How big is China's internet market?

China's internet marketing is probably not as big as USA's market but it has the potential and it is the fastest growing market in the world. China nows has 600,00 Internet users, AFP reported quoting the official Xinhua news agency.

LU Xinquan, with the State Council's Internet Task Force, said that more than 100 Internet service providers were in operation. Lu did not specify whether the cited 600,000 figure referred to the formal subscriber base or actual users. It is a known fact that many accounts allowing access to the Internet are shared by multiple users in China. According to official figures, Internet subscribers in China numbered just 40,000 in mid-1995. Another report by Xinhua earlier indicated that Beijing alone now has 100,000 users (Jan/1998).

China Forbids Pyramid Sales

The State Council, the top governing body of China, issued a circular recently that prohibits new companies, domestic and foreign, from engaging in pyramid selling. Pyramid selling, which is legal in some countries, was introduced in China in recent years. Since no specific laws and regulations govern such sales in China, a few business people have felt free to defraud customers and intermediary businesses, thereby upsetting the country's economic order and arousing social concern. Therefore, China will not give approval to any more companies engaged in pyramid sales for the time being. The purpose of the circular is to curb illegal operations of middlemen, crack down on fraudulent activities, protect the rights and interests of customers, and safeguard fair competition and maintain order in China's socialist market economy. [China Daily, 10/12/95]

Economy Grows 11.7 Percent Per Year in Past Five Years

China's economy had a growth rate of 11.7 percent over the eighth Five Year Plan (1990-95) period, averaging 3 to 4 percent higher than projected. Reuter cites the State Statistics Bureau that the projected economy growth was 10 percent while the government target was 8-9 percent. The State Statistics Bureau estimated that between 1991 and 1995, China would have completed a total investment of 3,890 billion yuan in fixed assets, an annual growth rate of 17.9 percent -- about 3.4 percentage points higher than planned and 13.6 percentage points higher than in the previous five years. (08/18/95)

Life Insurance: Some 150 Million Chinese Purchase Life Insurance

About 150 million Chinese, or 50 percent of China's urban population, have bought life insurance, Reuter reported, quoting WANG Shuliang of People's Insurance Co of China (PICC). However, according to Xinhua, the concept of life insurance remains foreign to the majority of rural residents, who constitute 80 percent of China's population. PICC dominates the domestic life insurance market with a 90-percent market share; its revenue reached 7.79 billion yuan for the first half of this year. PICC has seen an annual growth rate of at least 20 percent since it resumed service in 1979, said WANG. (8/14/1995)

China to Become Largest Beer Producer in the World

The China Business Daily claimed, quoting experts' predictions, that China's beer output will reach 20 million tons by the turn of the century and 26 million tons a decade later, making China the world's largest producer of beer, Reuter reported. According to the newspaper, China produced 14 million tons of beer last year, second only to the U.S. (08/30/95)

  • China Cracks Down on Mobile Phone Fraud
  • Mobile phones are very popular in China. But be careful not to "scalping" of mobile phone codes. The Chinese government is intensifying efforts to stop the widespread "scalping" of mobile phone codes, according to a Reuters report from Beijing. China's supreme court issued an edict Tuesday calling for officials at all levels to take action against the theft of phone codes. The codes, which are used to track the billing for individual mobile tele- phones, are being stolen at an alarming rate to be used with black market "clone" phones. A newspaper report in the People's Daily estimated that 14 percent of cellular phones in Beijing and 15 percent of phones in Guangdong province are clones. The unlucky owners of phones that have been cloned are unaware of the theft until they are sent a huge bill for the pirated use. The vice-mayor of Shenzhen was recently sent a bill for 130,000 yuan ($16,000) in phone charges run up by phone pirates. (10/31/95)

    Mobile Phones and Fax Machines Booming in China

    The Xinhua Evening News said in a report from Shanghai on Friday that the mainland China has become the 4th largest mobile phone market. Currently the country has 2.5 million portable phone users, an increase from 1.7 million at the beginning of the year. By the end of the year, it'll be 3.5 million mobile phone users. Xinhua also reported from Beijing that mainland will have installed over two million facsimile machines by the year 2000, more than six times he current number.(11/04/95)

    Official Receives Death Sentence for Bribery

    The Intermediate People's Court in Guangzhou city on Friday sentenced a female official in a state-owned company to death for bribery, Reuter reported, quoting the People's Daily and the Legal Daily. Zeng Lihua, assistant manager of the Shenzhen Engineering Consultative Company, was convicted on charges of illegally accepting $665,000 from Hong Kong real estate developers in the last nine months of 1992. The procurator general of the Supreme People's Court called the bribery case the "largest" in China. The court has suspended Zeng's death sentence for two years in ex- change for her cooperation during the two-year investigation. In China, those convicted of corruption involving over $2,400 may receive the death penalty. (11/04/95)

    New Law Set to Control Internet Use in China

    The Chinese government has spelled out the details of a new law to tighten control over Internet use, AFP and New York Times News Service reported. On Monday, Assistant Public Security Minister ZHU Entao outlined the new rules at a Chinese-correspondent-only press conference. Although the punishments for the offenders were not specified, using the Internet to defame the government, to promote separatist movements, or to leak state secrets, along with hacking and sending pornography in the net are subjected to criminal charges under the new rules.(12/31/97)