China’s Growing Internet Problem
The dark side of managing growth is never far behind. Here are President’s Hu comments on the Internet in China (from CNN.com):
Maintain the initiative in opinion on the Internet and raise the level of guidance online. We must promote civilized running and use of the Internet and purify the Internet environment.
“Clean up” would really sound a lot better than “purify.”
Meanwhile, a new study released by the China Internet Network Information Centre (CINIC) said that the number of Internet users in China climbed to 137 million in 2006, up 23.4 percent from the previous year. That number accounts for just 10.5 percent of China’s total population. By way of comparison, the US has 210 million Internet users.
According to the Hindu News, China’s broadband users increased to 104 million, or 75.9 per cent of all Internet users.
This year’s figures are not an aberration; China’s 2006 growth was smaller than in 2002 (75.4 percent) but larger than 2005 (18.2 percent) and 2004 (18.1 percent).
