China internet users reached about 253 million last month

China said the number of Internet users in the country reached about 253 million last month, putting it ahead of the United States as the worlds biggest Internet market - according to the New York Times. The estimate, based on a national phone survey and released last week by the China Internet Network Information Centre in Beijing, showed a powerful surge in Internet adoption in this country over the last few years, particularly among teenagers. The number of Internet users jumped more than 50 per cent, or by about 90 million people, during the last year, said the centre, which operates under the government-controlled Chinese Academy of Sciences. The new estimate represents only about 19 per cent of Chinas population, underscoring the potential for growth. By contrast, about 220 million Americans are online, or 70 per cent of the population, according to the Nielsen Company. Japan and South Korea have similarly high percentages. Political content on Web sites inside China is heavily censored, and foreign sites operating here have faced restrictions. But online gaming, blogs, and social networking and entertainment sites are extremely popular among young people in China. The survey found that nearly 70 percent of Chinas Internet users were 30 or younger, and that in the first half of this year, high school students were, by far, the fastest-growing segment of new users, accounting for 39 million of the 43 million new users in that period. With Internet use booming, so is Web advertising. The investment firm Morgan Stanley says online advertising in China is growing by 60 to 70 per cent a year, and forecasts that by the end of this year, it could be a $1.7 billion market. Chinas biggest Internet companies, including Baidu, Sina, Tencent and Alibaba, are thriving, and in many cases are outperforming the China-based operations of American Internet giants like Google, Yahoo and eBay. Baidu had a 63 per cent share of Chinas search engine market, while Google had about 26 per cent, with Yahoo trailing far behind, according to Research, a market research firm based in Beijing. Tencent, a popular site for social networking and gaming, now has a stock market value of $15 billion, making it one of the worlds most valuable Internet companies. In comparison, Amazon.com is valued at about $30 billion. One measure of the growth of the Internet here, and its social and entertainment functions, is the popularity of blogs. The site of Chinas most popular blogger, the actress Xu Jinglei, has attracted more than 174 million visitors over the last few years, according to Sina.com, the popular Web portal, which posts a live tally. According to Sina, 11 other bloggers have also attracted more than 100 million visitors in recent years. The Internets popularity often poses serious challenges to the government. Online gambling, pornography, videos of protests and addiction have led to regular campaigns to crack down on what the government views as vices. But Internet users have also used the Web for nationalist campaigns to criticise the Western news media or foreign companies, as was the case after riots broke out in Tibet this year. While several organizations had projected that China would surpass the United States in Internet users this year. The new survey results were the first time a government agency had released figures showing Chinas market to be larger than that of the United States.