Chinatrack-ECI SinoHTrust,Business Consulting and Operators of The ITCN International Trade Cooperation Network

The basic surveys (160 pages in two volumes), updated until January 2000, are available for 250 US$ with quarterly updates at $50 providing the latest information throughout the year. (15% discount for Chinatrack members)

Preface		1
Content		3
1.	What are ISP and ICP?	4
2.	The Internet in China	4
2.1	Current development	4
2.2	Current Infrastructure Organization	7
3.	Trends in the development of Chinese Internet	8
3.1	General Internet Policy	8
3.2	Institutions in charge of Chinese Internet Policy	9
4.	Recent trends in the development of ICPs and ISPs	9
4.1	Online sources of information versus traditional ones	9
4.2	Censorship	10
4.3	Advertising Industry	11
4.4	In search for capital	11
4.5	Foreign Investment in China's IT	12
4.6	Internet copyright in China	12
4.7	ICPs lobbying department stores	13
5.	Current Internet distribution in China	13
6.	Structure and trends of the demand for the Internet	16
6.1	General Demographics	17
6.2	Users’ behavior	19
7.	China’s most popular ISPs and ICPs	24
8.	Companies’ Profiles	24
8.1	ISPs	26
8.2	ICPs	32
8.2.1	Advertisement industry	33
8.2.2	Education	33
8.2.3	Entertainment	34
8.2.4	Finances	35
8.2.5	General	38
8.2.6	Healthcare	48
8.2.7	News	49
8.2.8	Market research	54
8.2.9	Technology	57
8.2.10	Trade	65
8.2.11	Travel	82
9.	E-commercialization of ICPs	83
10.	Conclusions	84

The aim of the following survey is to investigate the current situation of the Internet in China. After delivering some information on the structure of the network, the official Internet policy and trends within the demand side of the market, the main emphasize was put on the analysis of the Internet services providers (ISP) and Internet content providers (ICP).

The profiles of the most influential, popular and active providers are delivered in form of uniform tables, which allow a certain degree of comparability among them.

Big efforts were done to retrieve as specific and accurate data as possible. But due to the lack of transparency of the Chinese Internet market and to the fact that the development is still going on, the selection of reliable data was not always easy and sometimes not even possible. As many Chinese providers prefer not to disclose any information concerning the companies’ background or their business activities, it was very difficult to always obtain information covering the same aspects of all the providers. That is why the readers of this survey will find some blanks in the part containing tables with company profiles.

We hope that the readers will have an understanding for this situation and enjoy the level of homogeneity we have reached with our study of this very dynamic and difficult to oversee market.