About half of the Internet users in China surf the net from their homes, according to the latest survey by the China Internet Network Information Center (CINIC).

Thirty-seven percent of the country's Internet users are on-line at their work places, while 11 percent of them surf at Internet cafes.

This represents a big change from previous surveys, which found that most of China's Internet users went on-line at work.

However, as more and more Chinese families have their own computers, many of the Internet users chose to access from home for information, entertainment, and making new friends.

The latest CINIC survey also found that 59 percent of the Internet users access at their own expense, while 21 percent use the service provided by their employers.

The number of Internet users in China has skyrocketed to nearly nine million, according to the latest figures from the CINIC.