People buy Apple products at the new Apple Flagship Store on opening day after an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Sanlitun in Beijing, China, 17 July 2020.
Thomas Peter | Reuters
BEIJING – New data shows how far Chinese people went online in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic and adopted new habits, such as shopping via video live streams.
At the end of 2020, China had 989 million internet users, figures released Wednesday by the government agency China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).
That’s 85.4 million more than in March, just after the worst coronavirus outbreak in China, which forced hundreds of millions of Chinese to spend more time indoors.
To get an idea of the size of China’s nearly 1 billion internet population, the lead over India’s estimated 639 million internet users is 350 million, which is greater than the entire US population.
The government report also showed how, after the worst outbreak in China in April, some online trends stuck and others didn’t.
According to the report, between March and the end of the year, 72.15 million more people were shopping online, mainly on mobile phones, to 782 million.
More people also had more money to spend – and increasingly worked from home.
According to the report, the proportion of Internet users with a monthly income of at least 5,001 yuan ($ 774) rose to 29.3% in December, from 27.6% in March.
The number of people working remotely increased by 147 million from June to 346 million in December, about a third of the country’s internet users.
More people watch short videos than shop online
Significant as the growth was in the number of online shoppers, video viewing rose even more – by 76.33 million in nine months – to 927 million in December.
That means that nearly 94% of all Chinese internet users have watched videos online, far more than the 79% who shopped online.
The number of short video users alone increased by 100 million from March to 873 million by the end of the year.
Live-streaming e-commerce users also increased, up 123 million from March to 388 million in December. About two-thirds of these users made a purchase while watching a live stream, the report said.
Online healthcare users are dropping out
While learning and getting health advice online grew significantly during the coronavirus outbreak, usage declined in December.
Online education users reached 342 million, down 81.25 million from the total of 423 million in March.
Online health care users fell to 215 million, down from the 276 million the agency reported for June. Figures for March were not available.
Wednesday’s report noted that online healthcare penetration in less developed parts of China increased from June to about a fifth in December.