China Internet Users Increase By 51 Million

The number of people using the internet in China rose by 10% last year despite the introduction of tighter content rules by Communist leaders.

The increased popularity of mobile web surfing is thought to be behind the surge which brings the current number of web users in China to 564 million, a rise of 51 million.

According to the China Internet Network Information Centre, the number of Chinese web users who logged onto the internet from mobile phones, tablet computers and other wireless devices rose by 18.1% to 420 million in 2012.

In China, which is known for its strict censorship laws, the state encourages use of the internet for business or education, but blocks access to content believed to encourage disloyalty to the ruling party.

Access to overseas websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, is also blocked through what has become known as the “Great Firewall of China”.

Only last month, the Communist Party enforced a law requiring all internet users to disclose their identity while online.

And in April, China's most popular microblog site Weibo was shut down for three days while operators deleted posts believed to have violated censorship rules.

Despite such attempts to control how the public use the internet, the web appears to be a hit with the Chinese.

Weibo, China's equivalent to Twitter, has more than 300 million users and the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) to bypass blocks on overseas websites remains popular in the country.