Most of the country's Internetusers go online to chat or seek entertainment rather than look for jobs or conduct business.

According to a report released² by China Internet Network  Information (CNNIC) yesterday, China's Internet users¹ totaled 162 million in the first six months of this year. The country reported 137 million users last year.

The rapid growth could be translated into almost 100 new users per minute in the past six months.

At this rate of increase, China is expected to overtake³ the United States, the world's leader, by the end of next year. The US had 211 million Internet users at the end of last month.

Although the number of China's Internet users has been on the rise since 1994, when first introduced to the country, the research showed most users were interested in chat rooms and entertainment, and not job searches, education, and e-banking.

About 75 percent read online news and used search engines for information.

More than 60 percent regarded online music and videos as an important source of entertainment.

Only 21 percent used e-banking services, and 3.9 percent booked tickets through the Internet.

Wang Enhai, an official with CNNIC, and an author of the report, said the phenomenon is due to China's Internet infancy⁴ and the fact most users were young people.

"China's Internet market is just emerging⁵ and there are still a lot of things to be done before a mature online business environment can be established," Wang said.

According to CNNIC, the number of China's Internet users under 24 years old was 58 million, about 35.8 percent of the country's total Internet population.

This segment⁶ of the population, comprising⁷ mostly students, spends a lot of time playing online games, listening to music and watching videos.

我国大多数互联网 用户上网进行的主要活动是聊天和娱乐，而不是找工作或从事商务活动。

中国互联网络信息中心昨天发布的一份报告显示，今年上半年，中国的网民总数达到1.62亿人。去年这一数字为1.37亿。

在过去六个月中，中国网民的数量以每分钟近一百人的速度激增。

按照这一增速，中国有望于明年年底超过美国，成为全世界网民规模最大的国家。截至上月底，美国的网民数量达到2.11亿人。

尽管自1994年互联网引入中国以来，网民数量一直增长，但调查显示，大多数网民对网上聊天和娱乐较感兴趣，而不是网上求职、网络教育和网上银行。

约75%的网民在网上浏览新闻以及使用搜索引擎搜索信息。

超过60%的人将在线音乐和在线视频视为娱乐生活的重要组成部分。

仅有21%的人使用过网上银行服务，3.9%的人曾在网上订票。

中国互联网络信息中心官员、调查报告的撰写者之一王恩海说，这一现象的主要原因是中国的互联网尚处于起步阶段，而且大多数互联网用户都是年轻人。

他说：“中国的互联网市场才刚刚兴起，建立一个成熟的在线商务环境仍有很多事情要做。”

据中国互联网络信息中心数据，中国24岁以下的网民达到5800万，占网民总数的35.8%。

而且其中的大多数人是学生，他们经常在网上打游戏、听音乐、看视频。