The emergence of China as an economic superpower

According to the Wall Street Journal, China is on the verge of becoming the world's largest internet market by the number of users. In some figures released by the state-owned China Internet Network Information Center, the number of internet users in China rose 53% to 210 million at the end of 2007, from 137 million a year ago. China now lags behind the US as the world's largest internet market by a mere 5 million users, a record expected to be surpassed in a matter of months or even weeks.  

In fact, according to Forbes, China surpassed the US in internet use (time spent online in hours per week) more than a year ago. Back in 2006, Chinese internet users spent 15.9 hours online per week. When comparing that number to the amount of time (a mere 1 hour per week) Americans spend on the most popular site in the US, Yahoo!, China is using the internet at a furious pace. In fact, Sohu.com is one of the most trafficked sites in the world, simply because it fills the vaccum of media in China that is relatively non-state controlled.

China's internet market still has a lot of room to grow, especially with the ever-popular online games and internet cafes. As China becomes both the largest internet and mobile phone market, the integration of both markets become essential to the success of businesses in China, an aspect to look out for in the future. What do you think of China's internet market potential?