At the end of 2007, Chinas Internet users reached 210 million, a jump of 53% from the previous year, says Zhang Shanshan, media director for the China Internet Network Information Center, which gathers statistics for the Ministry of Information Industry. Clark says the rapid growth is powered in part by Chinas economic boom. While the government continues to filter the Net and encourage self-censorship, it also has a mandate to promote cheaper technology and the knowledge economy. And there is strong government backing for companies such as China Netcom, which offers broadband service at $10 a month, Clark says. At the company's Xibahe branch in north dozens of people recently lined up to buy broadband service. The number of Chinese on the Internet hit more than 220 million as of February, according to estimates from official Chinese statistics by the Beijing-based research group BDA.

The percentage of American users - 71% - still exceeds Chinas 17%. China has 1.3 billion people, compared with nearly 304 million in the USA. China, however, has a higher growth rate, says BDAs chairman, Duncan Clark. By the end of March, for example, Chinese users climbed to 233 million. The government is likely to confirm the leap at its half-yearly report in July. The longtime Internet leader, the USA, which founded and developed the network of computers, had 216 million users at the end of 2007, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.

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