The Register has an uncanny knack of scooping almost all computer publications. It has done it again tracking down the biggest supercomputer installations in the world. A list ranking the top supercomputers in China at the end of 2007:

China Petroleum and Chemical’s IBM, a cluster of servers running on Xeon chips.
China Meteorological Administration, also IBM.
Shanghai Supercomputer Center with a cluster made by Dawning.
The China Meteorological Administration again.

All pretty standard.

The systems ranked 5-10 appear to be identical 1950-core clusters built by HP belong to ‘Gaming Company.’ Which is The9 — a video game distributor.

The9 owns at least 12 of the Top 100 machines in China and may have up to 16 systems on the list.

The9 has at least 18,032 cores of processing power - a mix of Xeons, Opterons and even Itaniums - dedicated to distributing games throughout mainland China.

12 of the top Chinese systems rank among the 500 fastest machines in the world.
10% of China’s top computers work at the single task of sending out video games to the millions of local players.

The9 has licenses to so-called MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games) Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, Soul of the Ultimate Nation, Granado Espada and its own Joyful Journey West.

Whence the name The9?

Adding to the existing eight modes of art, namely, painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, music, dance, drama and movie, are online games as the ninth mode.

Hence The9.
Source: The Register

Australian telecom giant Telstra has acquired 55% of Chinese online advertising companies Norstar Media and Autohome/PCPop. No financial details were given.

Norstar operates the popular auto site Che168.com and digital device site IT168.com while Autohome/PCPop, runs auto site Autohome.com.cn (illustrated above) and digital device site PCPop.com.

The controversial head of Telstra, Sol Trujillo, seen here, said the company now owns majority interests in three of the leading Chinese companies in the three key online advertising industry segments: real estate, automobiles and digital devices.

All four of the websites just acquired by Telstra are consumer-focused. They generate revenue primarily through online display advertising and product listing fees.

In 2006, Telstra bought 51% of SouFun.com.
Source: Forbes

As an important part of this year’s Cultural Heritage Day activities, the China Cultural Heritage website has opened in Beijing. Click HERE to visit the site.

The report says: ‘The China Cultural Heritage website, created by the China Relic Information Consultation Center, using modern information technology and network communication tools and backed by digital Chinese cultural heritage information, will provide the public services such as popularizing Chinese cultural heritage information, multimedia displays and interactive communication on the Internet.

‘At present, the website has opened eight channels, and nearly 100 sub-columns, disseminating basic knowledge and information about Chinese cultural heritage and it also provides many interactive network communication services, such as a forum, blog, and consulting.’

All of which is correct.

What the news item fails to mention is that it is all in Chinese. There is no English on the site.

That may be a temporary phase. One would hope so because the site looks totally and utterly fascinating.
Source: English People’s Daily Online

A report, The video games market in China: Moving online, produced by KPMG and the Telecoms Research Project Corporate (TRPC) in Hong Kong and Singapore, noted that growth in the number of online game subscribers is now paralleling that of the Internet and mobile markets.

KPMG, citing a 2007 report from Xinhua News Agency, said China’s online gaming market was worth about $970 million, with over 36 million gamers. Made-in-China online games accounted for $20 million in export revenues, and also commanded a 65% share of the domestic market.

China has been dependent on games produced elsewhere but is now producing its own.

Peter Lovelock, TRPC’s director and deputy director of the Telecoms Research Project, said, ‘The market is developing rapidly in China and there is ample room for further growth and development.’

Another significant trend highlighted in the KPMG report is the increasing use of mobile devices to engage in online multiplayer games.
Source: Business Week

Some points from a report issued by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC):

Internet Cafes are a major internet access point for younger Chinese people. 33.5% of primary and middle school Internet users report accessing the Web from i-cafes, and 47.8% of Chinese netizens under-25 do so. Internet cafes are the primary point of access for 59.5% of rural Netizens, compared with 43.5% of urban users.

The average Chinese netizen spends 16.2 hours per week online. Non-students in the under-25 set are far above this, with an average of 20.8 hours per week. College students average 14.8 hours per week, while primary through high school students average 6.4 hours a week.

CNNIC reports that 73.7% of the Chinese youth internet users under 18 play online games, and primary through middle school students are playing games for an average of 3.3 hours a week. Among middle school students, 5.5% are spending more than 10 hours a week on online games.

The report claims that almost 27.1% of youth Netizens have ‘an inclination toward Internet addiction.’

31% of youth Netizens report having used mobile phones to access the Internet in the six months prior to the survey. College students are the heaviest mobile Internet users, with 40.2% having accessed the Internet during that period.

When it comes to messaging youth, but of course, leads the way. 91.3% for the under-25 against the national average of 81.4%.

CNNIC reports that over 60% of college students report having posted messages on BBSs — 26.6 percentage points above the same figure for overall Chinese Internet users.
Source: Digital Watch

MediaG3, a developer for broadband wireless product, has entered a partnership with the Academy of Broadcasting Science (ABS), a division of China central government State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT).

The idea is perhaps to offer interactive TV coverage and high speed Internet in areas of China.

Peiyu Guo, Director of Information Technology Institute, of ABS said, ‘Broadband wireless technology has tremendous market potential in China, especially in vast regions where cable coverage is not feasible. Proven and cost effective broadband wireless technology and applications are two key solutions to satisfy the huge demand in China. We are very pleased to work with MediaG3 to explore and develop broadband wireless applications for connectivity and delivery.’

There have been two years of testing and now a pilot program is being planned.

In the interior regions and rural areas, there are about 900 million Chinese who are under- served or have no connections to the Internet or interactive TV programs.
MediaG3 may be able to fill that gap.
Source: Earth Times

China has blocked 23 websites for false advertising of drug-based products and selling drugs illegally as part of a sustained campaign against such advertising.

The State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) said the sites either sold counterfeit drugs or publicized false, exaggerated or misleading information regarding cures for various ailments.

China had ordered closure of 51 websites earlier this year for carrying illegal drug advertisements.

All the cases for the sites, most disguised under the names of certain hospitals or medical institutions, were transferred to the former Ministry of Information Industry for punishment.

The former Ministry of Information Industry ordered relevant Internet access service providers to make sure these sites would not be reconnected to the web in future, according to the SFDA. The administration also warned the public to be alert and avoid falling victim to similar websites.

For several months China has run an advertising campaign against illegal drug ads to tighten its supervision. Earlier this year, the country’s authorities ordered the closure of 51 websites found to be carrying illegal drug adverts.

There are many who would wish that in this area the China standard would extend internationally.
Source: Economic Times

BDA China, a Beijing-based technology consulting and research firm, claims that China’s Internet population has overtaken the United States’ to become the world’s biggest with about 220 million web surfers.

Liu Bin, an analyst with BDA China said, ‘There are two major drivers. One is continued strong growth in broadband users. The other is the popularity of Internet cafes in relatively small cities.’

And that is key to the situation.

Comparing China to the United States leads to all sort of false surmises. The US has occupied the number one position since the birth of the Internet as a network of computers under the auspices of the US Department of Defence in 1969 as Arpanet.
While China may have the large numbers for them to be of any value they have to be dissected. And the fact is the growth in figures cones, at the moment, for Internet cafes, and the use in Internet cafes is very heavily skewed to multi-player games.
This is changing starting with the big cities and spreading outwards. But the Internet cafe still accounts for a major slab on Internet use which is simply not the case in the United States.

Liu Bin said, ‘There will be more users using Internet cafes. In some small towns, many users don’t have broadband access at home, but will go to Internet cafes to play online games.’

This is true.

On the other hand the blog count is astounding and some figures put it so high that every other Chinese Internet user has a blog. Which cannot be true but suggests the size of the issue.

Beijing is worried about the Internet. President Hu Jintao called last year for efforts to ‘purify’ the Internet. Now, in theory, only state-controlled entities will be allowed to operate websites that post audio-visual content. Yet it is proud of the fact that, properly used, the Internet can improve the knowledge and skills of the Chinese population.

One final point. In China it is not easy to make money from the Internet. You have to understand the market and work outside the envelope.

The China Internet Network Information Centre said in its latest half-yearly report from January: ‘In December 2007, the online shopping rate of Chinese netizens was 22.1%.

‘By contrast, the United States saw an online shopping rate of as high as 71 percent in August 2006.’

Sure. And you would find a ratio something like that in the use of credit cards. But that is now. Ten years ago in rural parts of Germany no one would accept a credit card. Cash or nothing.

Now it would be difficult to find a gasthaus that does not take credit cards.

China is still moving through a massive information and financial and social revolution. To say China has the most Internet users is pretty meaningless unless you specify the way the Internet is being used.
Source: AFP

Some facts on which to ponder:

China’s software sector generated RMB580 billion ($80.8 billion) in revenue in 2007, an annual increase of 20.8%.
Sales of software products surged 22.5% to RMB201.7 billion.
China’s phone subscribers, mobile and fixed line combined, are expected to grow by more than 60 million in 2008 to hit a total of 976 million, according to the Ministry of Information Industry.
China’s fixed-line and mobile phone subscribers will account for 27.1 percent and 46.4% of the population, respectively. The continuous falling of mobile communication charges has directly led to a sharp increase in mobile phone subscribers and some people even replaced their fixed-lines with mobile phones.
In 2007, China’s mobile phone subscribers increased by 86.22 million, while fixed-line subscribers fell by 2.33 million.
By the end of 2007, China had 370 million fixed-line subscribers and 530 million mobile subscribers. The two figures combined accounted for a fifth of the world’s total phone subscribers.
Some 99.5 percent of the country’s villages have access to telephone links, and the broadband connection reached 92% of the villages nationwide.
The number of Internet users in China passed 200 million in 2007, the China Internet Network Information Centre said in its semi-annual report on Internet use.
China’s Internet population stood at 210 million at the end of last year, up 53% from the same time in 2006 when there were 137 million. That figure puts China just 5 million users away from becoming the world’s largest wired nation — and with only about 16% of the population online. At its current growth rate, China will become the world’s top Internet market sometime in the next few months.
China’s most popular Internet application is online music, used by 86.6% of those surveyed, followed by instant messaging with 81%. E-mail placed only fifth, with 56.5%.
China’s information industry authority plans to expand broadband service to more than 95% of the nation’s villages in 2008.

David Wolf, CEO of Wolf Group Asia, a Beijing-based technology consultancy, said, ‘China’s admittedly impressive user statistics hide an important fact: only a fraction of those users have regular access to a PC.’ Most of them are using Internet cafes.
Source: PC World and Beijing 2008 and China.com

According to state media China shut down 44,000 Web sites and arrested 868 people for Internet pornography last year.

China’s Public Security Ministry launched a crackdown on Internet pornography last year, saying it had ‘perverted China’s young minds.’

Nearly 2,000 people involved in Internet pornography activities also were penalized.

Separately, Xinhua News Agency said 33 people were arrested in connection with a Web site that allowed customers, mainly in Taiwan, to view live sex shows filmed at 12 separate locations in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai. In the raid cash, computers and film equipment were seized.

China’s online population has soared to 210 million and could surpass the U.S. this year to become the world’s biggest.
Source: Houston Chronicle