People buy Apple products in the new Apple flagship store on the first day after an outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Sanlitun, Beijing, China, July 17, 2020.
Thomas Peter | Reuters
BEIJING – New data shows the extent to which Chinese people went online in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and adopted new habits, such as buying via live video streams.
By the end of 2020, China had 989 million Internet users, according to figures released Wednesday by the government agency China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).
It has risen by 85.4 million since March, just after the worst outbreak of coronavirus in China that forced hundreds of millions of Chinese people to spend more time indoors.
For an understanding of the size of China’s nearly 1 billion large internet population, the lead on the estimated 639 million internet users of India is 350 million, which is larger than the entire US population.
The government report also showed how some online trends, after the worst of the outbreak in China ended in April, got stuck, while others did not.
The report says that between March and the end of the year, 72.15 million more people bought online, mainly on mobile phones and reached 782 million.
More people also had more money to spend – and increasingly worked from home.
According to the report, the share of Internet users with a monthly income of at least 5001 yuan ($ 774) rose to 29.3% in December, from 27.6% in March.
The number of people working remotely has risen by 147 million from June to 346 million from December – about a third of the country’s internet users.
More people watching short videos than buying online
Just as important as the growth in online shoppers, video viewing rose even more – by 76.33 million over nine months – to 927 million in December.
This means that almost 94% of all Chinese internet users watch online videos, far more than the 79% who shop online.
Short video users alone climbed by 100 million from March to 873 million at the end of the year.
Livestreaming users of e-commerce also increased, with 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 fall
While learning and obtaining health consultations took place online during the outbreak of the coronavirus, use declined by December.
Online education users stood at 342 million, with 81.25 million lower than the total of 423 million in March.
Online healthcare users dropped to 215 million, compared to the 276 million reported by the agency for June. March figures were not available.
However, Wednesday’s report noted that the penetration of online healthcare in less developed parts of China increased from June to about a fifth in December.