The China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) report said the nation’s online population had risen to a massive 253 million users, up by 56 per cent since the end of June last year. This makes China the biggest internet user, overtaking the U.S.

This just goes to show the power of the Asian region as far as the internet is concerned. China’s internet users as a percentage are 19.1% compared to the U.S with 223.1 million internet users representing 71% of the population. China has a lot more room to grow compared to the U.S.

All this growth is despite the Chinese Government putting many restrictions on Chinese internet users and dissident web sites. The Chinese also restricted access to web sites like YouTube during the uprising in Nepal and also restricts access to sites ruled to be pornagraphic or a threat to national security. Many of the sites that have thrived in the Chinese Market are Tencent.com and search engine Baidu.com which are both both large Chinese run web sites.

With this continued growth, which is predicted to continue at 18% per year, Chinese internet users will grow to 490 million by 2012. Keep an eye on the Asian region, I think it will surprise a lot of people, especially those that remain U.S. centric.