CNNIC released the 46th Statistical Report on Internet Development in China.

On September 29th, China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) released the 46th Statistical Report on Internet Development in China (hereinafter referred to as the Report). The Report focuses on five aspects: Internet infrastructure, the scale and structure of netizens, the development of Internet applications, the development of Internet government affairs and Internet security, and strives to comprehensively reflect the development of China’s Internet in the first half of 2020 through multi-angle and all-round data display.

Internet inspires great power and helps to win a great victory in the fight against epidemic diseases.

According to the Report, as of June 2020, the number of netizens in China reached 940 million, an increase of 36.25 million compared with March 2020, and the Internet penetration rate reached 67.0%, an increase of 2.5 percentage points compared with March 2020. Wu Tienan, secretary of the Party Committee and deputy director of CNNIC, pointed out that during the epidemic, China’s Internet industry showed great vitality and resilience, which not only played a key role in accurately and effectively preventing and controlling the epidemic, but also made remarkable progress in digital infrastructure, digital economy, digital benefiting the people and digital governance, and became an important force for China to meet new challenges and build a new economy.

Zhang Xiao, deputy director of CNNIC, interpreted the report and summarized the highlights of Internet development in China in the first half of 2020 from eight aspects:

First, the "net" sinks strength, and the "new format" helps to fight the epidemic and stabilize the overall situation.In the first half of the year, online education, online medical care, telecommuting and other application services played a great role in maintaining the normal operation of social economy and stabilizing the basic needs of people’s livelihood. As of June 2020, the number of online education users reached 381 million, accounting for 40.5% of the total netizens; The number of online medical users reached 276 million, accounting for 29.4% of the total netizens; The number of telecommuting users reached 199 million, accounting for 21.2% of the total netizens.

The second is "net" Luo technology, and "new infrastructure" injects vitality expansion.In the first half of the year, the central government intensively deployed to speed up the progress of "new infrastructure" and made positive progress in many important areas: by the end of June 2020, the number of 5G terminal connections had exceeded 66 million, and three basic telecommunications companies had opened more than 400,000 5G base stations. More than 500 industrial Internet platforms with distinctive features and diverse capabilities have been cultivated in the field of industrial Internet. By July 2020, the number of users with assigned IPv6 addresses in China reached 1.442 billion, and the number of active users with IPv6 reached 362 million. The top 100 commercial websites and applications have all supported IPv6 access.

Third, the "network" promotes development, and the "new economy" expands domestic demand to help transformation.By June 2020, the number of users of e-commerce live broadcast, short video and online shopping in China had all increased by more than 5% compared with that in March, and the number of users of e-commerce live broadcast had reached 309 million, an increase of 44.3 million compared with that in March 2020, with a scale growth rate of 16.7%, making it the fastest-growing personal Internet application in the first half of the year, providing positive help for promoting the transformation of traditional industries and promoting the upward movement of agricultural products. The number of online retail users reached 749 million, accounting for 79.7% of the total netizens. The market remained the first in the world for seven consecutive years, which provided important support for the formation of a new development pattern.

Fourth, the "net" has temperature, and the "new Huimin" Lipui helps to get rid of poverty.As of June 2020, the number of netizens in China has reached 940 million, equivalent to one-fifth of the global netizens. The Internet penetration rate is 67.0%, which is about 5 percentage points higher than the global average. The digital gap between urban and rural areas has narrowed significantly. The difference in Internet penetration rate between urban and rural areas is 24.1%, which has been reduced to less than 30% for the first time since 2017. As an important means of poverty alleviation, online poverty alleviation has been increasingly understood and participated by netizens.

Fifth, the "net" comes to culture, and the "new communication" storytelling creates a new style.By June 2020, the number of users of online video (including short video) in China reached 888 million, accounting for 94.5% of the total netizens, among which short video has become a new choice for news reporting and a new standard for e-commerce platforms. The number of users of online news is 725 million, accounting for 77.1% of the total netizens. With the help of social networking, short videos and other platforms, online news can improve communication efficiency through visualization and help anti-epidemic propaganda and reporting.

Sixth, the "net" knows the world, and the "new tool" sees the world from a distance.By June 2020, the number of online payment users in China had reached 805 million, an increase of 4.8% compared with March 2020, accounting for 85.7% of the total netizens. The mobile payment market ranked first in the world for three consecutive years, which played an important role in benefiting the people during the epidemic and expanded more application scenarios of "+payment"; Instant messaging has become one of the fastest growing applications during the epidemic, with a user scale of 931 million, an increase of 34.66 million compared with March 2020.

Seventh, the "net" fills the demand, and the "new service" ensures the capacity to supplement the supply.Affected by the epidemic, online channels have provided a new development window for the service industry. Digital services such as online take-out, online education, online car rental, online medical care and so on are booming, with the number of users reaching 409 million, 381 million, 340 million and 276 million respectively, accounting for 43.5%, 40.5%, 36.2% and 29.4% of the total netizens respectively, which not only meets the needs of netizens, but also provides assistance for the digital development of the service industry.

Eighth, "net" talks about governance, and "new governance" pushes legislation for innovation.By June 2020, the number of online government service users in China reached 773 million, accounting for 82.2% of the total netizens. In the first half of the year, the government governance system was continuously improved and its governance capacity was continuously improved.Civil Code of People’s Republic of China (PRC)People’s Republic of China (PRC) Data Security Law (Draft)Gradually promote digital governance with laws to follow; A multi-collaborative governance system around government, platform and society is accelerating; Online government service is becoming more and more mature, and the construction of national government service platform has achieved remarkable results.

Promote "internet plus"Government affairs service,Prevention and control of epidemic situation, resumption of work and production

Wang Yimin, director of the E-government Research Center of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (National School of Administration) and deputy director of the National E-government Expert Committee, believes that the data in the Report fully reflects the continuous improvement of China’s Internet+government services and the continuous improvement of the digital governance system in the first half of the year. First, the construction of the national government service platform has achieved remarkable results. By June 2020, the registered users of the national government service platform reached 126 million, with a total of 1.002 billion visitors and a total of 5.891 billion views. A five-level online service system of "covering urban and rural areas, linking up and down, and clear hierarchy" has taken shape. Second, grid governance has brought forth new ideas. Urban and rural communities in many provinces and cities have actively carried out epidemic prevention work through digital tools such as community WeChat groups and small programs, which has become a major innovation in grassroots governance. Third, "Internet+government service" has strongly promoted the resumption of work and production after the epidemic. The national government service platform has successively launched "service columns for small and micro enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households" and 15 service topics such as epidemic prevention and control, resumption of work and production, and employment services. At the same time, it has built an "epidemic prevention health information code", which has gathered and supported 623 million pieces of "health code" data shared by all localities and served 600 million people, which has become an important innovation in this big data support for epidemic prevention and control.

The safety experience of netizens in China has been continuously improved, and the network security environment has been further improved.

Huang Qing, vice chairman of internet society of china, said that in the first half of 2020, China’s network security environment showed a trend of continuous improvement under the continuous crackdown on various network security issues by the National Internet Information Office, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other relevant departments. First, at the policy-making level, People’s Republic of China (PRC) Civil Code, People’s Republic of China (PRC) Data Security Law (Draft) and other relevant laws and regulations have been promulgated one after another, which has promoted the continuous improvement of China’s network security legal system. Second, in terms of infrastructure, China has vigorously promoted the deployment of national top-level domain name resolution nodes, and successively introduced F, I, L, J and K mirror servers to promote the security of network infrastructure. Third, in terms of user safety, the data in the Report shows that Internet users are experiencing increasingly improved network security problems, and the proportion of Internet users who have not encountered any network security problems has kept increasing for five consecutive years. Fourth, in terms of industrial development, the development of China’s network security industry has entered the "fast lane". The existing network security products and services have extended from the basic network security field to different application scenarios such as cloud services, big data, Internet of Things, industrial control, and 5G, achieving comprehensive coverage of basic equipment, basic technologies, security systems, and security services.

Under the background of "new infrastructure", the new format of digital economy helps to enhance the "resilience" of China economy.

Lv Benfu, vice chairman of the National Innovation and Development Strategy Research Association and director of the Network Economy and Knowledge Management Research Center of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes that under the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic in the first half of the year, China’s economy was forced to stretch its "ligament" and faced new challenges in supply chain, enterprise management and business activities. The new format and mode of digital economy and the rapid development of digital technology have provided important support for enhancing the toughness of China’s economic "ligament" and promoting the formation of new economic growth points. First, digital technologies such as 5G and industrial Internet provide the underlying foundation for the digital economy. With the help of digital technology, large-scale matching algorithm and high-speed network are transmitted to the cloud, which makes information transmission faster and energy dissipation less, and promotes the digital economy to become a "low entropy economy". Second, digital consumption, such as online shopping, has provided new impetus for promoting economic internal circulation. In the first half of the year, the scale of online retail sales has exceeded a quarter of the total retail sales of social consumer goods, and its supporting role for consumption has been further enhanced. According to the data in the Report, new e-commerce models such as fresh e-commerce, agricultural products e-commerce, cross-border e-commerce and second-hand e-commerce have also maintained rapid development, with the user scale reaching 257 million, 248 million, 138 million and 61.43 million respectively, which has played an active role in promoting the upward movement of agricultural products, driving consumption back and promoting the development of idle economy. Third, digital services represented by telecommuting are forming a new service format. As can be found from the Report,The number of users of online education, online medical care and telecommuting reached 381 million, 276 million and 199 million respectively, making it an Internet application with great development potential, and constantly enhancing the economic resilience while promoting innovation in the service industry.

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Wang Xiangdong, former director of the Information Research Center of China Academy of Social Sciences, believes that it is very rare for this Report to record China’s remarkable achievements in network poverty alleviation with multi-dimensional data. First, rural areas have achieved network coverage, and the gap between urban and rural areas has narrowed significantly. According to the data in the Report, the Internet penetration rate in rural areas was 52.3% in the first half of the year, which was 6.1 percentage points higher than that in March 2020, and the difference between urban and rural areas was reduced by 6.3 percentage points. Second, the era of "the same network and the same speed" between rural and urban areas is coming. The proportion of fiber-optic access to poor villages in China has increased from less than 70% in 2017 to 98%, and the proportion of broadband access to poor villages in deep poverty areas has increased from 25% to 98%. Third, the effectiveness of online poverty alleviation has been recognized by the majority of netizens. By the end of June 2020, the proportion of netizens who recognized the Internet in "helping the poor", "helping the sales of agricultural products through e-commerce" and "providing more jobs and medical education opportunities for the poor" had increased compared with that in March 2020. Wang Xiangdong also said that in order to consolidate and expand the achievements of poverty alleviation, online poverty alleviation needs to establish a long-term mechanism, and it needs to realize the transformation from helping poverty alleviation within a limited period to helping stable poverty alleviation, from helping absolute poverty to helping relative poverty, from "blood transfusion" to "hematopoiesis" and from helping poverty alleviation to revitalizing industries through online consumption.

46th Statistical Report on Internet Development in China (full text)