China's estimated number of internet users soared to 513 million at the end of last year, up 12 per cent from the end of 2010, the government said Monday.
Internet users via mobile telephones hit an estimated 356 million by December, up 17.5 per cent from a year earlier, China Internet Network Information Centre reported.
The number of group shopping accounts more than trebled last year to nearly 65 million, the centre said.
It said China's registered websites registered increased by about 20 per cent to some 2.3 million. Restrictions on personal websites and a drive against pornography had led to a 41-per-cent drop in the number of websites in 2010, DPA reported.
China's "Great Firewall" system of security controls and internet monitoring blocks hundreds of international websites and specific pages that are deemed politically sensitive, pornographic or otherwise problematic.