US Internet users in second place
220 million Maouse clicks
CHINESE INTERNET users surpassed the USA for the first time ever this February, according to a report on Yahoo News.
220 million people logged on from behind the Bamboo Curtain compared to just 216 million of our American chums. But the headline figures are not quite as impressive as the percentages.
71 per cent of Americans now have access to the World Wide Wibble, but only 17 per cent of the Chinese population can get at whatever bits of the Web the authorities think won't turn the populace into running dog capitalist scum.
It may all be too late for China's youth, though. One recent connectee, 19-year-old student Sun Xin, who was interviewed whilst queuing to buy an Internet connection for his parents, said "no Internet, no life" before locking himself in his parents' basement for four solid days playing World of Warcraft, probably. µ
L'Inq
Yahooooooo
Comments
Incomplete comparison
No comparison with the number of Internet users in the entire EU. Maybe the authors of the article thought that one shock per day is enough, eh?Here's why...
February was Magee's last month as editor of The INQUIRER. Chiner wert expecting another cultural revolution in lieu (lao?) of the ensuing mahem (cough) mahem o'upheaval.It's good he set them straight in old ShangHai, all 221 millyuan.
I didnt know.
I didn't know that the entire EU was a country? Does that mean the entire North America is a country too? Or Asia for that matter?Nope, nice try though.
does it matter?
It doesn't seem to matter how many internet users there are in a country, but the percentage of the population which is online. By that mark, China would be obliterated.Chines interweb
I don't think China wants all of its people on the net.Once enough of them realise just how they are being repressed under a totalitarian government they might want to do something about it.
It might be easy to mow down a few thousand with tanks and machineguns in Tianamin Square and hide the bodies but try stopping a real revolution of the people.
I feel sorry for the millions of Chinese who clearly deserve a better life.
What a subversive guy !!!
Internet takeup in China might produce the same effect that the introduction of steel axes had on stone aged men ... purely from an anthropological perspective.