Internet development integrated in China's overall development: report

A report from the Chinese Academy of Cyberspace says that China's Internet development will be more integrated with social and economic development in the future, as the country is to develop itself into an Internet power.

The Internet Development of China over the Last 2 Decades is a report that researched China's Internet development during the past two decades. It was released on Dec 15 right before the World Internet Conference (Dec 16-18).

The report says that by the end of July 2015, the number of Chinese netizens reached 668 million, the world's largest online population. The number of websites based in China reached more than 4.14 million. China also established the world's biggest 4G mobile communication network with more than 250 million users.

Internet economy's proportion in the country's GDP has grown quickly reaching seven percent in 2014. China's online retailing transaction size is also the world's largest. From January to October, total online transactions reached 2.95 trillion RMB.

Meanwhile, Internet enterprises' market value has continued to rise. There are 328 Internet-related Chinese listing companies whose market value is about 7.85 trillion RMB, equivalent to 25.6 percent of China's entire stock market value. There are four Chinese companies listed as the world's top 10 Internet companies: Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu and JD.com.

Yang Shuzhen, president of the Chinese Academy of Cyberspace, says China's Internet development faces many strategic opportunities after the central government issued the Internet Plus strategy and also aims to build the country into an Internet power country.

Li Yuxiao, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Cyberspace，says that the Internet has deeply changes people's lifestyles.

"Whether in big cities or small villages, whether you are an ordinary worker or a CEO, you have the same access to information because of the Internet, which is a huge change," Li says.

"The Internet has huge impact on the politics, economic, healthcare and all the aspects. The use of Internet not only provides you entertainment, but also changes your survival ability and living environment."

Li says that Internet has now covered more than 3,000 villages in China, and more than 6,400 schools in the villages will be able to be connected with the best colleges through Internet.