China's tight rein on online growth

By Mark Ward
Technology Correspondent, BBC News website

In less than 10 years China has gone from a net newcomer to the country with the world's second-largest online population.
The first international internet data from China started travelling across the net in 1994, yet now the country has more than 100m net users

That puts its second only to the US with its 185m web users. But China looks set to pass that within a few years - especially when you consider that China's net users represent barely 8% of its population.

If Chinese net use grows to the levels seen in many Western nations, it could end up with 750m people regularly going online.

But currently the experience of the average Chinese net user differs greatly from that of many in the West.

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