| February/March
2005 Updates China's Internet
users to grow to 120 million. Adapted
from Xinhua, Beijing, China. March 2005. The Ministry
of Information Industry forecasted that China will have a total of 120 million
Internet users by the end of 2005. The forecast has been widely perceived as conservative
with real growth expected to exceed the official number. Xinhua state
news agency reported the forecast in its despatch on 2 March 2005 (see http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-03/02/content_2637334.htm).
The agency noted that the forecast marks growth of nearly 28 percent from 94 million
at the end of 2004 and consolidates China's position as the second largest Internet
market in the world after the United States. |