China’s fast-growing population of Net users has soared to 221 million, tying the United States for the largest number of public online, according to government goods reported Thursday.

The figure, reported by the Xinhua News Agency, reflects China’s explosive growth in Web use despite government efforts to block access to material considered subversive or pornographic. It was a 61 percent increase by the 137 million Web users reported by the government at the start of 2007.

China lags the United States, South Korea and other markets in online commerce and other financial measures. But e-commerce, video-sharing and other businesses are growing quickly and companies have raised millions of dollars from investors.

“We’ll see that growth continuing,” said Duncan Clark, chairman of BDA China Ltd., a Beijing technology company.

“Even though China might overtake the United States in total (Internet) population, it still lags in the size of its World Wide Web industries, and there will be a lot more opportunities,” Clark

China’s Web penetration is still low, with 16 percent of society online, compared with a world average of 19 percent, Xinhua said.

Beijing promotes Web use for business and education but operates extensive online censorship. Web surfers have been jailed for posting or e-mailing material that criticizes Communist rule or is deemed a violation of vague national defense laws.

Most recently, Chinese Web surfers have been blocked from seeing foreign sites — including YouTube.com — with videos about protests in Tibet and the shield crackdown there.

The Xinhua report cited notes from the government’s China World Wide Web Network info Center. An agency spokeswoman, who would give only her surname, Zhang, declined to give more details. She said the agency, plus known as CNNIC, would release a report in July.

The United States had 221 million Net users in March, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, a leading industry measurement service. The U.S. growth…

Orginal post by Top Tech News