China had approximately 600,000 approved websites by the end of
2003, up 60.3 percent from 2002, said a report issued by the State
Council Information Office Thursday.
The China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) compiled
the report on Internet resources in China in 2003. It was the third
report of this type.
about 90 percent of the websites were based in east, north and
south China, showing a growing gap between developed and less
developed regions, the report said.
Beijing, south China's Guangdong Province, east China's Zhejiang
Province and the economic hub of Shanghai were the top four areas
for numbers of websites, accounting for 56.8 percent of the
total.
Internet resources are attracted to the more developed regions.
This will intensify the imbalanced development between east and
west China, and between cities and the countryside, the report
added.
By 2003, China also saw nearly 17,000 online databases, double
the previous year's figure. The report warned people against blind
pursuit of quantity of information, but urged an improvement in the
quality of databases.
(Xinhua News Agency April 1, 2004)