China's population of Internet users grew by 50.9 million
people in 2012 to 564 million, according to official data
released on Tuesday by the
China Internet Network
Information Center (CINIC.)
The figures showed that the number of people accessing the
Internet via mobile devices in 2012 increased 18.1 percent
to 420 million.
The use of micro-blogging services also surged, with the
total number of users increasing by 58.73 million to 309
million.
The number of mobile phone users in China in 2012 was 4.2
million, showing an annual growth rate of 18.1%. In
addition, the proportion of internet mobile users rose to
74.5%.
Online shoppers in China, meanwhile, rose 24.8 percent to
242 million.