Wide Swath of China Is Surfing the Internet
Internet use is spreading farther than expected in China, reaching smaller, less-developed cities, and would likely be even more popular if not for government controls, according to two surveys.
The surveys, conducted by the government-backed Chinese Academy of Social Sciences , are the most extensive on Internet use in China to date. Researchers interviewed 4,100 people in 12 cities, from the major urban centers on the prosperous coast to interior towns where economic growth has lagged behind. The surveys show that Internet penetration is on average highest in the metropolises of Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou -- where one-third of all residents use the Internet -- but small cities of around 100,000 in population ranked a surprising second, with 27% of residents going online. That percentage surpasses the 24% rate in four leading industrial provincial capitals, according to the surveys.
Underpinning the growth in small cities is an array of factors, including government policies and free-market competition to provide Internet services, says one of the surveys, on small cities. In Yima, a city in hilly, rural Henan province, for example, a mining company vied with the local subsidiary of China's telecommunications authority to offer Internet services starting in the late 1990s. The result was low-cost Internet connections and a surge in Internet cafes -- 60 of them by early 2002 -- for a city of 120,000 where incomes average $500 a year and many residents can't afford a home computer.
The findings, say the researchers who conducted the study, suggest that the Internet's impact is greater than previously thought, with implications for the future of the economy and the communist government. Far from being a tool of the educated and well-off in big cities, the Internet is cutting across income and geographical lines in China, creating a populace that is better informed and more demanding of the government, the researchers say. "The Internet's emergence has filled a void," Hu Xianhong of Peking University wrote in the survey on small cities.
Overall, the surveys found that 56% of the 68 million Internet users in China are male, and 58% are between the ages of 17 and 24. Nearly 40%, who are either students or unemployed, have no monthly income, which has a damping effect on electronic commerce. Only one in five Internet users has made a purchase online, and most are for small items such as books or movie tickets. However, nearly 12% of online orders were for the purchase of computers.
The surveys also include good news for China's three Nasdaq-listed portals -- Netease.com Inc., Sina Corp. and Sohu.com Inc. -- which are the most frequently used services for accessing Web sites. And Chinese users spend most of their Internet time browsing Web pages and reading news.
This emerging online community, according to the surveys, shares ideas that could pose a challenge to a government often bent on control. More than 85% recognize a role for the government in managing and controlling the Internet, and most are concerned about pornographic and violent content. But fewer than 13%, the survey says, believe that the government should police political content, and overwhelmingly people see the Internet as a medium allowing greater freedom of speech and criticism of government policies.
"Most people strongly believe that the Internet will affect Chinese politics," says the study on Internet use, authored by Guo Liang, considered a leading authority on the Internet's social impact in China.
Authorities, however, have sought to rein in this impulse, targeting for arrest those who disseminate dissenting opinions online. Last week, a civil servant in Hubei province, Du Daobin, was formally arrested on subversion charges for posting essays critical of the government and for organizing a petition protesting the detention of another Internet activist.
The surveys suggest that Internet use would likely be even more widespread without government controls. In the small cities and provincial capitals, less affluent populations rely on Internet cafes, the surveys say, and a crackdown last year has led to closings, reducing the number of outlets. In Yima city, the government canceled all licenses and limited the number of new ones it issued to 38 establishments, though some outlets operate illegally. The government, the survey says, has decided that Internet cafes should be limited to one for every 10,000 residents.
中国互联网普及程度出人意料
日前公布的两项调查显示，中国互联网使用范围的广泛程度超过预期，许多欠发达的中小城市都使用互联网，如果不是因为政府的控制，普及程度甚至会更高。
由中国社会科学院(Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)组织的这些调查是迄今为止针对中国上网状况进行的范围最广泛的调查。研究人员采访了沿海和内地12座城市中的4,100人。调查发现，平均而言，上海、北京和广州三座大城市的互联网普及率最高，居民中的三分之一都上网，但人口在10万左右的小型城市居第二位，上网率竟然高达27%，4个发达省会城市的上网率也不过24%。
其中针对小城市的调查称，支撑小城市上网率的因素很多，包括政府的政策和互联网服务市场的自由竞争等。例如，河南省义马市的一家矿业公司在上世纪90年代末开始提供互联网服务，与中国国有电信公司在当地的分公司进行竞争，结果是互联网链接成本下降，网吧剧增。对于人口仅12万、人均年收入500美元、许多人还买不起家用电脑的这样一座城市，到2002年初时的网吧已有60家。
负责此项调查的研究人员称，这说明互联网的影响比此前所想像的要大。这将对经济和政府的未来产生潜在的影响。互联网并非大城市富裕群体的的专有工具，而是打破了各种不同收入和地区的界限，由此这样形成的网民的信息更加灵通，对政府的要求也更高。北京大学(Peking University)的胡先宏（音译）在这份小城市调查报告中写道，互联网的出现填补了一项空白。
调查发现，总体上，中国6,800万网民中的56%为男性，从年龄特征来看，58.2%的网民在17至24岁之间。近40%的网民为学生或失业人员，他们没有稳定的收入，因此对电子商务的发展产生不利的影响。只有五分之一的网民进行过网上购物，而且大多都是书籍和电影票之类的小额商品。但其中近12%的网上订单用于购买电脑。
调查还发现，网民对在那斯达克上市的三大门户网站－网易(Netease.com Inc.)、新浪(Sina Corp.)和搜狐(Sohu.com Inc.)的访问率最高。他们上网大多是浏览网页和阅读新闻。
这些调查称，正在兴起的上网一族中的部分人持有的共同持有的观点可能对政府构成威胁。85%以上的网民认为政府应该对互联网实施管理和控制，大多数人对色情和暴力方面的内容表示担心。但调查也发现，认为政府应该控制政治方面内容的网民比例不到13%，绝大多数人认为，作为一种媒体，互联网应该在言论和批评政府的政策方面提供更大的自由度。
由郭良主持的这些调查称，大多数人坚信互联网将对中国的政治产生影响。郭良是中国互联网研究方面的主要学者之一。
这些调查暗示，如果不是政府的控制，互联网可能会更加普及。在小城市和省会城市，人们的收入较低，他们主要依赖于网吧，而去年的一项管理规定使得大量网吧关闭。例如在义马市，政府已取消了所有营业执照，并将新发放牌照限制在38张，当然同时还有不少网吧在非法经营。调查称，该市政府已决定将每一万人对应的网吧限制在一家。
