CHINA--China’s mainland replaced Japan as home to the world’s
second largest online population by the end of last year, according to a
national survey released yesterday. The mainland’s online
population which hit 59. 1 million by the end of 2002, up nearly 30 percent from
the middle of the year, is larger than Japan’s latest figure of 54 million, said
the China Internet Network Information Center. The center
predicted the number of net surfers in China would jump 46 percent to 86.5
million this year. However, China still lags far behind the
United States, which is home to 170 million Internet users. And China’s online
population is only 4.6 percent of its total population. How much does China’s online population take up of its total population