This spring, 2008, China overtook the United States as country with the largest number of Internet users on the globe, with a staggering 221 million people online. At the same time last year, China’s online population stood at 137 million - a growth rate of 18% per year. According to projections based on this figure, there will be some 307 million Internet users in China by the year 2010. This number could turn out to be a conservative estimate, since there are additional factors affecting the growth rate. Currently, the percentage of Chinese online is relatively low compared with the total population; only some 16% of China’s vast population. But this is set to change rapidly as China’s economic boom continues and more and more people can afford to access the Internet.