The 49th Statistical Reporton China’s Internet
Development

China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC)
February 2022

Preface
In 1997, China’s competent departments authorized China Internet Network Information
Center (CNNIC) to organize relevant Internet entities to jointly carry out the Statistical Survey on
Internet Development in China and regularly release the Statistical Report on Internet
Development in China (hereinafter referred to as the “Report”) at the beginning and middle of eachyear. Ever since then, CNNIC has published 48 reports. The Report has reflected the process ofbuilding up China’s strength in manufacturing and cyberspace through core data. It has provided
an important reference for Chinese government departments, domestic and international industry
institutions, experts and scholars to understand the development of China’s Internet and formulate
relevant policies.
The year of 2021 marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of
China and the opening year of the 14th Five-Year Plan. In the face of a complex and challenging
environment and many risks and challenges, the national system for industry and information
technology has been committed to developing a strong country in cyberspace and manufacturing,getting the 14th Five-Year Plan off to a good start. At present, China has made remarkableachievements in industrial and information-technology development. The Internet industry has
been developing in a fast and steady manner. The industrial Internet has facilitated the further
integration of digital technology and the real economy, providing a new driving force fordeveloping such a strong country.
Serving as a faithful recorder of implementing the national strategy for manufacturing andcyber development, CNNIC has followed the development of China’s Internet, expanding thescope of research and subdividing research areas. The Report focuses on the six aspects, including
basic Internet development, size of Internet users, Internet applications, industrial Internet,
development of e-government, and Internet security. From a multi-pronged perspective, CNNIC
has worked to comprehensively demonstrate the development of China’s Internet in 2021 throughall-round data.
Here, we hereby express our heartfelt thanks to the Ministry of Industry and Information
Technology of PRC, the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, the National
The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

Bureau of Statistics of China, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, and otherdepartments and units for their guidance and support for the Report. We would also like to express
our sincere thanks to other institutions and Internet users that have supported this statistical survey
on the Internet development.

China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC)
February 2022

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

OVERVIEW
CHAPTER ONE BASIC INTERNET DEVELOPMENT ..................................................3
I

II

III

Basic Internet Resources ................................................................................................. 3(I)

IP Address ...................................................................................................... 3(II)

Domain Name ................................................................................................ 5(III)

Number of mobile phone base stations .......................................................... 6(IV)

Number of Internet broadband access ports ................................................... 7(V)

Length of fiber optic cable lines .................................................................... 7

Application of Internet Resources .................................................................................. 8(I)

Websites ......................................................................................................... 8(II)

Web Pages ...................................................................................................... 9(III)

Mobile Internet Access Traffic ..................................................................... 10(IV)

Number and Category of Apps..................................................................... 11Internet access environment ......................................................................................... 12(I)Internet access devices ................................................................................. 12(II)

Online duration ............................................................................................ 13(III)

Fixed broadband access ............................................................................... 14(IV)

Number of Cellular IoT Terminal Users ...................................................... 16

CHAPTER TWO SIZE AND STRUCTURE OF INTERNET USERS ..........................17I

II

Size of Internet Users ..................................................................................................... 17(I)

Overall Size of Internet Users ...................................................................... 17(II)

Size of Internet Users in Urban and Rural Areas ......................................... 19(III)

Size of Non-Internet Users ........................................................................... 21

The Attribute Structure of Internet Users ................................................................... 24(I)

Gender Structure .......................................................................................... 24(II)

Age Structure ............................................................................................... 24

CHAPTER THREE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNET APPLICATIONS ..................26

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

I

I

Overview of Internet Applications................................................................................ 26

II

Basic Apps ....................................................................................................................... 27

III

IV

V

(I)

Instant Messaging ........................................................................................ 27(II)

Search Engine .............................................................................................. 29(III)

Online News................................................................................................. 31(IV)

Online Office................................................................................................ 33

Business Transaction Applications ............................................................................... 35(I)

Online Payment............................................................................................ 35(II)

Online Shopping .......................................................................................... 37(III)

Online Meal Ordering .................................................................................. 39(IV)

Online Travel Booking ................................................................................. 41

Online Entertainment Applications .............................................................................. 44(I)

Online Video ................................................................................................ 44(II)

Live Streaming ............................................................................................. 47(III)

Online Games............................................................................................... 50(IV)

Online Music................................................................................................ 51(V)

Online Literature .......................................................................................... 52

Public Service Applications ........................................................................................... 55(I)

Online Car-Hailing Services ........................................................................ 55(II)

Online Medical Services .............................................................................. 57

CHAPTER FOUR INTERNET SECURITY ....................................................................60
I

II

III

Cyber Incidents .............................................................................................................. 60(I)

Proportion of Types of Cybersecurity Problems .......................................... 60(II)

Proportion of Types of Cyber Fraud ............................................................ 61

Cybersecurity Attacks and Information System Vulnerabilities................................ 62(I)

Number of Distributed Denial-of-Service Attacks ....................................... 62(II)

Number of Information System Vulnerabilities ........................................... 62

Reporting and Handling of Cybersecurity Incidents .................................................. 63

(I)

II

Number of Cybersecurity Incidents Received ............................................. 63
The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

(II)Number of Reports Received by China’s Network Reporting Departments at
All Levels ..................................................................................................... 64

APPENDIX 1IIISURVEY METHODOLOGY...................................................................65

Survey Methodology ...................................................................................................... 65(I)

Telephone Survey......................................................................................... 65(II)

Automatic Online Search and Statistical Data Reporting ............................ 67

Definitions of Terms in the Report ............................................................................... 68

APPENDIX 2

ATTACHED TABLES OF BASIC INTERNET RESOURCES ............70

APPENDIX 3SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS ........................................................77

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

III

Core Data
◇ As of December 2021, China had 1,032 million netizens, up by 42.96 million over December
2020, and its Internet penetration had reached 73.0%, up 2.6 percentage points over December
2020.
◇ Up to December 2021, the number of mobile Internet users in China had reached 1,029 million,
up 42.98 million over December 2020. The proportion of China’s netizens accessing theInternet via their mobile phones had amounted to 99.7%.
◇ As of December 2021, the size of rural Internet users was 284 million or 27.6% of the national
total, while that of urban Internet users was 748 million or 72.4% of the total.
◇ Up to December 2021, the proportions of Chinese netizens accessing the Internet throughmobile phones, desktop computers, laptops computers, TVs and tablet computers were 99.7%,
35.0%, 33.0%, 28.1% and 27.4%, respectively.
◇ As of December 2021, the number of IPv6 addresses had amounted to 63,052 blocks/32, up
9.4% over December 2020.
◇ Up to December 2021, the number of China’s domain names totaled 35.93 million. China had
20.41 million domain names ending with “.CN”, making up 56.8% of the national total.
◇ As of December 2021, the user size of instant messaging in China reached 1,007 million, up
25.55 million from December 2020, making up 97.5% of the national total.
◇ Up to December 2021, the user size of online video (including video clips) in China hadreached 975 million, up 47.94 million from December 2020, making up 94.5% of all Internet
users. The number of video clip users amounted to 934 million, an increase of 60.80 million
over December 2020, accounting for 90.5% of all Internet users.
◇ As of December 2021, the user size of online payment in China had reached 904 million, up
49.29 million from December 2020, taking up 87.6% of the national total.
◇ Up to December 2021, the user size of online shopping in China had reached 842 million, up
59.68 million from December 2020, taking up 81.6% of all Internet users.
◇ As of December 2021, the user size of online news in China had reached 771 million, up 28.35
million from December 2020, making up 74.7% of the national total.
The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development1◇ Up to December 2021, the user size of online meal ordering in China had reached 544 million,
up 125 million from December 2020, taking up 52.7% of all Internet users.
◇ As of December 2021, the user size of online office in China had amounted to 469 million, up
123 million from December 2020, accounting for 45.4% of the national total.
◇ Up to December 2021, the user size of online medical services in China had amounted to 298
million, up 83.08 million from December 2020, accounting for 28.9% of all Internet users.

2

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

CHAPTER One Basic Internet
Development
I Basic Internet Resources
As of December 2021, the number of IPv4 addresses in China was 392.49 million, that of IPv6
addresses was 63,052 blocks/32, and that of active IPv6 users reached 608 million. The total numberof domain names in China was 35.93 million, of which the number of domain names ending with“.CN” was 20.41 million, accounting for 56.8%. The number of mobile phone base stations in China
totaled 9.96 million, that of Internet broadband access ports reached 1.018 billion, and the total
length of fiber optic cable lines amounted to 54.88 million kilometers.
Table 1 Comparison: Basic Internet Resources from Dec. 2020 to Dec. 2021
Dec. 2020
IPv4

Dec. 2021

389,231,616

392,486,656

57,634

63,052

4.62

6.08

41,977,611

35,931,063

Domain names ending with “.CN”

18,970,054

20,410,139

Mobile phone base stations (10,000)

931

996

Internet broadband access ports (100

9.46

10.18

5169

5488

IPv6 (block/32)
Number of active IPv6 users (100million)
Domain namemillion)Length of fiber optic cable lines(10,000 km)(I) IP Address
Up to December 2021, the number of IPv6 addresses had amounted to 63,052 blocks/32, up
9.4% over December 2020. Of the 23 public recursive services with global visibility under themonitoring of CNNIC, 13 offer IPv6 public recursive services.

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

3

Number of IPv6 Addresses
Unit: block/32
63052
57634

50877
43985
26160

2017

2018

2019

2020

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

2021
Dec. 2021

Figure 1 Number of IPv6 Addresses1
As of December 2021, the number of active IPv6 users in China reached 608 million.

Number of Active IPv6 Users
Unit: 100 million
6.08
5.33
4.62
3.18
2.91

Dec. 2019

Jun. 2020

Dec. 2020

Jun. 2021

Source: China Academy of Information and Communications Technology

Dec. 2021
Dec. 2021

Figure 2 Number of Active IPv6 Users
Up to December 2021, the number of IPv4 addresses in China had amounted to 392.49 million.

1The data cover Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

4

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

Number of IPv4 Addresses
Unit: 10,000
38641

38584

38751

38923

39249

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 3 Number of IPv4 Addresses2(II) Domain Name
Up to December 2021, the number of China’s domain names totaled 35.93 million. Specifically,
20.41 million or 56.8% ended with “.CN”; 10.65 million or 29.6% ended with “.COM”; 0.21
million or 0.6% ended with “.中国”; and 3.62 million or 10.1% were new generic Top-Level
Domains (New gTLD).
Table 2 Number of Domain Names by Category3
Number

Proportion in total domain names.CN

20,410,139

56.8%

.COM

10,649,851

29.6%

.NET

869,686

2.4%.中国

207,771

0.6%

.ORG

61,489

0.2%

.INFO

30,2200.1%.BIZ

20,722

0.1%

New GTLD

3,615,751

10.1%

OTHERS

65,434

0.2%

TOTAL

35,931,063

100.0%The data cover Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD) and new generic Top-Level Domains (New gTLD) are provided by China’s
domain name registration units. The number of “. CN” and “. 中国” domain names is the volume of global
registration.
2
3

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

5Table 3 Number of “.CN” Domain Names by Category(III)

Number

Proportion in total “.CN” domain names.CN

15,466,755

75.8%.COM.CN2,972,251

14.6%.ADM.CN4

711,405

3.5%.NET.CN680,632

3.3%.ORG.CN524,682

2.6%.AC.CN

31,9380.2%.GOV.CN

15,714

0.1%.EDU.CN

6,571

0.0%

OTHERS

191

0.0%

Total

20,410,139

100.0%

Number of mobile phone base stations

The number of mobile phone base stations is growing fast, while the construction of 5G
networks is being advanced steadily. As of December 2021, the number of mobile phone basestations totaled 9.96 million, a net increase of 650,000 for the year. Specifically, there were 5.9
million 4G base stations and 1.425 million 5G base stations, with over 650,000 new 5G base stations
built throughout the year.

Number of Mobile Phone Base Stations
Unit: 10,000

996
841
619

2017

931

667

2018

2019

2020

Source: the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

2021
Dec. 2021

Figure 4 Number of Mobile Phone Base Stations.adm.CN refers to a virtual secondary domain name that is the collective name for all administrative domainnames (second-level domain names) under “.CN”.
4

6

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

(IV)Number of Internet broadband access ports

The development of broadband networks is being expedited. As of December 2021, thenumber of Internet broadband access ports nationwide reached 1,018 million, a net increase of 71.80
million from December 2020. Specifically, the number of FTTH/O5 ports reached 960 million, a
net increase of 80.17 million over December 2020, while the proportion increased to 94.3% from
93.0% at the end of 2020.

Number of Internet Broadband Access Ports
Unit: 100 million
8.86

9.16

9.46

2018

2019

2020

10.18

7.79

2017

2021

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 5 Number of Internet Broadband Access Ports(V) Length of fiber optic cable lines
The total length of fiber optic cable lines has steadily increased. In 2021, the length of new
fiber optic cable lines totaled 3.19 million kilometers, while the total length of fiber optic cablelines nationwide reached54.88 million kilometers. Specifically, the length of long-distance fiber
optic cable lines, local relay fiber optic cable lines and access fiber optic cable lines reached 1.126
million km, 18.74 million km and 35.02 million km, respectively. That of access fiber optic cablelines increased by 2.97 million km over 2020 to further ensure the quality of user services.

5

FTTH/O refers to FTTH and FTTO. FTTH means Fiber to the home. FTTO stands for Fiber to the office.
The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

7

Total length of Fiber Optic Cable Lines
Unit: 10,000 km
5169
4358

5488

4741

3747

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

Source: the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

Dec. 2021

Figure 6 Total Length of Fiber Optic Cable Lines

Application of Internet Resources

II(I) Websites
As of December 2021, there were 4.18 million websites6 in China, down 5.5% over December
2020.

Number of Websites
Unit: 10,000
533

523

497
443

2017

2018

2019

2020

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Figure 7 Number of Websites76
7

8

The websites whose domain name registrants are within the territory of the P.R.C.
The number of websites does not include that of those ending with “.EDU.CN”.
The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

418

2021
Dec. 2021

Up to December 2021, China had 2.72 million websites with domain names ending with “.CN”,
down 8.0% from December 2020.

Unit: 10,000
315

2017

Number of Websites with Domain Names
Ending with “.CN”
341

326

295

2018

2019

2020

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

272

2021
Dec. 2021

Figure 8 Number of Websites with Domain Names Ending with “.CN”8(II) Web Pages
As of December 2021, there were 335 billion web pages in China, up 6.2% from December
2020.

Number of Web Pages

Unit: 100 million

2604

2017

2816

2018

2978

2019

3155

2020

Source：Baidu

3350

2021
Dec. 2021

Figure 9 Number of Web Pages

8

The number of websites ending with “.CN” does not include that of those ending with “.EDU.CN”.
The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

9

There were 225.6 billion static web pages9 and 109.3 billion dynamic web pages10, accountingfor 67.4% and 32.6% of the total, respectively.

Table 4 Number of Web Pages
Unit
Total number of web

Dec. 2021

315,501,097,812

334,963,712,602

6.2%

215,529,450,543

225,618,593,713

4.7%

68.3%

67.4%

--

99,971,647,269

109,345,118,889

9.4%

31.7%

32.6%

--

KB

23,618,193,016,465

25,835,838,532,975

KB

75

77

Page

pages
Page
Static web page

Proportion in total
web pages
Page

Dynamic web page

Proportion in total
web pages

Web page size (total

GrowthDec. 2020

rate

number of bytes)
Average number of bytes
per page

(III)

9.4%
2.7%

Mobile Internet Access Traffic

In 2021, China’s mobile Internet access traffic reached 221.6 billion GB, up 33.9% year-onyear.

A static web page means a web page in the standard HTML format whose extension is either .htm or .html andwhich contains text, images, audio, flash files, client scripts, ActiveX controls and JAVA programs.
10 A dynamic web page means a web page that displays different content with the time, environment or result of
database operation although its code is the same as that used for a static page. This is achieved by a combination ofbasic HTML language specification with advanced programming languages such as Java, VB and VC, databaseprogramming techniques and other techniques.
910

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

Mobile Internet Access Traffic
Unit: 100 million GB

2216.01656.01220.0
711.1

245.9

2017

2018

2019

2020

Source: the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

2021
Dec. 2021

Figure 10 Mobile Internet Access Traffic(IV)

Number and Category of Apps

As of December 2021, 2.52 million Apps had been available on China’s market.

Number of Apps
Unit: 10,000
452
403
367

345
252

2017

2018

2019

2020

Source: the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

2021
Dec. 2021

Figure 11 Number of Apps11
As of December 2021, the top four categories of mobile Apps, by scale, accounted for 61.2%of the total, while the other ten categories of Apps like life services and education made up 38.8%.
Game ranked No.1 with 709,000 Apps, making up 28.2% of the total. The number of daily tools,

Number of Apps: from 2019 onwards, the method of monitoring data would be shifted from a cumulative strategy(i.e., the statistics are calculated cumulatively) to an on-shelf strategy (i.e., the statistics are only for on-shelf) to
more accurately reflect the mobile App market dynamics.
11

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development11e-commerce and social communication Apps reached 370,000, 248,000 and 211,000, respectively,ranking second to fourth12.

III

Internet access environment(I) Internet access devices
Up to December 2021, the proportions of Chinese netizens accessing the Internet throughmobile phones, desktop computers, laptops computers, TVs and tablet computers were 99.7%,
35.0%, 33.0%, 28.1% and 27.4%, respectively.

Usage of Internet Access Devices

99.7% 99.7%

32.8% 35.0%

Desktop PC

28.2% 33.0%

Laptop24.0%

Mobile phone
2020

28.1%

TV

22.9% 27.4%

Tablet PC

2021

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 12 Usage of Internet Access Devices
The mobile phone subscriber base grew steadily, with the 5G mobile phone subscriber
base13 expanding rapidly. As of December 2021, the number of mobile phone subscribers totaled
1.643 billion, a net increase of 48.75 million for the year. Specifically, 4G mobile phone subscribers
were 1.069 billion, while 5G subscribers reached 355 million.

Source: the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China.
5G mobile phone subscriber base refers to the number of active subscribers who have usage information in thecommunication billing system and occupy 5G network resources at the end of the reporting period.
12
13

12

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

Size of Mobile Phone Subscribers
Unit: 100 million
16.43
15.66

16.01

15.94

2018

2019

2020

14.17

2017

2021

Source: the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

Dec. 2021

Figure 13 Size of Mobile Phone Subscribers
The shipment of 5G mobile phones are making up an increasing share in the total. In
2021, the shipment of domestic mobile phones amounted to 351 million, up 13.9% year-on-year.
Specifically, there were 266 million 5G mobile phones, up 63.5% over December 2020, taking up
75.9% of the total in the same period.

Unit: 10,000

5G Mobile Phone Shipments and Their Proportionin All in the Same Period
73.4%

78.3%

64.0%
12,78013,834

41.6%
9,921

6,360

1st H 2020

2nd H 2020

5G mobile phone shipments

1st H 2021

2nd H 2021

Proportion of mobile phone shipments in the same period

Source: China Academy of Information and Communications Technology

Dec. 2021

Figure 14 5G Mobile Phone Shipments and Their Proportion in All in the Same Period(II) Online duration
As of December 2021, the per capita weekly online duration14 of China’s Internet users was
28.5 hours, up 2.3 hours over December 2020.

14

Per capita weekly online duration refers to the average daily number of hours of accessing the Internet multiplied
The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

13

Per Capita Weekly Online Duration of Internet Users
Unit: Hour

30.8

27.0

27.6

Dec. 2017

Dec. 2018

28.5

26.2

Mar. 2020

Dec. 2020

Dec. 2021

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 15 Per Capita Weekly Online Duration of Internet Users(III)

Fixed broadband accessAs of December 2021, the three basic telecommunications companies had 536 million fixed
broadband subscribers, a net increase of 52.24 million from December 2020. Specifically, fixedInternet broadband subscribers with access rates of 100Mbps and above reached 498 million,
accounting for 93.0% of the total, up 3.1 percentage points from December 2020. Fixed Internet
broadband subscribers with access rates of 1,000Mbps and above reached 34.56 million, a netincrease of 28.16 million over December 2020.

Number of Fixed Broadband Subscribers
Unit: 100 million
5.36
4.07

4.49

4.84

3.49

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

Source: the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

Figure 16 Number of Fixed Broadband Subscribers
by 7 days in a week in the past six months.

14

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Proportion of Fixed Broadband Subscribers with the Access
Speed of 100Mbps and Above
85.4%

89.9%

93.0%

2020

2021

70.3%

38.9%

2017

2018

2019

Source: the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

Dec. 2021

Figure 17 Proportion of Fixed Broadband Subscribers with the Access Speed of
100Mbps and Above

Proportion of Fixed Broadband Subscribers with theAccess Speed of 1,000Mbps and Above
Unit: 10,000
3456

1423
640

Dec. 2020

Jun. 2021

Dec. 2021

Source: the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

Dec. 2021

Figure 18 Proportion of Fixed Broadband Subscribers with the Access Speed of
1,000Mbps and Above
As of December 2021, the number of FTTH/O users had reached 506 million, accounting for
94.3% of all fixed Internet broadband subscribers.

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

15

Scale and Proportion of Fiber Broadband Users
Unit: 10,000
90.4%

84.3%

92.9%
41,73994.3%
50,551

93.9%
45,41436,83329,39320172018

Size of Fiber Broadband Users

2019

2020

2021

Proportion of Fixed Broadband Subscribers

Source: the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

Dec. 2021

Figure 19 Scale and Proportion of Fiber Broadband Users(IV)

Number of Cellular IoT Terminal Users

The user size of cellular Internet of Things continues to expand. As of December 2021, thethree basic telecom companies developed 1.399 billion cellular IoT terminal15 users, a net increaseof 264 million from December 2020. Terminal users specializing in smart utilities, smart
manufacturing and smart transport accounted for 22.4%, 18.1% and 15.6%, respectively.

Number of Cellular IoT Terminal Users
Unit: 100 million
13.99

12.94
10.28

Dec. 2019

11.06

11.36

Jun. 2020

Dec. 2020

Jun. 2021

Dec. 2021

Source: the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

Dec. 2021

Figure 20 Number of Cellular IoT Terminal Users

Cellular IoT terminal: IoT terminal accesses the GSM network (such as the GPRS network of China Mobile),
integrates with the 2G mobile communication module, with a SIM card inserted into it, and exchanges data withbackground through GPRS network. Cellular IoTs include Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IOT), Enhanced
Machine Type Communication (eMTC), and others.
15

16

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

CHAPTER Two Size and Structureof Internet Users
I Size of Internet Users(I) Overall Size of Internet Users
Up to December 2021, China had 1,032 million netizens, up by 42.96 million over December
2020, and its Internet penetration had reached 73.0%, up 2.6 percentage points over December 2020.

Netizen Size and Internet Penetration
Unit: 10,000
73.0%

70.4%
55.8%
77198

Dec. 2017

59.6%
82851

Dec. 2018

64.5%

98899

10319590359

Mar. 2020

Size of Internet Users

Dec. 2020

Dec. 2021

Internet Penetration

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 21 Netizen Size and Internet Penetration
Up to December 2021, the number of mobile Internet users in China had reached 1,029 million,
up 42.98 million over December 2020. The proportion of China’s netizens accessing the Internet
via their mobile phones had amounted to 99.7%.

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

17

Size of Mobile Internet Users in China and Its Proportionin All Netizens
Unit: 10,000
97.5%

98.6%

99.3%

99.7%

99.7%
102874

98576
89690
75265

Dec. 2017

81698

Dec. 2018

Size of Mobile Internet Users

Mar. 2020

Dec. 2020

Dec. 2021

Proportion of Mobile Internet Users in All Netizens

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 22 Size of Mobile Internet Users and Its Proportion in All Netizens
China’s digital economy is booming, with over one billion netizens witnessing thedevelopment of a strong country in cyberspace and manufacturing. In 2021, Internet-related
technological innovations such as big data, cloud computing and AI were being accelerated andbetter integrated into the whole field and process of Internet users’ living. The digital economy is
becoming a key force in reorganizing production and life factor resources, reshaping the socioeconomic structure and changing the global competitive landscape to promote the growth ofInternet users. First, China’s cyber capacity continued to improve. In 2021, China’s information
infrastructure continued to be optimized and its supply capacity was significantly enhanced. The
country has built the world’s largest fiber-optic and mobile broadband network. The fiber-optic
transformation had been fully completed, with the development of 5G network expedited. Up tothe end of 2021, a total of 1.425 million 5G base stations had been completed, and 5G mobile phoneusers had reached 355 million16. It continued to promote network speed and quality, improve IPv6
end-to-end penetration capability, and advance the overall development of mobile Internet ofThings. Second, the Internet continued to deliver the inclusive effect. In 2021, China’s Internet
industry continued to demonstrate development vitality and resilience. New businesses such as
telecommuting, online medical care and community group buying continued to develop to alleviate
the problem of regional development divide and allow more people to benefit from and be satisfied

16

18

Source: the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China.
The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

with the online economy, society and culture. Third, the development of information
accessibility was expedited. In 2021, all departments in China continued to address the difficulties
encountered by the disadvantaged groups of Internet applications in using smart technologies. The
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology continued to focus on the characteristics andneeds of the elderly groups and direct the first group of 227 websites and mobile phone APPs tocomplete the evaluation of accessibility transformation for the elderly on schedule. They focusedon eight categories of high-frequency matters and service scenarios involved in the daily life of theelderly, such as travel, medical care, consumption, recreation and affair-handling. They timely
developed and implemented initiatives to provide multi-channel, multi-dimensional and multifunctional facilitation services for the integration of the elderly into smart life.

(II)

Size of Internet Users in Urban and Rural Areas
As of December 2021, the size of rural Internet users in China was 284 million or 27.6% of

the total, while that of urban Internet users was 748 million, up 68.04 million from December 2020,
making up 72.4% of the total.

Urban and Rural Structure of Internet Users

31.3%

27.6%

68.7%

72.4%

Dec. 2020
Urban areas

Dec. 2021
Rural areas

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 23 Urban and Rural Structure of Internet Users
Up to December 2021, the Internet penetration in urban China was 81.3%, up 1.5 percentage
points over December 2020, while that in rural areas was 57.6%, up 1.7 percentage points overDecember 2020. The gap of Internet penetration between urban and rural areas was narrowed by
0.2 percentage points over December 2020.
The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

19

Internet Penetration in Rural and Urban Areas

74.6%

71.0%

76.5%

79.8%

81.3%

55.9%

57.6%

Dec. 2020

Dec. 2021

46.2%
35.4%

38.4%

Dec. 2017

Dec. 2018

Mar. 2020

Internet penetration in urban areas

Internet penetration in rural areas

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 24 Internet Penetration in Rural and Urban Areas
New Internet business models continued to enhance the ability of rural areas to develop
themselves, with good advances in building digital villages. First, digitalization has facilitatedthe integration of urban and rural development. In new digital infrastructure, as of November
2021, all existing administrative villages had been accessible to broadband, resolving problems
such as communication difficulties in poor areas17 . The Development Plan of Information andCommunication Industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan Period issued by the Ministry of Industry
and Information Technology proposed to achieve a 5G access rate of 80% in administrative villages
by 2025. In terms of industrial digitization, the integration of digital economy and real industry was
accelerating, the intelligent manufacturing was being steadily improved, and the digitaltransformation of rural areas was advancing, giving rise to a large number of new business forms
and models. Modern agriculture had been improved in informatization and production capacity.
Regarding digital industrialization, new breakthroughs were made in core technologies on key
fronts. Data has become a key element in driving economic development. Digital industries suchas 5G, AI, Internet of Things, and e-commerce contributed more to urban and rural development.
Second, the development of smart green villages is being advanced steadily. The application
fields of agricultural and rural big data systems have been increasing. Through data integration andsharing, the government platform for information resource sharing of the Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Affairs has been running. The platform has been visited over 50 million times a year,

1720

Source: the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China.
The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

involving 50-plus countries18. The role of the Internet and other digital technologies in the smart
green countryside is increasingly prominent. Through information technology, a series of platforms
have been built, including habitat environment, soil erosion dynamics, rural river and lake
management in rural areas. The smart green information system for rural environment conservation
has been refined. Third, rural areas have scaled new heights in technological innovation.
Relying on the national key R&D projects, all areas accelerated the R&D, application anddemonstration of basic frontiers and major common key technologies in the digital countryside.
Since the 13th Five-Year Plan, they have made arrangements on a range of fronts19, with disciplinegroups undertaking 1,119 projects20. This has facilitated the integration of agricultural and ruraldevelopment and digital development and attracted, pooled and trained a large number ofoutstanding agricultural talents. These efforts have supported the talent base and innovation teamfor industrial and disciplinary development, improving China’s innovation capacity for agriculturalscience and technology.

(III)

Size of Non-Internet Users

As of December 2021, the size of non-netizens in China had reached 382 million, down 34.20
million over December 2020. By region, the majority of non-netizens in China were still in rural
areas; the proportion of non-netizens in rural areas had reached 54.9%, 19.9 percentage points
higher than that of rural population nationwide. By age, the elderly aged 60 and above are the maingroup of non-netizens. As of December 2021, the proportion of Chinese non-netizens aged 60 andabove accounted for 39.4% of all non-netizens, up 20 percentage points from that of the national
population aged 60 and above21.
Non-netizens are unable to have access to the Internet, so they could not fully enjoy theconvenience brought by intelligent services in daily life such as travel, consumption, medical
treatment, and handling of affairs. According to the data, non-netizens believed that among all the

Source: China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
The arrangements on a range of fronts include one comprehensive laboratory, 10 professional laboratories, three
enterprise laboratories, and two scientific stations for observation and experiment.
20 Source: China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
21 The proportions of the national rural population and the population aged 60 and above are calculated based on
the National Statistical Bulletin for National Economic and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China
for 2020 by China’s National Bureau of Statistics.
18
19

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

21

inconveniences brought by not accessing the Internet, being not able to enter some public places
without health code was the largest inconvenience. Such netizens took up 28.4% of the total. Second,
due to the decreased offline service outlets, it was difficult for non-netizens to handling affairs,
accounting for 25.6%. Third, those who could not get information in time, such as various kinds ofnews and information made up 23.9%. Fourth, those could not pay in cash for tickets or registration
at a hospital, with each making up 23.1%.

Non-netizens’ Inconvenience in Life Brought by
Not Accessing the Internet
Those without health code
have no access to some public
places
Off-line service outlets are
reduced and it is difficult tohandle affairs.

28.4%

25.6%

They cannot obtain
information in time, such as all
kinds of news

23.9%

They cannot pay in cash

23.1%

They cannot buy a ticket or
register at a hospital

23.1%

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 25 Non-netizens’ Inconvenience in Life Brought by Not Accessing the Internet
Shortage of skills, limited literacy, inadequate devices and age factors are major reasons why
non-netizens do not access the Internet. 48.4% of non-netizens did not access the Internet because
they did not know how to use the computer/Internet; 25.7% did not because they did not master
Pinyin or due to literacy limitations; 17.5% did not because they did not have access to computersand other devices; and 15.5% did not because they were too old/too young to access the Internet.

22

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

Reasons Why Non-netizens Do not Access the Internet
48.4%

25.7%
17.5%

15.5%
10.0%

Do not know
Do not masterNo devices to
how to use
Pinyin or other access Internet suchcomputers/networks literacy limitations
as computer

Too old/
too young

7.2%

No need/no interest

No time to surf
the Internet

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 26 Reasons Why Non-netizens Don’t Access the Internet
The primary factor for non-netizens to access the Internet was the convenience ofcommunicating with their family members, accounting for 30.7%, followed by access to
professional information, taking up 29.4%, and the availability of barrier-free Internet devices,making up 29.3%.

Factors Facilitating Non-netizens to Access the Internet
Facilitating communication with familyor relatives
Easy access to specialized information, such as
medical and health care information

30.7%
29.4%

Providing accessible Internet devices

29.3%

Providing free training in the Internet surfing

28.5%

Reduced costs of Internet access

27.2%

Helping to increase income, such as selling
agricultural products

26.2%

It is convenient for people to purchase goods

22.7%

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 27 Factors Facilitating Non-Netizens to Access the Internet
The growth of Internet users in China still had large development space. However, China faced
great transformation challenges. In the future, it is necessary to help non-netizens share the huge
dividends in the digital age by further improving the Internet infrastructure, enhancing non-netizens'cultural education level and skills for using digital technology, developing more intelligent andThe 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

23human-friendly products and services that are suitable to the elderly, improving the facilitation of
network services or otherwise.

II The Attribute Structure of Internet Users(I) Gender Structure
As of December 2021, the ratio of male to female among Chinese netizens was 51.5:48.5,
which was roughly the same as that in China’s overall population.

Gender Structure of Internet Users

Female
48.5%

Male
51.5%

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 28 Gender Structure of Internet Users(II) Age Structure
As of December 2020, the proportions of Internet users aged 20-29, 30-39 and 40-49 were17.3%, 19.9% and 18.4% respectively, higher than that of other age groups. That of Internet users
aged 50 and above increased to 26.8% from 26.3% in December 2020. The Internet further
penetrated middle- and old-age groups.

24

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

Age structure of Internet Users

19.9%
17.3%

18.4%

13.3%

15.3%
11.5%

4.3%

Aged under Aged 10-19 Aged 20-29 Aged 30-39 Aged 40-49 Aged 50-59 Aged 60 and10
above
Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 29 Age Structure of Internet Users

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

25

CHAPTER Three Development ofInternet Applications
I Overview of Internet Applications
In 2021, the user size of various personal Internet applications in China showed a general
growth trend. Specifically, the user size of online medical services and online office had the mostobvious growth, up 83.08 million and 123 million respectively over December 2020, accounting
for 38.7% and 35.7% respectively. The user size of online meal ordering and online car-hailingservices increased by 125 million and 87.33 million respectively over December 2020, up by 29.9%
and 23.9%, respectively. The user size of online travel booking, Internet wealth management, live
streaming, online music and other applications grew at a rate of above 10%.
Table 5 User Size and Utilization Ratio of Internet Applications from
Dec. 2020 to Dec. 2021
Dec. 2020

Dec. 2021
The

Number ofApplications

The

percentage

Number ofInternetof Internet

Internetof Internet

users

users using

users

users using(10,000)

the(10,000)

theapplication
Instant messaging

Growth rateapplication

98111

99.2%

100666

97.5%

2.6%

92677

93.7%

97471

94.5%

5.2%

Video clip

87335

88.3%

93415

90.5%

7.0%

Online payment

85434

86.4%

90363

87.6%

5.8%

Online shopping

78241

79.1%

84210

81.6%

7.6%

Search engine

76977

77.8%

82884

80.3%

7.7%

Online news

74274

75.1%

77109

74.7%

3.8%

Online music

65825

66.6%

72946

70.7%

10.8%

Live streaming

61685

62.4%

70337

68.2%

14.0%

Online video(including video clip)

26

percentage

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2020

Dec. 2021
The

Number ofApplications

The

percentage

Number ofInternetof Internet

Internetof Internet

users

users using

users

users using(10,000)

the(10,000)

theapplication

percentage
Growth rateapplication

Online games

51793

52.4%

55354

53.6%

6.9%

Online literature

46013

46.5%

50159

48.6%

9.0%

Online meal ordering

41883

42.3%

54416

52.7%

29.9%

36528

36.9%

45261

43.9%

23.9%

Online office

34560

34.9%

46884

45.4%

35.7%

Online travel booking

34244

34.6%

39710

38.5%

16.0%

Online medical services

21480

21.7%

29788

28.9%

38.7%

16988

17.2%

19427

18.8%

14.4%

Online car-hailingservices

Internet wealthmanagement

II

Basic Apps

(I) Instant Messaging
As of December 2021, the user size of instant messaging in China reached 1,007 million, up
25.55 million from December 2020, making up 97.5% of the national total.

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

27

User Size and Utilization Ratio of Instant Messaging from
Dec. 2017 to Dec. 2021
Unit: 10,000
93.3%

95.6%

99.2%

99.2%

98111

89613
72023

Dec. 2017

97.5%
100666

79172

Dec. 2018

Mar. 2020
User size

Dec. 2020

Dec. 2021

Utilization ratio

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 30 User Size and Utilization Ratio of Instant Messaging from Dec. 2017 to Dec. 2021
The user size of instant messaging continued to grow steadily in 2021. The industry
development was primarily embodied in three aspects, including smoother URL link access,continued exploration of new features, and robust development of enterprise-specific products.
First, users have smoother access to URL links of instant messaging. In July 2021, China’s
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology launched a rectification campaign for the Internet
industry, focusing on hot and difficult issues reported by the public, such as the blocking of URL
links by instant messaging Apps. Since then, main instant messaging products have been rectified
under the guidance of the regulatory authorities to effectively improve the access to legal URL links
and the experience of Internet users.
Second, instant messaging companies have continued to explore new features such as
Mini Programs and Channels. Regarding Mini Programs, instant messaging platforms offer avariety of development tools for small and medium-sized enterprises to lower the development
threshold, thus bringing a growing number of enterprises into the mini program ecosystem.
According to the data22, daily active users of WeChat’s Mini Programs exceeded 450 million, andthe number of active Mini Programs increased by 41% year on year. In retail, tourism and catering
sectors, Mini Programs transactions grew by more than 100% year on year. In terms of Channels,
instant messaging companies strengthened attracting and fostering content creators and assisted22

28

Source: WeChat open courses in 2022.
The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

users in producing more quality video content through customized services and operational support
as well as tools such as smart templates, augmented reality technology and automatic video editing.
Third, enterprise instant messaging Apps have been developed vigorously in terms ofuser size and product functions. As of the end of August 2021, the number of enterprises, schools
and other organizations accessing DingTalk services exceeded 19 million23. Up to the end of 2021,
the number of enterprises and organizations using Enterprise-version WeChat services also reached
10 million24. DingTalk, WeChat and Feishu all launched their updated versions for more users in
2021. Specifically, it is the main direction of product updates to optimize their functions, provide
integrated solutions for hardware and software, and enhance customized development for customers
in traditional industries.

(II) Search Engine
As of December 2021, the user size of search engine in China had reached 829 million, up
59.08 million from December 2020, taking up 80.3% of the national total.

User Size and Utilization Ratio of Search Engine between
Dec. 2017 and Dec. 2021

Unit: 10,000
82.8%

82.2%

63956

68132

Dec. 2017

Dec. 2018

83.0%

77.8%

75015

76977

Mar. 2020

Dec. 2020

User size

80.3%
82884

Dec. 2021

Utilization ratio

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 31 User Size and Utilization Ratio of Search Engine between
Dec. 2017 and Dec. 2021

23
24

Source: DingTalk 2021 Future Organization Conference.
Source: Enterprise WeChat Product Launch 2022.
The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development29

In 2021, the search engine market was developing steadily and with changes, and the Internet
search environment continued to improve.
The search engine market was developing steadily and changing. From a market
perspective, search engine companies, first of all, undertook a secondary listing to seek new
growth in multiple areas. In March 2021, Baidu completed its secondary listing on the Hong Kong
Stock Exchange and used the net capital to continue its technology investments in the further
development of Baidu’s mobile ecosystem and smart driving. Second, the WeChat searchframework was consolidated. In September 2021, Sogou announced the completion of theprivatization transaction and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tencent. While retaining its
independent search brand, it has provided search technology and content support for WeChat,enhancing WeChat’s content delivery capacity. Third, new entrants scored achievements.
ByteDance’s search products were developed. As of February 2021, monthly active users of Douyin
video search had surpassed 550 million 25 , with search investment increasing. Fourth, thecomputer-based Search has been made more innovative. In terms of search method, thecomputer-based application of WeChat’s Search upgraded the search method. As such, users candirectly search by selecting chat information. Regarding content, new features add to the Searchfunction, including official accounts, mini programs, news, video and other content. They enrich
the WeChat search ecosystem, improving competitiveness.
The Internet search environment continued to improve. First, in protecting minors,
Baidu Content Security Center, together with Baidu Search, established the Baidu search programfor children’s green voice through real-time inspection of the online situation, the whole process ofmonitoring page content and filtering of harmful information in a bid to ensure content safety.
Douyin provided stricter protection measures for real-name users aged 14-18 in terms of search andcontent recommendations. After real-name authentication, underage users can only search incontent that has been selected by the platform. Second, in regulating search advertising, relevant
departments have increased the penalties for illegal medical advertisements. Multiple App markets
have removed related applications. Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation has
imposed administrative penalties on some search engines.

25

30

Source: Douyin Data Report 2020 by ByteDance.
The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

(III)

Online News

As of December 2021, the user size of online news in China had reached 771 million, up 28.35
million from December 2020, making up 74.7% of the national total.

Unit: 10,000
83.8%

User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online News between
Dec. 2017 and Dec. 2021
81.4%

64689

67473

Dec. 2017

Dec. 2018
User size

80.9%

74.7%

75.1%

73072

74274

Mar. 2020

Dec. 2020

77109

Dec. 2021

Utilization ratio

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 32 User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online News between Dec. 2017 and Dec. 2021
In 2021, the expedited integration of news media and Internet platforms continued to advancetechnological breakthroughs and enhance user experiences and communication effects. National
authorities stepped up governance efforts for a more standardized online news industry.
The integration of news media and Internet platforms was accelerated to enhancecommunication effects. News media continued to guide platform users to participate in thediscussion of hot topics via social & entertainment and information platforms such as Bilibili, Baidu
and Weibo so as to enhance users’ awareness of relevant topics and achieve good communication
effects. In reports celebrating the centennial of the founding of the CPC, news media, first of all,released the latest information timely to attract users’ attention. Diyi Shijian, a CCTV news
program, continued to release live videos, information and other news content on platforms such as
Bilibili and Weibo, with more than 200,000 hits on a video. From the beginning of 2021 to July 1,
Sina News pushed the content from the People’s Daily, Xinhua News Agency, CCTV and othermainstream media, focusing on the information concerning the founding of the CPC in the past
century. In addition, it reposted a total of about 14,000 reports. Second, topics have been set to
The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development31

raise the awareness of users. The online knowledge Q&A platform of the official account ofChina.com.cn set a question: “The celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of theCommunist Party of China was held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing on the morning of July 1.
Which scene impressed you?” This question received over 2,500 answers and tens of millions ofviews. Third, authoritative interpretations were published to enhance the understanding ofusers. Xiakedao, the WeChat official account of the overseas edition of the People’s Daily,
published authoritative interpretation articles on WeChat, which were all read more than 100,000
times. In response to the same incident, the joint efforts of multiple platforms have improved thecommunication effect and the cohesion of netizens towards the country, promoting positive energy.
Online news media continued to promote new technologies and enhance user experience.
First, digital virtual applications were utilized. In June 2021, Xinhua News Agency and China
National Space Administration created Xiaozheng, a digital reporter for aerospace themes andscenes. The digital reporter was developed with a new production pipeline and real-time rendering
technology to make digital virtual characters more vivid. It can take on tasks that real people cannot
or are difficult to complete, including space reports and Mars landings. Second, production andbroadcasting technologies were upgraded. 5G technology and 4K/8K live streaming empowered
the Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games through a series of new technical means andattempts in producing and broadcasting ultra-definition videos in a smart manner, offering a better
viewing experience to audience.
National authorities have stepped up their governance efforts to further standardize theonline news industry. In September 2021, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministryof Industry and Information Technology and other seven departments issued the Guidelines on
Strengthening the Comprehensive Management of Internet Information Service Algorithms tostandardize the dissemination and distribution of Internet information. In October 2021, theCyberspace Administration of China publicly released the latest version of the List of Internet News
Information Source Institutions, which provided a strong underpinning for netizens to obtain
authoritative news and information.

32

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

(IV)Online Office

As of December 2021, the user size of online office in China had amounted to 469 million, up
123 million from December 2020, accounting for 45.4% of the national total.

Unit: 10,000

User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online Office from
Jun. 2020 to Dec. 2021
46884
38065
34560
45.4%

19908

34.9%

37.7%

Dec. 2020

Jun. 2021

21.2%

Jun. 2020

User size

Dec. 2021

Utilization ratio

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 33 User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online Office from Jun. 2020 to Dec. 2021
In 2021, online office technologies continued to evolve, with online office forms and officeconcepts being changed.
Online office technology continued to evolve. First, basic technological services for online
office accelerated follow-up. Cloud computing, Internet data center (IDC), content delivery
network (CDN) and other basic technological services have supported online office. Take CDN as
an example. In terms of the number of enterprises, in 2020, there were 44 value-added telecom
enterprises that had obtained content delivery network licenses. Another 52 enterprises 26 wereadded in the first 11 months of 2021. It is expected to maintain fast growth in the future. Regarding
technology, multiple operators have proposed SD-WAN 27 solutions to solve the acceleration
problems of enterprise mailboxes, video conferencing and other systems by optimizing
transmission technology, thus improving user experience. Second, low-code development 28

Source: The list of Value-added Telecommunications Service License of the People’s Republic of China issuedby China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
27 SD-WAN is meant to use software to control the connectivity, management and services between data centersand remote branches or cloud instances to choose the optimal one for transmission between different hybrid links.
28 Low-code development refers to an approach to application development through visualization that allows
developers with varying levels of experience to create web and mobile applications via a graphical user interface
26

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

33

services were developed for users. Cloud service manufacturers have launched low-code
development services. For example, Huawei Cloud has released the low-code platform AppCube,
which has been widely used in government, equipment manufacturing, electronic information,
automobiles and other industries to help customers improve development efficiency, work
efficiency and save labor costs. In addition, Aliyun and Tencent Cloud have also made expansion.
It was predicted that the global low-code development technology market would reach USD13.8
billion in 2021, up 22.6% from 202029. China remains in the stage of popularization of low-code
development concepts. Thanks to the increasing requirements for personalization and development
efficiency in enterprises’ digital transformation, there is a lot of room for development in the future.
Third, the AI technology has been integrated with online office. For example, Baidu released
its Intelligent Knowledge Base. The base uses AI technology to analyze the content of documents,
correlate documents with employees and projects, and accurately distribute documents toemployees based on the understanding of work scenarios to help enterprises manage knowledge.
Online office forms and office concepts are changing. First, VR technology will promoteformal innovation. There are development opportunities for VR conferences. In 2020, VR Mixer,
a VR industry networking event, was held online in VR format. In August 2021, Facebook launcheda VR teleconferencing test application, which once again attracted the industry’s attention to VR
office. With the concept of metaverse30, there is more room for imagination for future online officescenarios, such as the hologram interaction across space and time, which will lead to moreinnovations in online office forms. Second, the concept of digital collaborative office has becomea trend. Online office can provide the multi-dimensional collaboration of time and space inorganizational communication, business collaboration and ecological conservation. In this way,
employees can start from any direction in the business to conduct online discussions, process
sharing, service processing and circulation. According to the data, the utilization ratio ofusing drag-and-drop components and model-driven logic.
29 Source: Gartner, https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-02-15-gartner-forecastsworldwide-low-code-development-technologies-market-to-grow-23-percent-in-2021, February 16, 2021.
30 Metaverse signifies a new type of Internet application and social form that integrates virtual world and reality by
combining multiple new technologies. It may provide an immersive experience based on extended reality technology,
generate a mirror image of the real world based on digital twin technology, and build an economic system based onblockchain technology. It brings the virtual world and the real world into close integration in the economic system,
social system, and identity system and allows each user to produce content and edit the world. Metaverse
Development Research Report 2020-2021 released by the Center for New Media Communication Studies under
Tsinghua University.

34

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

collaborative online document editing, online task management and process approval increased
significantly, up 8.1 and 3.4 percentage points respectively from December 2020. The utilization
ratio of netizens reached 29.3% and 15.0%, respectively. Online digital collaboration triggers
changes in work styles and improves work efficiency, requiring companies to establish a digitalmanagement framework to go along with them. This may pose a challenge to traditional companies
in their digital transformation.

III

Business Transaction Applications(I) Online Payment
As of December 2021, the user size of online payment in China had reached 904 million, up
49.29 million from December 2020, taking up 87.6% of the national total.

Unit: 10,000

User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online Payment from
Dec. 2017 to Dec. 2021
86.4%

85.0%
68.8%

72.5%
85434

76798
53110

Dec. 2017

87.6%
90363

60040

Dec. 2018

Mar. 2020
User size

Dec. 2020

Dec. 2021

Utilization ratio

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 34 User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online Payment from Dec. 2017 to Dec. 2021
Online payments maintained a steady growth trend. According to the data 31 , banks
processed 74.556 billion online payment transactions amounting to 1,745.9 trillion yuan in the first
three quarters of 2021, up 17.3% and 10.5% year-on-year, respectively. China’s online payment has

31

Source: the People’s Bank of China.
The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

35

grown steadily, providing a strong underpinning for consumption expansion, quality improvement
and economic development.
Payment service barriers are being broken, ushering in a new stage of interconnection.
In 2021, third-party platforms represented by Alipay and WeChat were the first to be opened to
payment agencies such as cloud flash payment. In online and offline scenarios, payment andservices were further interconnected. In offline scenarios, payment can be made by scanning thesame QR code of Alipay, WeChat Pay and Unionpay Quick Pass in multiple cities across the country.
Such a model is expected to cover all cities in 2022. In online scenarios, Internet platforms suchas Meituan and Pinduoduo have supported many mainstream payment channels, such as WeChat
Pay, Alipay, Unionpay Quick Pass, Apple Pay, Mi Pay, Huawei Pay, and Samsung Pay. In November,
WeChat rolled out the self-service cloud flash payment in its Mini Programs and WeChat Pay has
carried out interconnection cooperation with 12 banking institutions.
The promotion of digital yuan has been expedited, with the pilot of Beijing WinterOlympic scenario advanced steadily. Since the end of 2019, the digital yuan pilot has been appliedin more fields orderly, boosting the expansion and quality improvement of China’s digital economy.
According to the data32, as of December 31, 2021, the pilot scenarios of digital yuan had exceeded
8,085,100, with a total of 261 million personal e-wallets opened and a transaction amount of 87.565
billion yuan. The pilot had verified the technical design of digital yuan, system stability, productusability and scenario applicability. It had enhanced the public’s understanding of the designconcept of digital yuan. It will promote its application in pilot scenarios such as retail transactions,daily payment and government services. An important part of the R&D pilot of digital yuan and the
preparation for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, the digital yuan pilot for Beijing WinterOlympics was advancing in a steady and orderly manner, covering seven types of scenarios
including transport, catering & accommodation, shopping & consumption, and tourism &sightseeing. By doing so, the digital currency has achieved full coverage of payment service needs.
In addition, the Winter Olympics also piloted the innovative application scenarios such as
unmanned vending carts and self-service vending machines, and introduced wearable payment

32

36

Source: Press Conference on Financial Statistics 2021 by the State Council Information Office.
The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

devices such as payment gloves, payment badges, and winter Olympics payment clothing toenhance user experience.

(II) Online Shopping
As of December 2021, the user size of online shopping had reached 842 million, up 59.68
million from December 2020, taking up 81.6% of the national total.

User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online Shopping between
Dec. 2017 and Dec. 2021
Unit: 10,000

69.1%

79.1%

78.6%

73.6%

78241

71027

81.6%
84210

61011
53332

Dec. 2017

Dec. 2018
User size

Mar. 2020

Dec. 2020

Dec. 2021

Utilization ratio

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 35 User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online Shopping between
Dec. 2017 and Dec. 2021
A typical representative of new forms of the digital economy, online retail has continued to
grow at a faster pace, becoming an important force in driving consumer expansion. Online retailsales reached 13.1 trillion yuan in 2021, a YoY increase of 14.1%. Specifically, online sales ofphysical goods accounted for 24.5% of the total retail sales of consumer goods.33 Online retailserves as a key link between production and consumption, online and offline, urban and rural areas,and domestic and international markets, playing an active role in building a new development
paradigm.
The industry presents new development and helps foster a new development paradigm
with dual circulations. First, the international circulation has been boosted to push the rapid

33

Source: China’s National Bureau of Statistics.
The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

37

development of cross-border e-commerce so as to underpin the development of foreign trade.
In 2021, imports and exports in China’s cross-border e-commerce amounted to 1.98 trillion yuan,up 15% year-on-year34. In July, the General Office of the State Council issued the Guidelines on
Accelerating the Development of New Business Forms and New Models of Foreign Trade,
proposing a number of measures for the development of cross-border e-commerce to facilitate thedevelopment of the industry. During the same period, Business-to-Business (B2B) that is applicableto the national customs was used to implement overseas warehouse supervision model for directexport and cross-border e-commerce export to help enterprises better explore the international
market. Second, the domestic circulation has been advanced to improve rural e-commerce
logistics and promote agricultural products to drive farmers’ entrepreneurship andemployment. In 2021, more than 80% of the country’s rural areas were accessible to express.
Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai and other places gained access to express in each village, with
155,000 villages conducting postal-express cooperation35. Poverty alleviation through e-commerce
had driven 7.71 million farmers to start their own businesses locally and increase the income of
6.188 million needy people36.
Consumption demonstrated a new development trend of upgrading and expanding
domestic consumption. First, by consumer group, online shopping had the highest popularity
among post-80s and -90s and the post-95 had the greatest potential of consumption. The post80s and -90s netizens born between 1980 and 1995 had the highest utilization of online shopping,amounting to 93%. The post-95 group had the greatest potential for online shopping consumption.
41.9% of the post-95 online shopping users made more than 30% of their daily consumption online.
The proportion of online shopping consumption was higher than that of other online shoppinggroups. Second, in consumption trends, domestic brands had become more popular in online
shopping. Driven by cultural self-confidence and brand upgrading, the online shopping boom ofhomemade brands is on the rise, and domestic brands are widely favored by online shopping users.
Data show that users who support domestic products and buy homemade brands online account for
65.4% of the total. Domestic brands that this group purchase mainly include sportswear, beauty

Source: the 2021 press conference on national import and export by the State Council Information Office.
Source: the State Post Bureau of the People’s Republic of China.
36 Source: the press conference themed “Contributing Business Forces and Striving for a Moderately Prosperous
Society in All Respects” by the State Council Information Office.
34
35

38

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

makeup & skin care, household appliances, and mobile phone & digital products, taking up 57.5%,
38.7%, 37.7% and 36.2%, respectively.
Governance demonstrated new developments and fair competition made for a pluralisticcompetitive landscape. In 2021, policies were introduced to strengthen the anti-monopoly effortsof the platform economy and promote fair competition. E-commerce platform enterprises wereforced to review monopoly, innovation, efficiency and fairness and boost the development of theindustry in the direction of compliance. The regulation of unfair competition such as “making adecision between two options” is being improved so that more platforms can enjoy the market
opportunities delivered by fair competition to promote diversified competition in the market.
According to financial reports of enterprises, the year of 2021 witnessed a fast growth in ecommerce business for small and medium-sized enterprises and new entrants, such as short video
platforms.

(III)

Online Meal Ordering

Up to December 2021, the user size of online meal ordering in China had reached 544 million,
up 125 million from December 2020, taking up 52.7% of all Internet users.

User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online Meal Ordering from
Dec. 2017 to Dec. 2021
Unit: 10,000
54416
40601
34338

41883

44.0%

42.3%

Mar. 2020

Dec. 2020

52.7%

49.0%

44.5%

Dec. 2017

39780

Dec. 2018
User size

Dec. 2021

Utilization ratio

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 36 User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online Meal Ordering from
Dec. 2017 to Dec. 2021

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

39

In 2021, the online meal ordering market continued to expand, changing the competitive
landscape. Platforms scaled up instant retail37 to advance the innovative application of delivery
technology. The policy environment for market development was being refined.
The online meal ordering market expanded, changing the competitive landscape. First,
the market size has been gaining momentum. In 2021, the number of online meal ordering users
increased by 29.9% year-on-year, and the number of users grew by 125.33 million. In the third
quarter, the transaction amount of Meituan’s meal ordering division increased by 29.5% year-onyear, and the average number of daily transactions rose by 24.9% year-on-year. The profits
continued to improve, and the operating profit margin of 3.3% remained at a relatively stable level38.
In the same period, ele’s orders grew by over 30% year-on-year39. Second, new entrants may join
the industry competition. The competitive landscape of online meal ordering market remained
stable for a long time. Against this backdrop, Douyin launched a beta version of “Xindong
Takeaway” in July 2021, which may intensify the competition in the online meal ordering market
and give offline merchants more channels to reach consumers.
Online meal ordering platforms expanded the instant retail model and improved thedelivery technology. First, online meal ordering platforms and retail e-commerce companies
competed around instant retail. For one thing, online meal ordering platforms took instantdelivery service as their competitiveness, got involved in instant retail, and expanded delivery
categories to brings more convenience and choices to consumers. For example, Meituan’s “flash
purchase” of drugs and flowers had maintained a high growth momentum. For another, traditional
e-commerce platforms developed instant delivery and offered instant retail services. For example,
JD.com and Dada Express launched hourly purchase and provided retail services of online order,
delivering from stores, hourly and minute-based delivery. Second, new strides have been madein the R&D and application of new delivery technologies. Enterprises are exploring unmanneddelivery scenarios. Unmanned delivery vehicles developed by Alibaba, JD and Meituan have been
applied. Meituan is exploring a low-altitude delivery network for its UAVs in cities to ease theInstant retail refers to the retail-to-home service that features high time efficiency (typically ranging from 29
minutes to several hours) through instant delivery capacity.
38 Source: Meituan’s results announcement for the three months as of September 30, 2021.
39 Source: Alibaba Financial Report 2022 Q2.
37

40

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

burden on delivery workers and improve the efficiency. As of June 2021, Meituan’s UAVs hadcompleted more than 220,000 flight tests40.
Policies for the online meal ordering market have been refined. First, the labor security
system for meal delivery workers is increasingly sound. After the promulgation of the Guidelines
on Implementing the Responsibility of Online Catering Platforms and Safeguarding Rights andInterests of Meal Delivery Workers, companies launched a number of plans and measures toimprove the overall welfare of delivery workers. For example, ele announced its support fordelivery staff with the first 300 million yuan. Meituan continued to promote its “Tongzhou plan” toimprove the work experience of delivery members through welfare incentives and hardware
upgrading. Second, the anti-monopoly regulation has been improved. The State Administration
for Market Regulation imposed administrative penalties on Meituan’s monopoly violations in
October 2021, supervising and guiding the delivery industry for fair competition and long-term
healthy development.

(IV)

Online Travel Booking

As of December 2021, the number of online travel booking users in China had reached 397
million, up 54.66 million from December 2020, accounting for 38.5% of all Internet users.

40

Source: World Artificial Intelligence Conference.
The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

41

User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online Travel Booking from
Dec. 2017 to Dec. 2021
Unit: 10,000
41001

37578

48.7%

39710

37296

34244

49.5%
41.3%
34.6%

Dec. 2017

Dec. 2018

Mar. 2020
User size

Dec. 2020

38.5%

Dec. 2021

Utilization ratio

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 37 User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online Travel Booking from
Dec. 2017 to Dec. 2021
In 2021, China’s timely and effective efforts to control the COVID-19 had contributed to theorderly recovery of domestic tourism. The development of travel booking segments has enricheddomestic tourism products and digitally empowered tourism to change and innovate itself, giving aboost to the high-quality development of the industry.
As the domestic tourism market was recovered in an orderly manner, travel booking
companies were developed steadily. According to the data41, domestic trips and tourism revenue
increased by 12.8% and 31.0% year-on-year, respectively, returning to 54.0% and 51.0% of the2019 levels. During the National Day holiday, domestic trips and tourism revenue returned to 70.1%
and 59.9% of the 2019 levels, respectively. Against the backdrop of an effective recovery in thedomestic tourism market, the performance of travel booking companies fluctuated slightly and was
generally stable due to the recurring epidemic in local areas. In the third quarter of 2021, Ctrip
achieved net income of 5.3 billion yuan, down 2.2% YoY and 9.3% QoQ42.
Travel booking market segments follow the trend, and rural tourism embraces
development opportunities. Due to the epidemic flare-ups and the weather, the demand for
medium and long-distance tourism has not been fully unleashed. However, there has shown a trend

41
42

42

Source: The Data Center of China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Source: Ctrip’s financial report 2021 Q3.
The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

of short-haul travel booking. Light travel 43 , micro-vacation 44 and hotel-based residence 45 ,characterized by short time, short distance and high frequency, have been popular in the market.
Special travel booking products such as red tourism, parent-child tour and study tour continued togain more popularity. In the meantime, enterprises has continued to develop the tourism market in
low-tier cities and given a boost to rural tourism. According to the data46, as of September 2021,
registered users of TravelGo from non-first-tier cities accounted for about 86.8% of the total. In thethird quarter, about 62.7% of TravelGo’s new paid users on WeChat came from third-tier or lower
cities in China.
Digital empowerment has transformed the tourism sector through innovations to boost
its high-quality development. First, new forms of travel booking have been emerging. In thecontext of normalized epidemic control and digital transformation, tourist attractions, museums andcultural centers around the country have adopted new consumption models to improve experiences,
launched a variety of online and offline events, and promoted them through sightseeing, exhibition
and theater on cloud platforms. According to the data47, the cumulative number of people starting
live travel streaming on Weibo in 2021 increased by 110% over 2020, live streaming sessions grewby 143% and viewers rose by 1,968%. Second, enterprises have embraced digitaltransformation to help develop the industry through changes and innovations. Ctrip,
Mafengwo, Tuniu and other enterprises have accelerated the development of live streaming,
explored the tourism plus live streaming model through live selling and cloud tourism, andintroduced rich and high-quality content to meet the needs of users so as to continue to facilitate
the development of a more diversified ecosystem in the industry.

Light travel refers to an eco-friendly, green tourism type that is light in clothing, travel style, tour itinerary andexperience.
44 Micro-vacation refers to a quality short vacation tour around a city, consisting of medium and high-end hotels,
specialties and leisure activities.
45 Hotel-based residence means that consumers rely on the convenient location and perfect supporting facilities ofa hotel to enjoy all kinds of leisure and entertainment items in a one-stop manner.
46 Source: TravelGo’s financial report 2021 Q3.
47 Source: Weibo.
43

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

43

IV Online Entertainment Applications(I) Online VideoUp to December 2021, the user size of online video (including video clips) in China hadreached 975 million, up 47.94 million from December 2020, making up 94.5% of all Internet users.
The number of video clip users amounted to 934 million, an increase of 60.80 million overDecember 2020, accounting for 90.5% of all Internet users.

User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online Video (including Video
Clip) from Dec. 2018 to Dec. 2021

Unit: 10,000

94.1%
87.5%
85044

93.7%

94.5%

92677

97471

Dec. 2020

Dec. 2021

72486

Dec. 2018

Mar. 2020
User size

Utilization ratio

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 38 User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online Video (including Video Clip) from
Dec. 2018 to Dec. 2021
In 2021, new users of video clip applications contributed to further growth in the overall user
size of online video, but the growth rate continued to slow down. The online video market saw anendless stream of high-quality products, expedited exploration and application of new services andtechnologies, and a clearer and brighter environment.
With regard to communication content, film and TV works in line with mainstreamsocialist values continued to be broadcast on major video platforms, playing a leading role.
The year of 2021 marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China(CPC). A great number of works reflecting the century-long struggle of the CPC continued toemerge, with online video platforms serving as important broadcast channels. A lot of excellent
works played on online video platforms gained unanimous recognition of users and the market,

44

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

sparking lively discussions. For example, Minning Town, Medal of the Republic and The Age of
Awakening have focused on poverty alleviation, stories of “medal winners of the Republic” and theglorious history of the founding of the CPC. They have conveyed mainstream socialist values in an
audience-friendly narrative. These dramas have been well appreciated by audiences of all ages,
emerging as a trendsetter for the creation of domestic TV dramas in the new era.
Technologically, cloud services and new technologies are being explored and applied tofacilitate the innovation and development of the online-video culture industry. First, cloud
performance and cloud theater continued to be explored. With the new form of entertainment
content created by a variety of audiovisual technologies, cloud performances overcame the impactof the epidemic on the offline entertainment industry to meet the demand of users for interactive
and immersive experiences. Cloud cinema allowed users to get more immersive and high-quality
audiovisual enjoyment online, while providing a new entertainment consumption experiencethrough functions such as watching together, cloud premieres and cloud ticketing. Second, 3D realscene, virtual idol and other technologies are being applied. 3D real scene is replacing chroma
key as a technology to shoot scenes for self-produced episodes on video sites, giving viewers an
immersive experience in terms of visual perception and special effects presentation. A number of
influential virtual IP images such as Producer C have been created to be integrated into online
variety shows. In addition, they can be used to give live stage performances through holography48,
creating greater value in a wider range of cultural and creative fields.
As for industry management, authorities have strengthened the comprehensive
governance of the cultural and recreational sector to enhance the self-regulation of theindustry. In 2021, to deal with overpriced film fees of stars, dual contract, tax evasion, hype ofvulgar information and bad artists, competent departments have taken a series of measures tostrengthen rectification efforts, intensify the integrated reform of the film and television industry,
foster its healthy development, and tighten the supervision of network content, achieving goodresults. In June, the Cyberspace Administration of China carried out a two-month campaign torectify the fandom nationwide. In September, the Publicity Department of the CPC Central
Committee issued the Notice on Carrying out Comprehensive Management of Recreation and

Holography refers to a virtual imaging technology that uses the principles of interference and diffraction to recordand reproduce a real three-dimensional image of objects.
48

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

45

Entertainment to call for standardizing the market order, implement the platform responsibility,
strictly supervise the content, and strengthen the industry management.

Unit: 10,000

User Size and Utilization Ratio of Video Clip between
Dec. 2018 and Dec. 2021
85.6%

88.3%

78.2%
87335

90.5%
93415

77325
64798

Dec. 2018

Mar. 2020
User size

Dec. 2020

Dec. 2021

Utilization ratio

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 39 User Size and Utilization Ratio of Video Clip between Dec. 2018 and Dec. 2021
In 2021, the user size of video clip continued to grow, and the industry still sustained steady
growth. For one thing, video clip platforms sped up the dissemination of knowledge. For another,
they continued to integrate themselves with traditional industries to create greater economic value.
Video clips promoted knowledge and became an important channel for informationtransmission. Since 2020, video clip platforms have vigorously supported content creators andencouraged the output of pan-knowledge content. They have proactively developed new forms suchas live classes and new features of video collections, creating a multi-level and three-dimensional
knowledge graph. The knowledge content of platforms has covered life, education, humanities,
finance & economy, and military affairs, meeting the diverse needs of users. In addition, theseplatforms have promoted the systematic dissemination of knowledge and enhanced effects ofknowledge learning by introducing functions such as video collections and creating live openclasses for famous teachers. In 2021, Douyin launched four phases of Mengzhi Plan, investing tensof billions of traffic in supporting knowledge creators and encouraging the creation of more
knowledge content suitable for young people to learn. Kuaishou rolled out two seasons of largescale live streaming activities with a theme of Kuaishou New Knowledge Broadcast to provide
users with a new cognitive perspective and access to knowledge.

46

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

Video clips have been integrated with sales of agricultural products and the culture andtourism industry, stimulating economic vitality. First, video clip Apps have boosted
agricultural sales. Farmers and merchants at the source of agricultural products have promoted
quality agricultural products through video clips and live streaming, opening up the urban market.
According to the data49, Kuaishou sent over 420 million orders for agricultural products from rural
areas to other parts of the country through live commerce from January to October 2021. The sales
and orders of agricultural products increased by 88% and 99% respectively over 2020. In addition,
video clip platforms also provided professional training for farmers and rural entrepreneurs toensure the sustainable development of the video clip and live selling model for agricultural products.
Second, video clip Apps have stimulated the vitality of the culture and tourism industry. In
the cultural industry, video clip platforms have fostered the understanding and curiosity of theyoung generation over intangible cultural heritage by strengthening support of traffic, improving
realizability, building an open platform and conducting urban cooperation. By doing so, they canhelp demonstrate the culture and market value of intangible cultural heritage. In the tourism
industry, video clip platforms continued to strengthen cooperation with cities such as Xi’an,
Chongqing and Nanjing, bring in cultural and tourism projects and promote tourist attractions,
helping bolster cities’ image and boost the development of tourism.

(II) Live Streaming
As of December 2021, the user size of live streaming in China had reached 703 million, up
86.52 million from December 2020, taking up 68.2% of all Internet users. Specifically, the user sizeof live commerce was 464 million, up 75.79 million from December 2020, accounting for 44.9%
of all Internet users. That of live game streaming was 302 million, up 62.68 million over December
2020, making up 29.2% of all Internet users. The user size of live sports was 284 million, up 93.81
million from December 2020, accounting for 27.5% of the total. That of host live show was 194
million, up 2.72 million from December 2020, taking up 18.8% of all Internet users. That of live

Source: The first China Internet Civilization Conference co-hosted by the Cyberspace Administration of China,
the Civilization Office of the Central Communist Party Committee, Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist
Party of China and Beijing Municipal People’s Government.
49

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development47

concert streaming was 142 million, up 4.76 million over December 2020, representing 13.8% of all
Internet users.

Unit: 10,000

User Size and Utilization Ratio of Live Streaming between
Dec. 2017 and Dec. 2021
70337

61685

55982
42209

39676
62.0%

62.4%

68.2%

Mar. 2020

Dec. 2020

Dec. 2021

54.7%

47.9%

Dec. 2017

Dec. 2018

User size

Utilization ratio

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 40 User Size and Utilization Ratio of Live Streaming between
Dec. 2017 and Dec. 2021
Live commerce and live sports broadcasting were the two most prominent types of the live
streaming industry in 2021.
Live commerce has been changed in the three aspects of live streaming subject,commodity source and operation rules. First, the diversification of market players. With thebooming of live commerce, a growing number of small and medium-sized merchants have focusedon developing their own live streaming channels. According to the data, of the nearly 1,000 live
streaming rooms on Taobao, live commerce accounted for over 55%50, which was higher than thatof stars’ live rooms. In the second quarter of 2021, the vast majority of e-commerce transactions
came from private domain traffic51. Second, the localization of commodities. The positive impactof live commerce on local merchants’ promotion was embodied in 2021. Time-honored brands anddistinctive agricultural products were marketed well through live commerce channels. According

Source: Taobao Live’s 2021 Annual Report.
Source: Kuaishou’s Interim Report 2021. Private domain traffic refers to the traffic that is owned by a brand or
an individual, freely controlled, free of charge and used for many times. The usual presentation forms include
personal WeChat accounts, WeChat groups and Mini Programs. In this context, it means that brands or individuals
use self-operated live rooms to sell their products.
50
51

48

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

to the data52, 180-plus time-honored brands started live streaming during the Singles’ Day, with theturnover of multiple brands exceeding one million yuan. In addition, CCTV collaborated with
Pinduoduo to launch a large live selling session during the period, vigorously promoting highquality national and agricultural brands. Third, the standardization of operation. The Guidelines
on Strengthening the Standardized Management of Live Streaming, the Live Streaming
Management Measures (Trial) and other policies were issued in 2021. With the implementation of
the rules and regulations, the live commerce supervision system has been refined, enhancing theprotection of consumer rights and interests.
The upgrading of live sports broadcasting model continued to improve user experience,
thanks to the weakened negative impact of the pandemic on events. First, the recovery of
events put copyright trading back on track. With the continuous recovery of sports events acrossthe world, companies also resumed competition for copyright resources, with live copyrighttransactions of important sports events done frequently. Live streaming channels for the Tokyo
Olympics, Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese Super League, Premier League and Copa America
were established in 2021. The rebound of copyright trading of live sports broadcasting, one of alllive streaming that has given top priority to copyright resources, signaled a good future for live
sports broadcasting. Second, new technologies represented by cloud services and 5G havefacilitated the upgrading of the live sports broadcasting model. At the Olympics, the Olympic
Broadcasting Cloud, co-developed by Aliyun and the Olympic Broadcasting Service Company, wasput into use for the first time to provide broadcasting support for global broadcasting institutions.
Based on this platform, broadcasters can not only broadcast and edit remotely but also use theathlete-tracking technology to allow viewers to watch real-time information about each athlete’s
running speed in sprint events53. Third, the live voice of athletes after a match has enriched thewatching experience of users. On social media platforms, live voice has become a new form ofinteraction between athletes and viewers, providing users with a new way to understand athletes
and events. According to the data54, 103 sports stars participated in 144 live voice sessions on Weibo
in 2021, receiving 328 million views.

Source: Beijing Business Today, https://www.bbtnews.com.cn/2021/1108/418156.shtml, November 8, 2021.
Source: People’s Daily Online, http://finance.people.com.cn/n1/2021/0723/c1004-32168076.html, July 23, 2021.
54 Source: Weibo.
52
53

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

49

(III)

Online GamesUp to December 2021, the user size of online games had reached 554 million, up 35.61 million
from December 2020, making up 53.6% of the national total.

Unit: 10,000

User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online Games from
Dec. 2017 to Dec. 2021
53182

51793

48384

55354

44161
57.2%

58.4%

58.9%

Dec. 2017

Dec. 2018

Mar. 2020

User size

52.4%

53.6%

Dec. 2020

Dec. 2021

Utilization ratio

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 41 User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online Games from Dec. 2017 to Dec. 2021
In 2021, national authorities stepped up governance efforts for a more standardized online
game industry in a bid to protect the healthy growth of minors.
National authorities governed the regulation of the online game industry to protect thehealthy growth of minors. The newly amended Law of the People’s Republic of China on theProtection of Minors came into effect in June 2021, with a new chapter on “Internet Protection”
included, well defining that providers of Internet products and services shall not offer minors withthe products and services that induce them to become addicted. After August 2021, the National
Press and Publication Administration, the General Office of the Ministry of Education and othercompetent departments issued policy documents such as the Notice on Further Strict Managementof Preventing Minors from Being Addicted to Online Games and the Notice on Further
Strengthening the Management of Preventing Primary and Secondary School Students from Being
Addicted to Online Games to require strict control of minors’ online game time, prevent minors
from being addicted to online games and promote minors’ healthy growth.
The online game industry continued to develop, expanding overseas steadily. First,
domestic indie games made new progress. The domestic indie games released in 2021 were50

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

favored by online game users for their high quality, receiving high sales and ratings oninternationally renowned game distribution platforms and online stores. Second, overseas markets
were expanded. Overseas markets have become an important revenue source for China’s online
game manufacturers, providing a good opportunity for cultural products to go global. According to
the data 55 , in the third quarter of 2021, mobile games developed by China’s online game
manufacturers ranked second, fifth and seventh respectively in the global best-selling list of mobile
games.

(IV)

Online Music

Up to December 2021, the user size of online music had reached 729 million, up 71.21 million
from December 2020, making up 70.7% of the national total.

Unit: 10,000

User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online Music from
Dec. 2017 to Dec. 2021
72946
65825

63513
54809

57560

71.0%

69.5%

70.3%

Dec. 2017

Dec. 2018

Mar. 2020
User size

66.6%

Dec. 2020

70.7%

Dec. 2021

Utilization ratio

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 42 User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online Music from Dec. 2017 to Dec. 2021
China’s online music industry in 2021 focused on copyright environment and business
innovation.
First, the reshaping of the copyright environment shifted the focus of competition backonto products. Since 2018, relevant departments have guided main online music service providers
to improve their licensing models, coordinate cooperation among all parties and facilitate the open

55

Source: App Annie’s Handheld Games Report 2021 Q3.
The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

51

licensing of more than 99% of exclusive music works. In July 2021, the State Administration forMarket Regulation legally ordered Tencent and its affiliates to release exclusive rights, stop highprepayments and other methods of copyright fee payment and restore market competition. Throughsuch an action, the competition order of domestic online music market was reshaped and the barriers
to market entry were lowered. By doing so, competitors were given more equitable access to
upstream copyright resources. Also, such efforts helped shift the focus of market competition onto
business innovation and user experience.
Second, multi-field business innovation helped drive the sustained growth of revenue.
Along with the improvement in copyright environment, online music platforms began to devote
more efforts to exploring new business. Various forms of innovative business were developing,increasing platforms’ revenue. Data show that, in the first three quarters of 2021, Tencent MusicEntertainment Group’s revenue grew 13.5% year-on-year56; NetEase Cloud Music’s revenue rose
52% year-on-year 57 . Regarding offline performances, NetEase Cloud Music’s bar opened in
Shanghai in October to provide live performance opportunities for artists while serving as a venue
for offline exchange activities for music community users. In terms of virtual services, QQ Music
cooperated with the metaverse game company Roblox to launch the game QQ Music Starlight Town
and hold virtual concerts to expand the virtual immersive entertainment experience through themusic and game integration.

(V) Online Literature
Up to December 2021, the user size of online literature had reached 502 million, up 41.45
million from December 2020, making up 48.6% of the national total.

Source: Tencent Music Group’s Q3 financial report.
Source: Post-Hearing Document of NetEase Cloud Music for the First Revised Edition by Hong Kong Stock
Exchange.
56
57

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Unit: 10,000

User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online Literature from
Dec. 2017 to Dec. 2021

50159
43201

45538

46013

48.9%

52.1%

50.4%

46.5%

Dec. 2017

Dec. 2018

Mar. 2020

Dec. 2020

37774

User size

48.6%

Dec. 2021

Utilization ratio

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 43 User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online Literature from Dec. 2017 to Dec. 2021
In 2021, the online literature industry continued to grow steadily. Online literature focusedmore on realistic themes, with the quality of works improved. In the meanwhile, digital products
based on online literature were diversified, with audio products and short plays becoming new
growth points. Moreover, online literature platforms explored new models of going global, offering
a path to tell Chinese stories in the global context.
As positive themes have become a trend of literary work, the quality of realistic works
has been improving. First, the trend of positive energy was obvious. Under the guidance ofnational policies and platforms, online literature heightened concerns about reality. The year of2021 marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. There werea number of positive energy works on themes such as celebrating the 100th anniversary andachieving moderate prosperity and poverty eradication. Second, the quality of realistic works
gained the public recognition. The works on realistic subjects, such as Heavy Industry for Strong
Country, Chaoyang Police, The Great Doctor Ling Ran and Live Surgery Room, have been selected
for the permanent collection of the National Library of China. Heavy Industry for Strong Country
won the fifth China Publishing Government Award, which was the first time for an online literature
work to win the highest award in China’s publishing industry.

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53

The diversified online literature was flourishing. First, the online literature plus audio
became the focus of IP58 development. Relying on original online literature content, the audio
book market incubated by online novels is growing faster. Online literature platforms and audio
platforms seek strong cooperation, while many Internet companies also speed up the developmentof audio products. Audio has become an important part of the multi-disciplinary development of
online literature. For example, ByteDance launched Tomato Listening, NetEase Cloud Music rolled
out Voice Theater, and Tencent Music acquired all the shares of Lanren Audio Book. Second, online
literature plus short play has become popular for IP adaptations. The content of online
literature is easy-to-understood, which matches the pace of short plays. Short plays feature a shortincubation period and low production costs. Online literature platforms and short video platforms
have entered the industry one after another, forming a model where online literature platforms
provide literature IP and short video platforms produce and broadcast.
Online literature abroad presented the development of ecosystem to expand
international influence. First, the model of going global shifted its focus from content toecosystem. In 2021,online literature going abroad was changing from the model of platforms
exporting domestic works to that of an ecosystem exporting works and operation. Online literature
platforms began to export content creation skills and foster overseas creators, localizing theiroperation overseas. Second, the international dissemination of online literature achieved
remarkable results. According to the data59, China published more than 10,000 Internet literature
works overseas. Websites and Apps had over 100 million subscribers, covering most countries andregions across the world. Online literature works published overseas enhanced the influence ofChinese culture, contributing to telling Chinese stories on the world stage.

IP refers to intellectual property. In online literature, IP refers to a cultural property carrier that has core value
and unique appeal in content creation, can be intensively developed, and boasts a considerable number of fanaudiences, and is able to achieve cross-media operation outside the limitation of a single platform.
59
Source: Guangming Daily, https://epaper.gmw.cn/gmrb/html/2021-10/05/nw.D110000gmrb_20211005_503.htm, October 5, 2021.
58

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V

Public Service Applications(I) Online Car-Hailing Services
As of December 2021, the user size of online car-hailing services in China reached 453 million,
up 87.33 million from December 2020, making up 43.9% of all Internet users.

User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online Car-Hailing Services
between Dec. 2017 and Dec. 2021
Unit: 10,000

45261
38947
34346
44.5%

Dec. 2017

36230

36528

40.1%

36.9%

Mar. 2020

Dec. 2020

47.0%

Dec. 2018
User size

43.9%

Dec. 2021

Utilization ratio

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 44 User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online Car-Hailing Services between
Dec. 2017 and Dec. 2021
In 2021, increased investment in the online car-hailing industry intensified competition among
companies. New technological developments such as smart Internet of Vehicles provide newopportunities for the industry. Also, the compliance of online car-hailing services were steadily
advancing.
In terms of market operation, industry investment and financing were heating up,leading to a fierce competition. First, higher market confidence in travel sparked a new
financing boom. In September, CaoCao and T3 Go announced the completion of their hugefinancing of 3.8 billion yuan and 7.7 billion yuan, respectively. In November, Hello Inc. announced
the completion of a new round of financing for USD280 million. Second, companies were focusedon the development of online car-hailing services, increasing market competition. Meituan’s
car-hailing App was launched again in all major App stores, covering 100-plus cities. In addition to
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55

the aggregation platform, Gaode established a car-hailing company and registered with the brandHuojian Travel.
Regarding technological development, new technologies bring new opportunities foronline car-hailing services. First, the further development of the smart technology Internet ofvehicles. Shougang Park for Beijing Winter Olympics held a demonstration of 5G plus BeiDou
services for smart Internet of vehicles. Based on 5G, BeiDou and other smart Internet of vehicles
technologies, Shougang Park offered L4-level services, including driverless60 shuttle, formation
driving, unmanned retail and autonomous parking61. Second, autonomous driving technology
was steadily advancing. Beijing Yizhuang Economic Development Zone was open for pilotcommercialization of self-driving travel services. The self-driving technologies of some enterprises
have been verified through road testing and demonstration applications in the zone, laying a solid
foundation for the development of the self-driving industry62.
The industry ecosystem has been improved. First, the compliance of online car-hailingindustry was steadily advancing. In early July 2021, the Cybersecurity Review Office launcheda review of “Didi Chuxing”, taking down 25 apps, including Didi’s enterprise edition. On July 16,
the Cyberspace Administration of China and other six departments conducted a cybersecurity
investigation at Didi Chuxing. In July and August, online car-hailing platforms intensifiedcompetition to seize the industry’s window. In September, the General Office of the Ministry ofTransport issued the Notice on Maintaining Fair Competition Market Order and Accelerating theCompliance of Online Car-Hailing Services, requiring local transportation authorities to strengthen
the full chain and all-field supervision of online car-hailing platforms in advance, during and afteran event. Second, the support system for the online car-hailing industry was refined. The
Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and other seven departments issued the
Guidelines on Safeguarding the Labor Rights and Interests of Workers in New Forms of
Employment, which identifies online car-hailing drivers as workers in the new employment
situation under the digital economy. The Ministry of Transport and other seven departments issued

According to the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the autonomous driving technology is divided into
five categories including L0 (no automation), L1 (driver assistance), L2 (partial automation), L3 (conditional
automation), L4 (high automation) and L5 (complete automation).
61 Source: Beijing Daily, https://news.bjd.com.cn/2021/10/22/201192t100.html, October 22, 2021.
62 Source: Beijing Evening, https://news.bjd.com.cn/2021/11/25/10009268.shtml, November 25, 2021.
60

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the Guidelines on Strengthening the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Employees in New
Business Forms of Transport, requiring platform companies to improve the benefit distribution
mechanism for employees and set a reasonable cap on the percentage of dividend.

(II) Online Medical Services
Up to December 2021, the user size of online medical services in China had amounted to 298
million, up 83.08 million from December 2020, accounting for 28.9% of all Internet users.

User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online Medical services from
Jun. 2020 to Dec. 2021
Unit: 10,000
29788

27602
23993

21480
29.4%

Jun. 2020

28.9%
21.7%

23.7%

Dec. 2020

Jun. 2021

User size

Dec. 2021

Utilization ratio

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 45 User Size and Utilization Ratio of Online Medical Services from
Jun. 2020 to Dec. 2021
In 2021, the online medical industry continued to grow at a fast pace. Supported by AI andother cutting-edge technologies, major breakthroughs have been made in virus tracking and drug
development. Meanwhile, national authorities issued relevant policies to further regulate the online
medical industry.
The online medical industry continued to grow at a fast pace, with more Internetcompanies joining the competition. First, Internet hospitals were growing by leaps andbounds. As of June 2021, Internet hospitals in China had surpassed 1,600, including 500 new onesin the first half of 202163. Second, Internet companies continued to increase revenue in the63

Source: Xinhua News Agency,http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2021-07/31/c_1127717626.htm, July 31, 2021.
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medical sector. In the first half of 2021, JD Health’s revenue totaled 13.64 billion yuan, up 55.4%
year-on-year64. Ping An Health’s revenue in the first half of 2021 was 3.82 billion yuan, up 39%
year-over-year65. Third, more Internet companies are joining the online medical competition.
ByteDance has invested in a number of medical platforms and upgraded its brand Xiaohe Health toexpand its business. Meituan has rolled out the Baishou Health website to build a comprehensive
medical and healthcare platform. Kuaishou has established a new medical brand and explored theoffline medical market.
Cutting-edge technologies are pushing for the healthcare industry and driving the digital
healthcare to take solid steps. With the further development and application of cutting-edge
technologies represented by AI in the medical industry, the medical digitization continued toaccelerate. First, technology helps virus tracking. In October 2021, the National Microbiology
Data Center and other domestic institutions released the AI-based Assessment and Early Warning
System for Novel Coronavirus Variation. It is the first system across the world to provide
multidimensional risk assessment and early warning for known and virtual variations in the genomeof SARS-CoV-2 (the name of the virus)66. Second, technology is helpful to drug development.
In the field of new drug development, drug companies can utilize quantum physics, AI and cloudcomputing technologies to accurately predict a variety of important characteristics of drugs,
accelerating the efficiency and success of preclinical drug research. Third, technology isconducive to clinical care. In the field of intelligent image recognition, AI fundus image analysis
has been widely used to help alleviate the imbalance between supply and demand for treatment andimprove the accuracy and efficiency of eye disease diagnosis, playing a significant role in offering
the auxiliary judgment of other conditions other than eye diseases.
National authorities have introduced policies and measures to further regulate thedevelopment of the online medical industry. In October 2021, the National Health Commission
issued the Rules on the Regulation of Internet Medical Treatment (Draft for Comments), stating thatprovincial health authorities should incorporate Internet medical treatment into their local systemfor controlling medical quality, carry out integrated online and offline supervision, ensure medical

Source: JD Health’s 2021 interim results announcement.
Source: Ping An Health’s 2021 semi-annual report.
66 Source: China’s Ministry of Science and Technology,http://www.most.gov.cn/gnwkjdt/202110/t20211021_
177426.html, October 21, 2021.
64
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quality and safety, and establish systems for network security, personal information protection, anddata use management. Relevant policies will play a positive role in regulating the development of
the online medical industry, protecting patients’ personal information and data security, andpromoting the long-term development of the industry.

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59

CHAPTER FourInternet Security
I Cyber Incidents(I) Proportion of Types of Cybersecurity Problems
As of December 2021, 62.0% of Internet users said they had not experienced cybersecurity
issues in the past six months, largely in line with December 2020. In addition, the proportion ofInternet users who experienced personal information leakage was the highest at 22.1%; that ofInternet users who encountered Internet fraud was 16.6%; that of Internet users who experienced
viruses or Trojan horses in their devices was 9.1%; and that of Internet users whose accounts or
passwords were stolen was 6.6%.

Proportion of Types of Cybersecurity Problems
Personal information
leakage

21.9%
22.1%
16.5%
16.6%

Cyber fraud
Devices hacked withtrojan horse or othervirusesAccount or
password stolen

10.8%
9.1%
8.2%
6.6%
61.7%
62.0%

None of the above
Dec. 2020

Dec. 2021

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Figure 46 Proportion of Types of Cybersecurity Problems

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The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

(II) Proportion of Types of Cyber Fraud
According to a survey of Internet users who experienced online fraud, the proportion ofInternet users encountering other online frauds but excluding online shopping fraud had decreased.
Specifically, bonus-winning fraud was still the most common type of online fraud, accounting for40.7%, down 7.2 percentage points from December 2020; online shopping fraud took up 35.3%, up
2.3 percentage points from December 2020; the proportion of Internet users who had suffered online
part-time fraud was 28.6%, down 4.7 percentage points over December 2020; fake friend fraud
made up 25.0%, down 6.4 percentage points from December 2020; that of Internet users who had
encountered phishing website fraud was 23.8%, down 0.9 percentage points over December 2020;
and the proportion of those who had encountered fake employment information fraud was 19.8%,
down 1.1 percentage points from December 2020.

Proportion of Types of Cyber Fraud

Bonus-winning fraud

40.7%

47.9%

33.0%
35.3%

Online shopping fraud

33.3%
28.6%

Online part-time fraud
Fake friends fraud

25.0%

Phishing website fraud

24.7%
23.8%

Fake employment
information fraud

31.4%

20.9%
19.8%
Dec. 2020

Dec. 2021

Source: CNNIC’s Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development

Dec. 2021

Figure 47 Proportion of Types of Cyber Fraud

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61

II

Cybersecurity Attacks and Information System
Vulnerabilities(I) Number of Distributed Denial-of-Service Attacks
In 2021, China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom monitored 753,018 distributed
denial-of-service (DDoS for short) attacks, down 43.9% from 2020.

Number of Distributed Denial-of-Service Attacks

1,342,244

753,018

2020

2021

Source: China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom

Dec. 2021

Figure 48 Number of Distributed Denial-of-Service Attacks(II) Number of Information System Vulnerabilities
In 2021, the information sharing platform for cybersecurity threat and vulnerability under the
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology collected 143,319 information systemvulnerabilities. Of these, 40,498 were high-risk vulnerabilities, while 86,217 medium-risk ones.

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The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

Number of Information System Vulnerabilities
Low-riskvulnerability,

16,604High-risk
vulnerability,
40,498

Medium-risk
vulnerability,
86,217

Source: the information sharing platform for cybersecurity threat and vulnerability under the Ministry ofIndustry and Information Technology
Dec. 2021

Figure 49 Number of Information System Vulnerabilities

III

Reporting and Handling of Cybersecurity Incidents(I) Number of Cybersecurity Incidents Received
In 2021, the information sharing platform for cybersecurity threat and vulnerability under the
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology received 88,799 incidents67, down 60.9% overthe same period of 2020.

A cybersecurity incident refers to network security incidents such as zombie Trojan control, webpage tampering,
webpage counterfeiting, and data leakage found based on the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s
information sharing platform for cybersecurity threat and vulnerability and the technical capability of cybersecurity
monitoring by basic telecommunication enterprises.
67

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63

Number of Cybersecurity Incidents Received
226,862

88,7992020

2021

Source: the information sharing platform for cybersecurity threat and vulnerability under the Ministry ofIndustry and Information Technology
Dec. 2021

Figure 50 Number of Cybersecurity Incidents Received(II) Number of Reports Received by China’s Network Reporting
Departments at All Levels
Up to December 2021, network reporting departments at all levels had received 166.224
million reports nationwide68, up 1.9% over 2020.

Number of Reports Received by Network Reporting
Departments at All Levels Nationwide
Unit: 10,000
16319.2

16622.4

2020

2021

Source: Illegal and Bad Information Reporting Center under the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs
Commission (Cyberspace Administration of China)
Dec. 2021

Figure 51 Number of Reports Received by Network Reporting Departments
at All Levels Nationwide

The data is calculated by adding up the monthly data of the Illegal and Bad Information Reporting Center under the
Cyberspace Administration of China for the whole year of 2021.
68

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Appendix 1 Survey Methodology
I Survey Methodology(I) Telephone Survey
1.1 Survey Population
Chinese permanent residents at the age of 6 or above who have residence fixed-line telephones(including home phones and dormitory telephones) or mobile phones◇ Sample scale
The samples cover 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in Chinese mainland.
◇ Division of survey population

A

C

B

The survey population can be divided into three categories:
Subpopulation A: Survey subpopulation using residence fixed-line telephones (including
residents with home phones, students with dormitory telephones, and other users with dormitory
telephones);
Subpopulation B: Survey subpopulation with mobile phones;
Subpopulation C: Survey subpopulation with both residence fixed-line telephones and mobile
phones (there is an overlap between subpopulation A and subpopulation B, and the overlapped partis subpopulation C), C=A∩B.

1.2 Sampling Method
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65

CNNIC surveys subpopulation A, B and C. Double sampling is adopted for the survey so as
to cover as many Internet users as possible. The first sampling frame is subpopulation A, the people
with residence fixed-line telephones. The second sampling frame is subpopulation B, the people
with mobile phones.
For the survey population with fixed-line telephones, stratified two-stage sampling is adopted.
To ensure the sufficient representativeness of samples, the whole country is divided into 31 tiers
according to the province, autonomous region and municipality directly under the central
government and the sampling is made independently at each tier.
The self-weighted sampling method is adopted for each province. The sample sizes for each
district, city and prefecture (including the governed districts and counties) are allocated inaccordance with the proportion of the people at the age of 6 or above covered by residence fixedline telephones in the local area compared to the total covered population in the whole province.
Sampling in subpopulation B is the similar to that in subpopulation A. The whole country is
divided into 31 tiers according to the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly
under the central government, and sampling is made independently in each tier. Samples areallocated in accordance with the proportion of the residents in each district or city, in order to makethe sample allocation in each province conform to the self-weighting method.
To ensure the telephones are taken with almost the same probability in each district, city or
prefecture, that is, the local bureau number with more telephones will more likely be taken, and to
make the phone visit more feasible, the telephone numbers in each district, city and prefecture aretaken according to the following procedures:
For mobile phone user groups, all the mobile bureau numbers in each district, city andprefecture are sampled; a certain quantity of 4-digit random numbers are generated according to thevalid sample size in each district, city or prefecture, and then combined with the mobile bureau
numbers in each district, city or prefecture to form a number library (local bureau number + the
random 4-digit number); randomly order the number library; dial and visit the randomly ordered
number library. Survey of the subpopulation with fixed-line telephones is similar to that of the
subpopulation with mobile phones: a random number is generated and combined with the local
bureau number to form a telephone number, and then such number is dialed and visited. To avoid
repeated sampling, only residence fixed-line telephones are visited.

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According to the latest population attribute structure published by the provincial statisticalbureaus, we use the method of multi-variable joint weighting to estimate the size of netizens.

1.3 Sampling Error
Based on the design, analysis and calculation of sampling, 0.37 percentage point is theestimated maximum allowable absolute error of the proportional target quantity (e.g. the popularity
rate of netizens) among the individual netizen survey results, when the confidence is 95%. From
this, we can deduce the error range of estimating other kinds of target quantities, such as the scaleof netizens.

1.4 Survey Method
The Computer-assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) system is adopted for the survey.

1.5 Differences between Survey Population and Targeted Population
A study for the subpopulation who are not covered by telephones, conducted by CNNIC at theend of 2005, shows that Internet users are very few in this subpopulation. Currently, thesubpopulation is downsizing gradually with the development of our telecom industry. In this survey,
there is an assumption, i.e., Internet users who are not covered by fixed-line telephones or mobile
phones are negligible.

(II) Automatic Online Search and Statistical Data Reporting
Automatic online search mainly makes technical statistics on the number of websites, and thereported data mainly includes the number of IP addresses and domain names.

2.1 Number of IP Addresses
The data of IP addresses counted by province come from the IP address databases of AsiaPacific Network Information Center (APNIC) and CNNIC. Registered data in each database, thatcan be distinguished by the province which the addresses belong to, can be added respectively byprovince to generate data of each province. As address allocation is a dynamic process, thestatistical data are only for reference. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as thenational competent department for IP addresses, also require IP address allocation organizations toreport the quantity of IP addresses they own semiannually. To ensure the accuracy of IP data,
CNNIC will compare and verify APNIC statistical data with the reported data to confirm the final

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67

quantity of IP addresses.

2.2 Number of Websites
The number of websites is detected and obtained by CNNIC according to domain name lists.
The lists of “.CN” and “.中国” are obtained though the database of CNNIC, while the list ofgTLD is provided by international relevant registries.

2.3 Number of Domain Names
The numbers of domain names under “.CN” and “.中国”, respectively, are derived from
CNNIC database, while those under gTLD and New gTLD are provided by domestic registrars.

II Definitions of Terms in the Report◇ Internet Users or Netizens: Chinese residents at the age of 6 or above who have used
the Internet in the past 6 months.
◇ Mobile Internet Users: Internet users who have used mobile phones to access and surf
the Internet in the past 6 months.
◇ Computer Internet Users: Internet users who have used computers to access and surf
the Internet in the past 6 months.
◇ Rural Internet Users: Internet users who have been living in rural areas of China in thepast 6 months.
◇ Urban Internet Users: Internet users who have been living in urban areas of China in
the past 6 months.
◇ IP Address: As the basic resource on the Internet, the IP address functions to identify
computers, servers and other devices connected to the Internet. Connection with the Internet can berealized only when an IP address (in any form) is acquired.
◇ Website: It refers to a web site with a domain name itself or “www. + domain name”.
Such domain names include Chinese ccTLD, such as .cn and .中国, and gTLD, and registrants ofthe domain names are within the territory of P.R.C. For example: for the domain name of “cnnic.cn”,
it has only one website and the corresponding web address is “cnnic.cn” or “www.cnnic.cn”. Other
web addresses with such domain name as the suffix, like “whois.cnnic.cn” and “mail.cnnic.cn”, areregarded as different channels of the website.

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The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development◇ Scope of Survey: Unless otherwise expressly indicated, data in this Report only refer tomainland China, excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
◇ Deadline of Survey Data: The deadline of the statistical survey data is Dec. 31, 2021.
Data Explanation：Most of the data in this Report are approximate values after rounding andretaining significant digits.

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

69Appendix 2 Attached Tables of Basic
Internet Resources
Table 1 The Number of IPv4 Addresses in Different Regions of China
RegionNumberAddressesofChinese mainland

343,880,704

20A+131B+57C

Taiwan35,690,496

2A+41B+202C

Hong Kong SAR

12,578,816

169B+102C

Macau SAR

336,640

5B+33C

Equivalence

Table 2 The Allocation of IPv4 Addresses among Organizations in Chinese mainland
Organization Name

NumberAddressesofChina Telecom

125,763,328

7A+126B+255C

China Unicom

69,866,752note 1

4A+42B+21C

IP Address Allocation Alliance of CNNIC

63,259,136note 2

3A+197B+32C

China Mobile

35,294,208

2A+26B+140C

China Education and Research Network

16,649,984

254B+16C

China Mobile Tietong

15,796,224note 3

241B+8C

Others17,251,072

1A+7B+59C

Total

343,880,704

20A+131B+57C

Equivalence

Data sources: APNIC and CNNIC
Note 1: The addresses of China Unicom include the addresses of former China Unicom and former
China Netcom. Specifically, the IPv4 addresses 6316032（96B+96C）of former China Unicom areassigned by CNNIC.
Note 2: As a national Internet registry (NIR) approved by APNIC and national competentauthorities in China, CNNIC has organized ISPs, enterprises and public institutions of certain sizein China to set up IP Address Allocation Alliance. So far, the total number of IPv4 addresses heldby the members of IP Address Allocation Alliance is 85.40 million, equivalent to 5.1A. The IPv4
addresses of the IP Address Assignment Alliance listed in the above table do not include those IPv4
addresses already assigned to former China Unicom and China Mobile Tietong.
Note 3: The IPv4 addresses of China Mobile Tietong are assigned by CNNIC.
Note 4: The deadline for the above statistical data is Dec. 31, 2021.

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The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

Table 3 The Number of IPv6 Addresses in Different Regions of China (unit: /32note1)
RegionNumber of Addresses

Chinese mainland

59,995

Taiwan2,566

Hong Kong SAR

484

Macau SAR

7

Table 4 The Allocation of IPv6 Addresses among Organizations in Chinese mainland
Organization Name

Number of IPv6 Addresses

IP Address Allocation Alliance of CNNIC

22,380 注 2

China Telecom

16,387China Education and Research Network

10,258China Unicom

4,097

China Mobile

4,097

China Mobile Tietong

2,049 注 3

China Science and Technology Network

17 注 4

Others710

Total

59,995

Data sources: APNIC and CNNIC
Note 1: /32 as shown in the IPv6 address tables is a method to present IPv6 addresses, and thecorresponding number of addresses is 2（128-32）=296.
Note 2: At present, the number of IPv6 addresses held by the members of IP Address Allocation
Alliance of CNNIC is 24446/32. The IPv6 addresses held by the members of IP Address Allocation
Alliance listed in the above table do not include those IPv6 addresses already assigned to China
Mobile Tietong and China Science and Technology Network (CSTNET).
Note 3: The IPv6 addresses of China Mobile Tietong are assigned by CNNIC.
Note 4: The IPv6 addresses of CSTNET are assigned by CNNIC.
Note 5: The deadline for the above statistical data is Dec. 31, 2021.

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71

Table 5 The Proportion of IPv4 Addresses in Each Province / Autonomous Region /Municipality Directly under the Central Government
Province / Autonomous Region / Municipality
Directly under the Central Government

Proportion

Beijing

25.49%

Guangdong

9.54%

Zhejiang

6.47%

Jiangsu

4.76%

Shanghai

4.52%

Shandong

4.89%

Hebei

2.85%

Liaoning

3.33%

Henan

2.63%

Hubei

2.40%

Sichuan

2.77%

Fujian

1.95%

Hunan

2.36%

Shaanxi

1.63%

Anhui

1.65%

Heilongjiang

1.21%

Guangxi

1.38%

Chongqing

1.68%

Jilin

1.21%

Tianjin1.05%

Jiangxi

1.73%

Shanxi

1.28%

Yunnan0.97%

Inner Mongolia

0.77%

Xinjiang

0.60%

Hainan0.47%

Guizhou

0.44%

Gansu

0.47%

Ningxia

0.28%

Qinghai

0.18%

Tibet

0.13%

Others

8.92%

Total

100.00%

Data sources: APNIC and CNNIC
Note 1: The above statistics are made on the basis of the location of the IP address owners.
Note 2: The deadline for the above statistical data is Dec 31, 2021.

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The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

Table 6 The Numbers of .CN Domain Names and .中国 Domain Names by Province
Province

Domain Names“.CN” Domain Names“.中国” Domain Names

Number

Proportion in“. 中 国 ”
domainnames

Number

Proportionin
total
domainnames

Number

Proportionin “.CN”
domainnames

Beijing

566007015.8%3362973

16.5%

28231

13.6%

Guangzhou

496710413.8%

2460972

12.1%

18402

8.9%

Fujian433070912.1%

3547203

17.4%

13394

6.4%

Guizhou

23026226.4%

2169203

10.6%

3372

1.6%

Shangdong

1934395

5.4%1105883

5.4%

28023

13.5%

Jiangsu

17246284.8%766741

3.8%

9657

4.6%

Shanghai

14841854.1%

660657

3.2%

8096

3.9%

Anhui

13343403.7%429165

2.1%

4007

1.9%

Zhejiang

1308115

3.6%418610

2.1%

8730

4.2%

Henan

13008173.6%666788

3.3%

4496

2.2%

Sichuan

12621143.5%

540981

2.7%

12494

6.0%

Hunan

9941202.8%498275

2.4%

2985

1.4%

Hubei

8592942.4%480219

2.4%

3541

1.7%

Hebei

8131262.3%

342381

1.7%

7096

3.4%

Guangxi

6631041.8%387688

1.9%

1971

0.9%

Shaanxi

5925581.6%280259

1.4%

6812

3.3%

Jiangsu

5725871.6%330172

1.6%

2572

1.2%

Chongqing

5450011.5%258387

1.3%

5527

2.7%

Yunnan4257271.2%

216882

1.1%

5293

2.5%

Liaoning

425146

1.2%

195847

1.0%

6069

2.9%

Shanxi

3492391.0%

185683

0.9%

2178

1.0%

Tianjin302823

0.8%

92542

0.5%

1513

0.7%

Heilongjiang

2511460.7%125818

0.6%

2834

1.4%

Jilin

2161160.6%

106133

0.5%

1565

0.8%

Hainan174662

0.5%

81158

0.4%

789

0.4%

Gansu

146412

0.4%

78461

0.4%

1145

0.6%

Inner
Mongolia

124015

0.3%

53623

0.3%

1164

0.6%

Xinjiang

116876

0.3%

67380

0.3%

801

0.4%

Ningxia

46938

0.1%

24012

0.1%

502

0.2%

Qinghai

23155

0.1%

14367

0.1%

256

0.1%

Tibet

13411

0.0%

6994

0.0%

481

0.2%

Others

6665081.9%454682

2.2%

13775

6.6%

Total

35931063

100.0%

20410139

100.0%

207771100.0%

Data sources: APNIC and CNNIC
Note: The deadline for the above statistical data is Dec 31, 2021.
The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development73

Table 7 Web pages classified by suffix form
Web Suffix Form

Proportion

html

46.79%/

19.20%

php

6.42%

htm

4.06%

shtml

3.41%

aspx

1.70%

asp

1.06%

jsp

0.32%

Other suffix forms

17.04%

Total

100.00%

Data sources: Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd

74

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

Table 8 The Number of Webpages by Province
Total Number of
Webpages
after
Duplicated Ones
Are Removed
Beijing

Static Webpages

Dynamic
Webpages

Static-todynamic Ratio

123216991794

77640468052

45576523742

1.70

Guangdong

43690139663

29145005268

14545134395

2.00

Zhejiang

39910272717

27993884735

11916387982

2.35

Shanghai

23803561436

17051923554

6751637882

2.53

Henan

20093602269

15743122305

4350479964

3.62

Jiangsu

14914435769

8701894501

6212541268

1.40

Hebei

12773455395

9499087725

3274367670

2.90

Fujian9459758863

7027806397

2431952466

2.89

Shandong

6451523794

4266410755

2185113039

1.95

Sichuan

5738115919

3878615872

1859500047

2.09

Tianjin

5557705451

3653649577

1904055874

1.92

Shanxi

3583710236

2642247626

941462610

2.81

Hubei

3050969496

1913680365

1137289131

1.68

Liaoning

3020759656

2151590747

869168909

2.48

Anhui

2892425208

2210528855

681896353

3.24

Jiangxi

2675655222

2183921723

491733499

4.44

Guangxi

2453212859

1815193678

638019181

2.85

Jilin

1950893077

1357860804

593032273

2.29

Hunan

1882042140

1270572575

611469565

2.08

Yunnan1776645068

1210390961

566254107

2.14

Heilongjiang

1681489198

1331372978

350116220

3.80

Shaanxi

1674138844

1062151875

611986969

1.74

Hainan1514075932

1153070023

361005909

3.19

Chongqing549321649

342728196

206593453

1.66

Inner
Mongolia

201503032

116141423

85361609

1.36

Gansu

176587366

8272795093859416

0.88

Guizhou

126637631

84735809

41901822

2.02

Xinjiang

86753163

46076152

40677011

1.13

Qinghai

34637317

24709711

9927606

2.49

Ningxia

18898747

14315278

4583469

3.12

Tibet

379369127082431085448

2.50

The WholeCountry

334963712602

225618593713

109345118889

2.06

Data sources: Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

75

Table 9 The Number of Webpage Bytes by Province
Total Webpage Size

Average Webpage Size (KB)

Beijing10938964805988

88.78

Guangdong

3040199712710

69.59

Zhejiang

2899423987651

72.65

Shanghai

2276482322200

95.64

Henan

1245883566521

62.00

Jiangsu

974126257199

65.31

Hebei

1117780323290

87.51

Fujian578787694864

61.18

Shandong

387919587513

60.13

Sichuan

297994998758

51.93

Tianjin357456226569

64.32

Shanxi

456363304422

127.34

Hubei

162006451017

53.10

Liaoning

133017076209

44.03

Anhui

130316253228

45.05

Jiangxi

100191501895

37.45

Guangxi

131627052885

53.65

Jilin

77909683749

39.94

Hunan

111179249568

59.07

Yunnan89718577918

50.50

Heilongjiang

115244122253

68.54

Shaanxi

83651777816

49.97

Hainan55272541860

36.51

Chongqing36624994657

66.67

Inner Mongolia

11380087804

56.48

Gansu

13329399461

75.48

Guizhou

5848839281

46.19

Xinjiang

3497166908

40.31

Qinghai

2874751638

83.00

Ningxia

626270537

33.14

Tibet

139946606

36.89

The Whole Country

25835838532975

77.13

Data sources: Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd

76

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

Appendix 3 Supporting
Organizations
We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to the following organizations that havesupported the collection of data in this report. (Not listed in any particular order)

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission
National Bureau of Statistics
Central Committee of the Communist Young League
China Organizational Name Administration Center
E-governance Research Center of Party School of the Central Committee of C.P.C (National Academy ofGovernance)
China Academy of Information and Communications Technology
National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team / Coordination Center of China（CNCERT）
Reporting Center for Illegal and Inappropriate Internet Information of Cyberspace Administration of China（12377）
Computer Network Information Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences
China Mobile

China Telecom

China Unicom

Beijing Ucap Information Techonology Co., Ltd.

Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

Tencent Cloud Computing (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

Beijing Micro Dream Network Technology Co., Ltd. (Micro-blog)

Beijing ByteDance Technology Co., Ltd.

Alibaba Cloud Computing (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

Alibaba Cloud Computing Co., Ltd.

Beijing Baidu Netcom Technology Co., Ltd.

Beijing Oriental Wangjing Information Technology Co., Ltd.

Beijing Guoxu Network Technology Co., Ltd

Beijing HuaRui Wireless Technology Co., Ltd.

Beijing Jinluoshen E-commerce Co., Ltd

Beijing Shouxinwangchuang Network Information service Co., Ltd.

Beijing Wanweitonggang Technology Co., Ltd

Beijing DNS.com Co., Ltd.

Beijing Xinnet.com Co., Ltd.

Beijing ZW.cn Co., Ltd.

Beijing BrandCloud.cn Co., Ltd.

Beijing Zhuoyueshengming Technology Co., Ltd.

Beijing Zihai Technology Co., Ltd.

Chengdu Feishu Technology Co., Ltd.

Chengdu 51web.com Co., Ltd.

Chengdu West Dimension Digital Technology Co., Ltd

Fanxi Corporation Service (Shanghai ) Co., Ltd.

Foshan Yidong Network Co., Ltd.

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

77

Fujian Litian Network Technology Co., Ltd.

Guangdong HUYI Internet & IP Services Co., Ltd.

Guangdong Jinwanbang Technology Investment Co., Ltd.

Guangdong Nicenic.net Inc.

Guangdong Now.cn Co., Ltd.

Guangzhou Mingyang Information Technology Co., Ltd.

Guangzhou Yunxun Information Technology Co., Ltd.

Guest Internet Industry Co., Ltd.

Hefei Juming Network Technology Co., Ltd.

Henan Weichuang Network Technology Co., Ltd.

Heilongjiang E-link Network Co., Ltd.

ZDNS Beijing Engineering Research Center Co., Ltd.

Global Business Domain Technology Co., Ltd.

Jiangsu Bangning Science & technology Co., Ltd.

Maoming City Qunying Network Co., Ltd.

Xiamen Nawang Technology Co., Ltd

Xiamen 35.Com Technology Co., Ltd.

Xiamen ChinaSource Internet Service Co., Ltd.

Xiamen Shushengqi Youtong Technology Co., Ltd

eName Technology Co., Ltd.

Shangzhong Online Technology Co., Ltd.

Shanghai Oray Co., Ltd.

hanghai Meicheng Technology Information Development Co., Ltd.

Shanghai Yovole Network Co., Ltd.

Shenzhen idcicp.com Co., Ltd.

Shenzhen Works Online Co., Ltd.

Shenzhen Yingmaisi Information Technology Co., Ltd.

Sichuan Yuqu Network Technology Co., Ltd.

Tianjin Zhuiri Technology Development Co., Ltd.

Vantage of Convergence (Chengdu) Co., Ltd.

WangJu Brands Management Co., Ltd.

Xi’an Qianxinet Technology Co., Ltd.

Yantai DNSpod Network Technology Co., Ltd.

Ejee Group Beijing Co., Ltd.

Zhejiang 22net Inc.

Zhengzhou Shanglu Technology Co., Ltd.

Zhengzhou Shijichuanglian Electronic Technology Development Co., Ltd.

Grow Force Co., Ltd.

ChinaCC.Net (Suzhou) Co., Ltd.

Knet Registrar (Tianjin) Co., Ltd

Chongqing Zhijia Information Technology Co. Ltd.

Zunyi zhongyuzhike Network Technology Co., Ltd.

We have also received great support from other organizations which are not listed above in theprocess of compiling and revising this report. We extend our sincere thanks to them!

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The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

The copyright of this report is reserved by China Internet
Network Information Center (CNNIC).
Please indicate the source in case of citation or reproduction.

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development

79