Number of Internet Users Don't Tell the Whole Story

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, July 24, 2002

Number of Internet Users Don't Tell the Whole Story

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The latest China Internet Network Information Centre survey has found that 45.8 million Chinese are online for one hour or more each day.

The results began the media buzz about China's new status as the world's third largest Internet user population, after the United States and Japan.

The number is huge and the rise is stunning. The first six months saw 12.1 million new Internet users nationwide, a 35.9 per cent increase.

The growth curve appears even steeper when taking into consideration the Internet's timeline in China. In October 1997, there were only 620,000 Chinese regularly using the Internet. As a latecomer to this new economy, that figure is respectable.

But when discussing China, it's also important to remember that we are a nation of 1.3 billion people, therefore, most of our gains are not what they appear.

Current Internet users only account for a mere 3.6 per cent of our population, but few media have put this figure into a per capita context.

Why aren't we told the proportions of Internet users in the United States and Japan? Nobody bothered to find that out.

The media is not at fault. They reported the findings in a professional survey with no exaggeration or distortion.

But a little more perspective on our true strength may help. In this case, adding in the results using per capita as a context.

This is important not only because of our large population, but also because of some Chinese citizens' extreme vulnerability to megalomania.

Over-simplified generalizations and emphasis on size may easily result in our disregard for looking at things in different ways.

The media should assume the role as a constant reminder of our realities.

Digital gaps between our cities and rural areas as well as eastern and western regions remain wide. We have to remember the challenges as well as the successes.

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