China's population of Web users hits 384 million

(AP) — China's population of Internet users, already the world's largest, soared nearly 30 percent last year to 384 million as the number of people surfing the Web by mobile phone more than doubled, a research group reported Friday.

The 28.9 percent growth rate was below 2008's eye-popping 41 percent but still among the world's highest despite government controls highlighted by this week's dispute with Google Inc. over Internet censorship.

The number of people going online by mobile phone rose 106 percent to 233 million, spurred by the launch of third-generation services that support video and other Web products, said the government-sanctioned China Internet Network Information Center. China's population is more than 1.3 billion.

It said 8 percent of Web surfers use only mobile phones to go online.

China's government aggressively promotes Internet use for business and education but tries to block access to material deemed subversive or pornographic. Google caused an outcry among Chinese Internet users when it announced this week it might pull out of China over censorship and e-mail hacking.

Online commerce in 2009 totaled 250 billion yuan ($37 billion), CNNIC said.

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On the Net:

China Internet Network Information Center (in Chinese): www.cnnic.org.cn