The number of Internet users in China albeit most use the China Wide Web, grew rapidly in the first half of this year even as the economy suffered from the global downturn, a report by a quasi-government organization showed.

China's Net user number reached 338 million by the end of June, an increase of 13.4 percent over 2008 within the first half of 2009 a report by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) showed. But three-fourths of the populace are still offline, presenting still great potential for future growth, it pointed out.

"With China's online user number increasing, the Internet is becoming one of the most important media in the country," said Gu Jing, public relations director at BMW Brilliance Automotive, BMW's local joint venture. "During the past few years, we have paid a great deal of attention to the online media to do more interactions with our customers and have got very good results."

Michael Young, chief executive of a domestic Internet firm that provides online advertising and public relations services for websites, chat rooms and bulletin board systems (BBS), said more advertisers were starting to realize the power of online marketing in China.

China Overtook USA as the World’s Largest Internet Population with 298 Million Net Users by the end of 2008
China's Internet population swelled to nearly 300 million by the end of last year, with the penetration surpassing the global average for the first time, according to a quasi-government organization.

The number of Internet users in the country reached 298 million by the end of 2008, representing a 41.9 percent growth compared to the previous year, said a report by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), the state network information center of China.

More than 90 percent of the Internet users surf the Web via broadband access, CNNIC said. The penetration stood at 22.6 percent by Dec 31, compared to a global average of 21.9 percent.

That represented a major leap forward for China since the country overtook the United States as the world’s largest Internet population in June, 2008, CNNIC said.