Hosting In China

BEIJING — The number of Internet users in China has reached 298 million, nearly equal to the population of the United States, according to official figures. Although only 23 percent of Chinese use the Web — compared with 73 percent in the United States and 22 percent worldwide — about 88 million people went online in China for the first time last year, a 42 percent increase over 2007, the official China Internet Network Information Center said on Tuesday.

China surpassed the United States as the biggest user of the Internet last June.

In 2008, there was also a spike in mobile Web surfing, with 117.6 million users, a 113 percent increase over the previous year.

Internet use is restricted in China and the government regularly blocks Web sites and blog postings that it views as a threat to state security. Last week, officials announced a crackdown on 91 Web sites that it said featured lewd content. It also shut down Bullog, a popular blog aggregator.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/world/asia/15beijing.html?ref=world

 Published: January 14, 2009