasing and commercial activities, as well as other community-related, social and personal
service activities. For European countries, the financial agency and insurance industry are not
covered in the statistics.

3. For Australia, the following industries are excluded: government organization, public management
and security, education and training, asset investment and pension fund, religious services, services
for civic, professional and other interest groups, and private household employees, etc. As from
2010, agriculture, forestry and fishery have been covered in the statistics.
4.

For Canada, agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, as well as professional contractors
in the construction industry are excluded.

5.

For Denmark and Finland, financial agency and insurance are not included in the statistics.

6.

For Japan, only enterprises with a staff number of 100 and above are included in the statistics, and
agriculture, forestry, fishery and mining industry are excluded.

7.

The statistics of the Republic of Korea mainly cover the following areas: agriculture, forestry, fishery,
mining and quarrying industry, manufacturing, construction, wholesale and retail, transportation,
accommodation and restaurant, information and communication, financial institution and insurance,
real estate and leasing, professional, scientific and technical activities, management of business
63

facilities and business support services, membership organization, maintenance and other personal
services.
8.

For New Zealand, the statistics exclude government administration and national defense, as well as
personal and other services. Only enterprises with a staff number of 6 and above (average
employees) and an annual turnover reaching NZD 30,000 are included in the statistics.

9.

For Switzerland, only enterprises with a staff number of 5 and above are included in the statistics.

10. There are also some differences among the enterprise scale segments of different countries: the
50-249 persons for Canada actually reached 50-299 persons, and 250 persons and above
actually reached 300 persons and above; the 50-249 persons for Japan actually reached
100-299 persons, and the 250 persons and above actually reached 300 persons and above; the
10-49 persons for Mexico actually reached 20-49 persons; the 10-49 persons for Switzerland
actually reached 5-49 persons.

(III) Popularization of Broadband

By the end of December 2012, among the interviewed SMEs, the popularization rate
of fixed broadband has reached 71.0% 9 , and broadband became the main way for
enterprises to access Internet. In 2012, the broadband construction in China entered into
the phase of full acceleration, covering various aspects such as the development of fiber
broadband network and wireless mobile broadband network. In the Guiding Opinions for
the Implementation of the Outline of the 12th Five-year Plan issued by the Ministry of
Industry and Information Technology, it is proposed in particular that we should improve
the level of broadband infrastructure in China, advance the popularization and promotion
of broadband application, and bring into play the key role of broadband in supporting the
overall promotion of the information technology level of our country, as well as the role in
the development of economy and society. Besides, the task of actively supporting the
improvement of internet access and application level in SMEs is put forward, and it is
clearly indicated that we should support and encourage SMEs to actively enhance the
internet environment of SMEs, so as to elevate the ability and level of such enterprises in
utilizing broadband network and information service.
9

The popularization rate of fixed broadband released in this survey refers to the proportion of those using fixed
broadband to access the Internet among the interviewed enterprises; the figure disclosed in the previous Survey
Report on the Internet Applications of SMEs in China refers to the proportion of those using fixed broadband to
access the Internet among enterprises depending on internet-based offices.
64

Table 2 provides the broadband popularization rates of enterprises in some member

states of OECD by the end of 2011 or even earlier. In 2011, in the countries with relevant
statistics, the average broadband popularization rate in enterprises using Internet
approached 90%. Among those countries, the broadband popularization rate in the 27
countries of EU hit 89.2%, that in Japan was a bit lower, 83.4%, and that in Korea reached
98.4% as early as 2010. Compared with most developed countries, the broadband
popularization rate in the SMEs with internet access in China still lagged far behind.
Furthermore, the issue of broadband being not broad has always been obstructing the
implementation of the internet applications and information construction among
enterprises.

Table 2 The broadband popularization rates of enterprises accessing internet in some

developed countries
%

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Finland

81.1

88.9

90.6

92.1

93.9

..

98.7

Korea

94.2

96.2

97.0

97.2

98.6

98.4

..

Switzerland (*)

85.0

..

..

98.0

..

..

..

Spain

76.2

87.1

89.8

92.1

93.8

95.4

96.1

Iceland

..

95.2

..

99.5

..

95.3

..

Sweden

82.5

88.9

87.3

89.4

89.3

91.3

94.9

Slovenia

73.9

74.9

79.3

84.3

84.9

87.8

94.9

Denmark

82.5

82.7

80.1

79.7

80.0

86.6

94.8

New Zealand (*)

..

85.0

..

92.5

..

94.7

..

Australia (*)

70.4

83.8

89.7

93.3

96.6

94.4

..

Canada

89.7

92.2

94.3

..

..

..

..

France

..

86.5

89.4

92.3

92.9

93.3

93.8

U.K.

65.4

77.4

78.2

87.1

88.3

87.9

93.5

Luxembourg

64.2

76.0

81.4

86.9

88.8

..

93.2

Holland

71.3

81.7

86.9

85.9

87.4

90.9

92.3

Estonia

66.6

75.7

78.3

87.8

86.2

88.0

92.1

Ireland

47.6

60.7

67.6

82.7

80.2

86.7

91.2

Germany

62.4

73.1

79.6

84.0

89.2

89.3

91.1

Norway

78.0

86.1

85.2

86.1

90.0

86.8

90.1

Austria

60.7

69.5

72.2

76.4

76.8

81.7

89.4

62.2

72.9

77.0

81.1

83.2

85.4

..

..

81.8

..

..

88.8

Republic of

27 member
states of EU
Turkey

65

89.2
..

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Czech

52.1

69.3

76.9

79.2

77.7

86.5

88.6

Italy

56.7

69.6

75.6

81.1

83.8

84.0

88.3

Hungary

47.6

61.3

69.5

72.1

75.6

79.4

87.3

Belgium

77.9

84.5

86.3

91.4

88.8

..

87.1

Portugal

62.8

65.9

76.4

80.7

84.7

84.7

85.6

Japan (*)

68.1

73.6

75.9

76.8

76.9

79.7

83.4

Greece

44.3

57.7

71.7

73.7

84.2

80.6

81.6

Slovakia

47.6

60.8

76.1

79.0

78.2

78.3

81.5

Poland

42.7

46.4

53.2

58.7

58.3

69.0

77.5

Mexico (*)

..

..

..

51.6

..

..

..

Data Source: OECD

Notes:
1 For Australia, agriculture, forestry and fishery have been covered in the statistics as from 2010.
2 For Japan, only enterprises with a staff number of 100 and above are included in the statistics.
3 For Mexico, only enterprises with a staff number of 20 and above are included in the statistics.
4 For New Zealand, only enterprises with a staff member of 6 and above and an annual income of
NZD30, 000 and more are included in the statistics.
5 For Switzerland, only enterprises with a staff member of 5 and above are included in the statistics.
The broadband refers to Internet access with a speed above 144kbps.

66

II. Development of E-commerce and Internet

Marketing of SMEs
(I) Popularization of E-commerce
By the end of December 2012, the E-commerce application level of the interviewed
SMEs still remained very low, with online sale accounting for 25.3% and online purchase
accounting for 26.5%.
To improve the E-commerce application level of SMEs in China was of great
significance. As an important force in Chinas national economic and social development,
SMEs accounted for over 99% of the total number of enterprises in China, providing 80%
urban jobs and creating 60% GDP and 50% tax revenues. For SMEs, the application of
E-commerce was of great importance to SMEs in improving their internal management
efficiency, reducing operation costs, expanding market opportunities and enhancing
service level.
Table 3 shows the E-commerce popularization rates of enterprises in some member
states of OECD by the end of 2011 or even earlier. It can be seen from the table that the
online sale popularization rate of SMEs in China was above the average level of these
countries while the rate of online purchase was below the average level. According to the
statistics, for enterprises in most developed countries, the proportion of online sale was
smaller than that of online purchase, and in some countries the proportion of online sale
even could not reach half of that of online purchase. On the one hand, the developed
countries developed E-commerce earlier than China did, and got vigorous support from
society and governments in aspects of economy and policies, which have effectively
promoted the in-depth and extensive popularization of E-commerce in enterprises. On the
other hand, to improve the efficiency of supply chain management and reduce operation
costs, enterprises in most developed countries have adopted online purchase as the
solution driven by internal IT-based development. Therefore, online purchase proportion
of enterprises in developed countries was much higher than that of Chinese enterprises.
67

In comparison, in the period with relatively insufficient internal information construction,

the E-commerce of SMEs in China was largely driven by the E-commerce service
providers in the external market, and the primary objective was to expand market, seek
business opportunities and promote sales. SMEs in China had not realized that online
purchase can bring benefits for internal operation, and they did not bring online purchase
into full play.

Table 3 The E-commerce popularization in some developed countries

%

Proportion of online-sale enterprises

Proportion of online-purchase enterprises

Austria

11.1

41.0

Belgium

21.9

50.9 (2010)

Czech

25.8

39.1

Denmark

22.9

47.8 (2010)

Estonia

11.1

17.2 (2010)

27 member states of EU

13.0

19.1

Finland

17.1

33.1

France

10.7

20.0

Germany (2010)

22.2

40.4

Greece

5.9

6.0

Hungary

9.7

17.9

Iceland (2010)

16.0

21.6

Ireland

23.3

48.8

Italy

3.9

11.3

Luxembourg

14.9

32.0

Holland

19.5

28.3

Norway

30.6

50.8

Poland (2010)

8.5

12.0

Portugal

15.7

13.9

Slovakia

13.3

14.5

Slovenia

11.3

18.0

Spain

11.1

19.9

Sweden

24.4

38.5

Turkey (2010)

8.1

11.2

U.K.

14.9

44.5 (2010)

Australia (2010) (*)

32.3

60.8

Canada (2007) (*)

13.1

65.4

Israel (2008)

47.0

43.0

Japan (*)

21.6

30.0

Republic of Korea (2010) (*)

9.3

48.3

68

Proportion of online-sale enterprises

Proportion of online-purchase enterprises

Mexico (2008) (*)

8.7

13.5

New Zealand (2010) (*)

51.9

74.0

Switzerland (2008) (*)

31.0

75.0

Data Source: OECD

Notes:
1.

The data were issued by OECD at the end of 2011 or even earlier, and for those not issued at the
end of 2011, the time is marked in the table.

2. There are some differences in the definition of online sale and online purchase between different
countries. For example, some countries define that orders generated through traditional E-mail are
within the scope of online sale/ online purchase (such as Australia, Canada and Korea), but some
others exclude such orders (such as Ireland, U.K. and some other European countries). Most
countries adopt OECDs definition of internet E-commerce, namely the commodities or services are
ordered through internet, but the payment and delivery can be finished off-line.
3.

The statistic objects vary from country to country:

a)

For European countries, the financial agency and insurance industry are not covered in the
statistics.

b) For Australia, the following industries are excluded: government organization, public
management and security, education and training, asset investment and pension fund,
religious services, services for civic, professional and other interest groups, and private
household employees, etc. As from 2010, agriculture, forestry and fishery have been covered
in the statistics.
c)

For Canada, agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, as well as professional
contractors in the construction industry are excluded.

d)

For Japan, only enterprises with a staff number of 100 and above are included in the statistics,
and agriculture, forestry, fishery and mining industry are excluded.

e)

The statistics of the Republic of Korea mainly covered the following areas: agriculture, forestry,
fishery, mining and quarrying industry, manufacturing, construction, wholesale and retail,
transportation, accommodation and restaurant, information and communication, financial
institution and insurance, real estate and leasing, professional, scientific and technical
activities, management of business facilities and business support services, membership
organization, maintenance and other personal services.

f)

For New Zealand, only enterprises with a staff number of 6 and above and an annual turnover
reaching NZD 30,000 are included in the statistics. The sectors of government administration
and national defense, as well as personal and other services are excluded.

g)

For Switzerland, only enterprises with a staff number of 5 and above are included in the
statistics, covering manufacturing, construction and the supplies and services of electricity,
gas and water.

4.

For Switzerland, the statistics refers to the percentage of enterprises adopting online purchase/ sale
among the enterprises depending on internet-based offices.

69

(II) Application of Internet Marketing

10

By the end of December 2012, the ratio of the interviewed SMEs employing internet
to conduct marketing and promotion reached 23.0%11. Among various marketing and
promotion channels, internet has already excelled such traditional print media as
newspaper and magazine, and with advantages such as diversified presentation forms,
relatively low promotion threshold and evaluable promotion effects, it has gone beyond
such three-dimensional media as television and radio, becoming the preferred channel for
SMEs in China to carry out marketing and promotion. According to further survey, among
various internet marketing methods, SMEs tended to choose E-business platform
promotion, search engine marketing, instant messenger marketing, website-displayed
advertisements, E-mail marketing and other sophisticated internet marketing methods.
Other emerging internet marketing methods such as microblog marketing, forum/ BBS,
SNS, video marketing and group purchase were also favored by SMEs to a certain extent.

III.

The

Features

and

Trends

of

Internet

Application of SMEs
There is still a large room for SMEs to improve the internet access level
There is still a large space for SMEs to improve the internet access level both in
terms of quantity and quality. First, the internet popularization rate and broadband
access rate in China still lag behind the developed countries; second, the actual speed of
broadband is far behind the advanced level abroad. In the future, we should further
publicize the role of internet in promoting the development of enterprises, improve the
internet awareness of enterprises, and carry out the internet infrastructure construction
stated in the 12th Five-year Plan at the same time, paving the road and clearing the
obstacles to the utmost extent for the internet application and development of SMEs .

10

It refers to activities of marketing and promotion by way of internet.

It includes advertising released or promotion carried out by the enterprises or through agent/ advertising
company, including paid promotion and free promotion.
11

70

 E-commerce application shall be popularized and deepened further

SMEs in China still face some practical difficulties in developing E-commerce. First,
the awareness of applying E-commerce still lags behind the developed countries. For
SMEs in China, their understanding of E-commerce still remains only at promotion and
sale. Even in enterprises that have already carried out E-commerce, there are still
problems in the coordinated management of traditional channels and network channel.
Besides, there are some problems with the construction of E-commerce supporting
facilities. For example, the legal and institutional environment for E-commerce is not
complete; logistics and payment system still need to be improved; and the overall quality
of service suppliers such as website servers, E-commerce platform operators needs to be
enhanced. Furthermore, SMEs lack the conditions and mechanisms required for attracting,
retaining and training E-commerce professionals. Those problems can all lead to that
even if E-commerce is carried out, it is difficult to gain actual effects and E-commerce will
ultimately become just a form.

The management of internet marketing market needs to be standardized further

Boasting such features of controllable low costs, low threshold and high accuracy,
internet marketing has won the great favor of SMEs. However, the internet marketing
market is not mature yet: from the perspective of SMEs, the following issues are common:
the delivery method is not refined enough, the level of website construction is inadequate;
and there are difficulties in integrating operation mechanism and internet marketing. From
the perspective of service suppliers, market regulations are not complete and the service
quality varies from each other greatly. All those problems have limited SMEs from
conducting and utilizing internet marketing, leading to inadequate actual effects of internet
marketing. In the future, we should organize the forces from all social circles such as
government, service providers and enterprises to regulate the internet marketing market
jointly and assist the growth of SMEs really and truly.

71

Appendix 1 Attached Tables of

Basic Internet Resources
Table 1 Number of IPv4 addresses in the regions of China
Number of

Region

Addresses

Equivalence

Mainland China

330,534,912

19A+179B+144C

Taiwan

35,394,304

2A+28B+19C

Hong Kong SAR

11,762,432

179B+123C

324,864

4B+245C

Macau SAR

Table 2 Allocation of IPv4 addresses among the organizations in Mainland China

Number of

Total number of

Addresses

IPv4 addresses

125,761,280

7A+126B+247C

69,751,040

4A+40B+81C

China Mobile Communications Corporation

51,086,336

3A+11B+132C

China Education and Research Network

16,649,728

254B+14C

China Tietong Telecommunications Co., Ltd.

15,795,200

241B+4C

State Information Center

4,194,304

64B

Great Wall Broadband Network Service Co., Ltd

2,147,328

32B+196C

2,097,152

32B

Oriental Cable Network Co., Ltd.

1,662,976

25B+96C

Beijing Teletron Telecom Engineering Co., Ltd

1,544,448

23B+145C

China Cable Television Network Co., Ltd

1,188,864

18B+36C

1,056,768

16B+32C

1,032,192

15B+192C

1,011,712

15B+112C

Organization name
China Telecom
China United Network Communications
Corporation

Beijing Education Information Network Service

Center Co., Ltd

China Great Wall Telecommunication

Technology Development Center
Beijing Chengyi Times Network Engineering
Technology Co., Ltd
CECT-CHINACOMM Communications Co., Ltd
72

HiChina Zhicheng Technology Ltd.

999,424

15B+64C

Beijing Gehua CATV Network Co., Ltd

999,424

15B+64C

China Science and Technology Network

928,768

14B+44C

21 Viatnet Group, Inc.

838,656

12B+204C

786,432

12B

722,944

11B+8C

720,896

11B

663,552

10B+32C

655,360

10B

Beijing New-billion Telecom Technology Co., Ltd

589,824

9B

China Netcom Broadband Network Co., Ltd

557,056

8B+128C

557,056

8B+128C

524,288

8B

Beijing Kuancom Network Technology Co., Ltd

524,288

8B

CITIC Networks

524,288

8B

Huaxia Shilian Holdings Co., Ltd

524,288

8B

503,808

7B+176C

479,232

7B+80C

Bejing Hsoft Technologies Inc.

461,824

7B+12C

Jinan UPNET Technology Co., Ltd.

458,752

7B

438,272

6B+176C

FibrLINK Communications Co., Ltd

407,552

6B+56C

Beijing SRIT NETech Co., Ltd

385,024

5B+224C

Alibaba Cloud Computing Co., Ltd

344,064

5B+64C

Guangzhou Zhujiang Digital Group Co., Ltd

327,680

5B

327,680

5B

270,336

4B+32C

262,144

4B

Beijing Bitone United Networks Technology

Service Co., Ltd
Shenzhen Topway Video Communication Co.,
Ltd
Beijing Shidai Hongyuan Communication
Technology Co., Ltd
Beijing Founder Broadband Network Technology
Co., Ltd
Beijing Weishi Chuangjie Technology
Development Co., Ltd

Huabei Oil Communication Corporation

Information Center
Beijing Kuandaitong Telecom Technology Co.,
Ltd

Shaanxi Broadcasting and TV Network

Intermediary Group Co., Ltd
Guangdong Jinwanbang Technology Investment
Co., Ltd

Daqing Zhongji Petroleum Telecommunication

Construction Co., Ltd

Jiangxi Radio and TV Network Transmission Co.,

Ltd
Jinan Broadcasting Jiahe Broadband Network
Co., Ltd
Shenzhen Zhongtian Network Technology Co.,
73

Ltd
Hubei Chutian Shitong Network Co., Ltd

262,144

4B

Fujian Fiber Intercommunications Co., Ltd

262,144

4B

ChinaCache International Holdings Ltd

262,144

4B

Guangdong CATV Network Co., Ltd

262,144

4B

Chongqing CATV Network Co., Ltd

262,144

4B

263 Network Communication Co., Ltd.

259,072

3B+244C

China Motion Telecom

205,824

3B+36C

Shanghai Yovole Computing Networks Co., Ltd

196,608

3B

Beijing Sinnet Technology Co., Ltd

189,440

2B+228C

Gold-bridge Netcom Telecommunication Co., Ltd

188,416

2B+224C

Pacnet Business Solutions (Shenzhen) Limited

164,864

2B+132C

Guangdong Efly Network Co., Ltd

147,456

2B+64C

Tianjin Broadcast and TV Network Co., Ltd

144,384

2B+52C

Qihoo 360 Technology Ltd.

133,120

2B+8C

131,072

2B

131,072

2B

Shanghai Yixuan Network Technology Co., Ltd

131,072

2B

Shenzhen Tencent Computer System Co., Ltd

131,072

2B

Henan Xinfei Jinxin Computer Co., Ltd

131,072

2B

Beijing Hangshu Wide-net Technology Co., Ltd

131,072

2B

131,072

2B

131,072

2B

131,072

2B

314,881,792

18A+196B+183C

15,653,120

238B+217C

330,534,912

19A+179B+144C

Guangzhou Yizhan Hulian Computer Technology

Ltd.
Beijing Yuexintong Information Technology
Company Limited

Sichuan Ping An Communication Technology

Co., Ltd.
Shenzhen Wotone Network Development Co.,
Ltd
SVA Information Industry Co., Ltd
Sub-total
Others
Total

Data source: APNIC and CNNIC

Note 1: As a national Internet registry (NIR) certified by APNIC and approved by Ministry
of Industry and Information Technology, CNNIC organized ISPs with certain scale and
influence to build up an IP address allocation alliance. At present, CNNIC Allocation
Alliance totally has 339 members, holding 74167552 IPv4 addresses, about 4.42A. Most
of the above-listed are members of CNNIC Allocation Alliance;
Note 2: Only the organizations with the number of IPv4 addresses greater than 2B are
listed in the IPv4 address allocation table.
74

Note 3: The deadline for the above statistical data is December 31, 2012.
Table 3

Number of IPv6 addresses in China

Region

Number of Addresses

Mainland China

12535 /32s

Taiwan

2337 /32s

Hong Kong SAR

109 /32s
3 /32s

Macau SAR

Table 4

IPv6 address allocation in Mainland China

Organization name

Number of IPv6 addresses (/32)

China Telecom

4099

China Mobile Communications Corporation

4098

China United Network Communications

4098

Corporation
CNNIC IP Address Allocation Alliance

203

China Education and Research Network

16

Beijing Internet Institute Information Technology

Co., Ltd

16
5

Others

12535

Total

Data source: APNIC and CNNIC

Note 1: /32 as shown in the IPv6 address allocation table is a method to present IPv6
addresses, and the corresponding number of addresses is 2(128-32)=296.
Note 2: The deadline for the above statistical data is December 31, 2012.

Table 5

Proportion of IPv4 address in each province

Province

Proportion

Beijing

25.61%

Guangdong

9.61%

Zhejiang

5.31%

Shandong

4.93%

Jiangsu

4.81%

Shanghai

4.47%

Liaoning

3.39%

Hebei

2.89%

Sichuan

2.81%

Henan

2.67%

Hubei

2.42%
75

Hunan

2.41%

Fujian

1.96%

Jiangxi

1.77%

Chongqing

1.71%

Anhui

1.68%

Shaanxi

1.66%

Guangxi

1.41%

Shanxi

1.30%

Heilongjiang

1.23%

Jilin

1.23%

Tianjin

1.05%

Yunnan

0.99%

Inner Mongolia

0.79%

Xinjiang

0.62%

Hainan

0.48%

Gansu

0.48%

Guizhou

0.44%

Ningxia

0.24%

Qinghai

0.18%

Xizang

0.13%

Others

9.32%

Total

100.00%

Data source: APNIC and CNNIC

Note 1: The above IP address statistics are for the provinces where the IP address
owners are located.
Note 2: The deadline for the above statistical data is December 31, 2012.

Table 6 Number of domain names, .CN domain names and . domain names by
provinces

Province

Domain name

[Link] Domain name

Proportion in
Number

total domain

Guangdon

Proportion in

Proportion in
Number

names
Zhejiang

. domain names

total .CN

Number

domain names

total

domain
names

3,429,977

25.6%

2,810,016

37.4%

20,053

7.1%

2,815,805

21.0%

1,848,602

24.6%

59,854

21.1%

1,255,887

9.4%

472,405

6.3%

31,553

11.1%

g
Beijing

76

Shanghai

843,503

6.3%

260,263

3.5%

16,126

5.7%

Fujian

815,661

6.1%

353,235

4.7%

14,268

5.0%

Jiangsu

522,351

3.9%

178,443

2.4%

22,480

7.9%

Shandong

468,980

3.5%

129,154

1.7%

16,638

5.9%

Hebei

272,654

2.0%

58,502

0.8%

7,267

2.6%

Sichuan

261,186

1.9%

71,341

1.0%

9,958

3.5%

Liaoning

228,795

1.7%

90,419

1.2%

12,517

4.4%

Henan

228,049

1.7%

63,124

0.8%

4,748

1.7%

Hubei

156,517

1.2%

58,910

0.8%

5,360

1.9%

Hunan

142,789

1.1%

51,385

0.7%

4,619

1.6%

Anhui

119,306

0.9%

43,309

0.6%

3,553

1.3%

Tianjin

117,168

0.9%

29,585

0.4%

3,240

1.1%

Shaanxi

112,627

0.8%

36,002

0.5%

4,415

1.6%

109,230

0.8%

34,312

0.5%

6,281

2.2%

77,075

0.6%

26,518

0.4%

2,442

0.9%

73,258

0.5%

28,582

0.4%

4,246

1.5%

Shanxi

71,069

0.5%

21,032

0.3%

3,024

1.1%

Guangxi

70,328

0.5%

27,829

0.4%

2,840

1.0%

Jilin

66,827

0.5%

18,115

0.2%

3,192

1.1%

Yunnan

60,920

0.5%

24,233

0.3%

4,734

1.7%

Hainan

43,005

0.3%

11,847

0.2%

677

0.2%

39,254

0.3%

12,663

0.2%

1,958

0.7%

Guizhou

33,002

0.2%

12,919

0.2%

1,425

0.5%

Xinjiang

32,447

0.2%

11,815

0.2%

739

0.3%

Gansu

23,794

0.2%

8,973

0.1%

647

0.2%

Ningxia

14,577

0.1%

3,813

0.1%

373

0.1%

Qinghai

12,396

0.1%

2,054

0.0%

229

0.1%

Xizang

4,798

0.0%

1,210

0.0%

203

0.1%

Others

888,844

6.6%

703,123

9.4%

13,825

4.9%

100.0%

283,484

100.0%

Chongqin
g
Jiangxi
Heilongjia
ng

Inner
Mongolia

Total

13,412,079

100.0%

7,503,733

Note: The total number of domain names by provinces doesnt cover .[Link].

Table 7 Number of websites by provinces

Number of Websites

Proportion in total number

of websites

Guangdong

435,864

16.3%

Beijing

398,462

14.9%

Shanghai

270,327

10.1%

77

Zhejiang

195,546

7.3%

Fujian

188,992

7.1%

Jiangsu

170,810

6.4%

Shandong

142,863

5.3%

Hebei

86,452

3.2%

Sichuan

82,942

3.1%

Henan

79,301

3.0%

Liaoning

64,369

2.4%

Hubei

60,296

2.2%

Hunan

48,458

1.8%

Shaanxi

39,484

1.5%

Tianjin

36,742

1.4%

Anhui

34,547

1.3%

Chongqing

31,437

1.2%

Shanxi

21,739

0.8%

Jiangxi

21,545

0.8%

Jilin

21,091

0.8%

Heilongjiang

20,258

0.8%

Guangxi

18,067

0.7%

Yunnan

13,291

0.5%

Inner Mongolia

12,946

0.5%

Hainan

12,436

0.5%

Guizhou

7,941

0.3%

Gansu

6,228

0.2%

Xinjiang

5,697

0.2%

Ningxia

4,098

0.2%

Qinghai

2,356

0.1%

Xizang

972

0.0%

Others

145,145

5.4%

Total

2,680,702

100.0%

Note: The total number of websites by provinces doesnt cover the websites under
[Link].

78

Table 8 Web pages classified by updating cycle

Web page updating cycle

Proportion

Update weekly

2.0%

Update monthly

7.4%

Update every three months

18.5%

Update every six months

16.5%

Update every more than six months

55.6%

Total

100.0%

Data source: Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

Table 9 Web pages classified by suffix forms

Web page suffix forms

Proportion

. html

9.5%

htm

3.9%

54.7%

shtml

0.0%

asp

9.6%

php

7.7%

txt

0.0%

nsf

0.0%

xml

0.0%

jsp

3.2%

cgi

0.0%

pl

0.0%

aspx

2.2%

do

0.0%

dll

0.0%

jhtml

1.5%

cfm

0.0%

php3

0.0%

phtml

0.0%

Other suffixes

7.7%

Total

100.0%

Data source: Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

79

Table 10 Web pages classified by multimedia forms

Web page multimedia forms

Proportion (in multimedia web pages)

jpg

57.0%

gif

37.6%

zip

0.0%

swf

3.7%

doc

0.1%

pdf

0.0%

rm

0.0%

mid

0.0%

ram

0.0%

mp3

0.0%

ppt

0.0%

mpg

0.0%

Other multimedia

1.5%

Total

100.0%

Data source: Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

80

Table 11 Number of web pages by provinces

Total number

Static

Dynamic

Proportions of
static to
dynamic

Beijing

38,094,501,610

20,523,896,790

17,570,604,819

1.17:1

Guangdong

17,873,852,984

9,287,537,886

8,586,315,098

1.08:1

Shanghai

10,814,818,142

5,769,570,774

5,045,247,367

1.14:1

Zhejiang

9,588,985,450

5,056,771,081

4,532,214,370

1.12:1

Jiangsu

8,233,663,796

3,390,706,882

4,842,956,915

0.7:1

Henan

5,968,602,580

2,560,637,401

3,407,965,179

0.75:1

Fujian

4,698,727,949

2,074,868,490

2,623,859,459

0.79:1

Shandong

2,923,357,797

974,224,060

1,949,133,737

0.5:1

Sichuan

2,864,372,046

1,094,210,179

1,770,161,868

0.62:1

Tianjin

2,759,890,512

1,642,864,995

1,117,025,517

1.47:1

Hebei

2,600,059,497

1,420,333,349

1,179,726,148

1.2:1

Hubei

2,592,350,255

1,101,255,024

1,491,095,230

0.74:1

Anhui

2,476,031,556

913,276,745

1,562,754,811

0.58:1

Jiangxi

1,933,048,617

1,094,447,242

838,601,374

1.31:1

Hunan

1,832,633,429

806,350,992

1,026,282,437

0.79:1

Liaoning

1,821,832,142

1,033,267,243

788,564,899

1.31:1

Shaanxi

1,179,661,457

329,571,486

850,089,970

0.39:1

Guangxi

614,025,218

184,612,141

429,413,077

0.43:1

Hainan

571,666,578

139,033,712

432,632,867

0.32:1

Heilongjiang

542,111,759

203,721,579

338,390,181

0.6:1

Yunnan

485,436,913

125,292,764

360,144,150

0.35:1

Chongqing

450,294,294

172,759,056

277,535,239

0.62:1

Shanxi

413,268,048

100,714,193

312,553,856

0.32:1

Jilin

406,422,825

136,650,645

269,772,180

0.51:1

Gansu

331,899,561

80,713,036

251,186,525

0.32:1

Xinjiang

290,884,206

83,834,148

207,050,058

0.4:1

Guizhou

138,898,043

35,365,506

103,532,538

0.34:1

Mongolia

131,434,473

28,064,367

103,370,106

0.27:1

Ningxia

86,224,234

10,261,424

75,962,810

0.14:1

Qinghai

24,374,540

3,429,758

20,944,783

0.16:1

Xizang

3,486,741

1,104,233

2,382,509

0.46:1

122,746,817,252

60,379,347,181

62,367,470,077

0.97:1

Inner

The whole
country

Data source: Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

81

Table 12 Number of web page bytes by provinces

Total page size (KB)

Average number of bytes

per page (KB)

1,598,896,794,063

42

Guangdong

720,862,367,972

40

Shanghai

528,339,799,641

49

Zhejiang

486,434,239,754

51

Jiangsu

310,644,859,566

38

Henan

252,917,546,708

42

Fujian

159,006,497,360

34

Shandong

139,951,991,860

48

Hebei

117,095,088,380

45

Tianjin

104,827,317,374

38

Hubei

102,850,454,180

40

Sichuan

101,914,677,802

36

Anhui

90,079,145,839

36

Liaoning

87,602,050,250

48

Hunan

60,510,693,091

33

Jiangxi

58,259,945,425

30

Shaanxi

45,647,129,967

39

Guangxi

24,079,120,223

39

Shanxi

23,190,373,335

56

Yunnan

21,704,229,825

45

Heilongjiang

21,380,520,814

39

Hainan

20,746,518,506

36

Chongqing

16,855,795,631

37

Jilin

12,729,963,427

31

Gansu

10,543,603,773

32

Xinjiang

9,193,140,276

32

Guizhou

4,673,062,202

34

Ningxia

4,515,820,351

52

Inner Mongolia

3,695,735,778

28

Qinghai

1,200,252,712

49

Xizang

114,548,362

33

5,140,463,284,447

42

Beijing

The whole country

Data source: Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

82

Table 13 Proportion of web page classified by updating cycle in each province

Update

Update

weekly

monthly

Update

Update

every three

every six

months

months

Update
every more
than six
months

Beijing

1.90%

7.10%

17.75%

15.48%

57.77%

Guangdong

1.71%

7.29%

17.05%

15.72%

58.23%

Shanghai

2.02%

6.88%

16.55%

15.57%

58.98%

Zhejiang

2.35%

8.44%

19.28%

16.59%

53.34%

Jiangsu

2.15%

7.54%

20.17%

17.63%

52.51%

Henan

2.41%

8.44%

22.41%

18.67%

48.08%

Fujian

1.94%

6.63%

16.92%

17.88%

56.63%

Sichuan

2.14%

7.68%

20.58%

18.05%

51.55%

Hebei

2.16%

6.96%

17.47%

15.72%

57.69%

Shandong

2.17%

6.91%

19.66%

18.05%

53.20%

Tianjin

1.57%

5.64%

15.11%

13.99%

63.69%

Hubei

2.19%

8.01%

18.82%

17.10%

53.88%

Anhui

2.24%

8.32%

20.62%

17.99%

50.83%

Jiangxi

2.23%

7.83%

17.01%

18.24%

54.69%

Liaoning

1.88%

5.44%

18.06%

16.72%

57.89%

Hunan

2.71%

9.91%

21.92%

18.75%

46.70%

Shaanxi

2.04%

7.06%

24.00%

20.63%

46.27%

Hainan

1.29%

6.30%

21.51%

20.57%

50.33%

Guangxi

2.35%

7.70%

17.60%

15.74%

56.61%

Heilongjiang

2.33%

9.09%

24.36%

18.78%

45.43%

Yunnan

1.68%

6.40%

22.25%

22.01%

47.67%

Shanxi

2.55%

8.18%

24.74%

18.88%

45.65%

Chongqing

2.93%

9.99%

26.35%

14.80%

45.94%

Jilin

3.71%

13.92%

26.37%

20.10%

35.90%

Gansu

2.16%

9.63%

27.45%

24.57%

36.18%

Xinjiang

2.47%

8.72%

27.95%

21.45%

39.41%

Guizhou

4.51%

12.25%

23.66%

25.81%

33.78%

Ningxia

0.80%

2.98%

22.82%

23.04%

50.37%

Mongolia

3.33%

8.44%

21.54%

30.63%

36.06%

Qinghai

2.39%

5.46%

17.81%

17.74%

56.59%

Xizang

1.28%

5.26%

12.39%

14.45%

66.62%

2.02%

7.39%

18.47%

16.50%

55.62%

Inner

The whole
country

Data source: Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

83

Table 14 Proportion of web page classified by coding type in each province

Simplified

Traditional

Chinese

Chinese

English

Others

Beijing

93.69%

3.58%

0.83%

1.90%

Guangdong

95.26%

2.29%

0.66%

1.79%

Shanghai

90.01%

8.05%

0.78%

1.17%

Zhejiang

96.62%

0.92%

1.65%

0.80%

Jiangsu

96.95%

2.11%

0.49%

0.44%

Henan

98.32%

1.07%

0.34%

0.27%

Fujian

98.29%

0.89%

0.35%

0.46%

Shandong

91.49%

5.12%

0.60%

2.79%

Sichuan

98.66%

0.41%

0.33%

0.60%

Tianjin

97.59%

0.93%

0.46%

1.03%

Hebei

97.17%

1.33%

0.47%

1.03%

Hubei

97.44%

0.70%

0.45%

1.41%

Anhui

95.45%

1.63%

0.81%

2.11%

Jiangxi

93.55%

4.62%

1.32%

0.51%

Hunan

97.14%

2.10%

0.28%

0.48%

Liaoning

98.24%

0.87%

0.45%

0.44%

Shaanxi

99.00%

0.34%

0.32%

0.34%

Guangxi

96.29%

2.92%

0.36%

0.44%

Hainan

95.75%

1.72%

0.16%

2.37%

Heilongjiang

96.91%

1.97%

0.53%

0.59%

Yunnan

94.47%

5.15%

0.19%

0.19%

Chongqing

94.27%

5.11%

0.29%

0.33%

Shanxi

96.09%

1.56%

2.12%

0.23%

Jilin

96.26%

0.96%

2.37%

0.41%

Gansu

93.61%

5.75%

0.23%

0.41%

Xinjiang

96.52%

2.87%

0.41%

0.20%

Guizhou

96.77%

1.55%

0.97%

0.71%

Inner Mongolia

98.07%

0.30%

1.28%

0.35%

Ningxia

97.02%

2.60%

0.09%

0.29%

Qinghai

92.14%

7.05%

0.33%

0.48%

Xizang

97.39%

0.09%

0.23%

2.29%

The whole country

95.03%

2.91%

0.74%

1.32%

Data source: Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

84

Appendix

Organizations

Supporting the Survey

We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to the following organizations which
have provided strong support for the availability of online questionnaires for this survey
and the collection of the basic resources data.
1. Portal websites for survey (listed according to the time when the survey links are
provided)
[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

CSDN

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

2.

Organizations supporting the survey (not listed in any particular order)

China Telecom
China United Network Communications Limited
China Mobile Communications Corporation
China Education and Research Network Center
China Science and Technology Network Center
ChinaSat
China International Electronic Commerce Center
CGWNET Center
Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.
SanFront Information Technology Company
Chongqing Zhijia Information Technology Co., Ltd (CQHOT)
Beijing East Netscape Information Technology Co., Ltd
Beijing SinoNets Xinye Network and Telecommunication Co., Ltd
Beijing Innovative Linkage Technology Ltd.
Beijing Xinnet Digital Information Technology Co., Ltd
Guangdong Eranet International Limited
Xiamen Longtop On-line Technology Co., Ltd (its brand Bizcn)
85

Xiamen Jingtong Technology Industry Co., Ltd.

Xiamen ZZY Network Service Co., Ltd
[Link]
Zhongqi Power S&T Co., Ltd

Appendix 3 Introduction to CNIDP

[Link] -- open and shared Internet data and services
Launched and operated by CNNIC
Providing Internet statistical data and services for free
Reflecting the situation of Internet development in China objectively and timely
Website of the platform: [Link]
Introduction to the platform
Chinese Internet Data Platform, launched and run by CNNIC, adopts the research
method of fixed sample panel to reflect multiple facets (macro and micro) of Internet
development situation in China and provide multifaceted decision-making support for the
participants of the Internet industry through the Internet using behavior data of Chinese
Internet users samples collected by the survey clients continuously in real time and by
analyzing those data statistically.
Function Demonstration

86

Statistical data
Provide weekly, monthly, quarterly and half-year statistical
data including the covered users, visiting times, page views,
visiting duration and other indicators for domestic
mainstream websites/software; the data are updated within
no more than 3 days.

Users' features
Provide multi-dimensional structural distribution
data including gender, age, academic degree,
occupation, salary, region and city levels for
domestic mainstream websites/software.

Overlap analysis
Conduct statistics on the overlap of user groups
and the structural distribution of different user
groups for different websites/software.

Trend comparison
Provide detailed historical statistical data of each
day so as to reflect the trend of historical changes
for domestic mainstream websites/software.

87

The copyright of this report is owned by China Internet

Network Information Center (CNNIC).
Please clearly indicate the source in case of citation or
reproduction.

88