China has moved into second place in the number of at-home Internet users, a leading online rating service reported Monday.

According to Nielsen/NetRatings, China is now second only to the United States in the number of home Internet users.

"The potential is staggering," said Nielsen managing director Hugh Bloch. who said 56.6 million people are living in Internet connected homes in China.

Bloch said China stands to quickly become the leading Internet-connected country, as Internet subscription rates increase five to six percent a month.

"At these kinds of growth rates, 25 percent Internet penetration in China is only three or four years off," Bloch said. That would connect 257 million people in China to the Internet, he added.

Currently, the US market leads the world with 166 million people connected to the Internet, the ratings service said.

Japan is the third largest market with 51.3 million at-home Internet users, followed by Germany (32.2 million) and Britain (29 million), the report said.

The survey found that men aged 16 to 34 used the Internet the most in China, and that the home was the preferred venue for Web surfing. (53 percent), followed by Internet cafes (27 percent) and work (24 percent).

The survey randomly interviewed 1,000 households in Chinese mainland with fixed telephone lines.

Beijing officials in January said China had 33.7 million Internet users at the end of 2001, an increase of 49.8 percent from the year before.

(China Daily April 23, 2002)