China has 175 million underage Internet users: report

A total of 175 million Chinese minors, or 93.1 percent of them, are internet users, according to the latest report on internet use among minors for 2019.

The report on Wednesday pointed out that the gap in internet use between urban and rural minors had been further bridged.

Jointly issued by the Chinese Communist Youth League Central Committee and the China Internet Network Information Center, the report was based on a survey of 34,661 students in primary, middle, high schools and secondary vocational schools in 31 provincial-level regions.

The proportion of preschoolers using the internet has increased significantly, with nearly 33 percent of primary school internet users starting to use the internet before school age, the report noted.

It said 93.9 percent of the underage internet users go online on mobile phones, followed by TVs (56.7 percent), desktop computers (45 percent), laptop computers (31.5 percent) and tablet computers (28.9 percent).

Studying topped the list of online activities of Chinese minors, with about 89.6 percent of the respondents engaged in learning activities when going online, the report said, adding that 65.9 percent and 61 percent listened to music and played games, respectively.

Chatting, watching videos and using social media were also among the frequent activities enjoyed by underage Chinese netizens, the report noted.

It also showed that 65.6 percent of underage internet users self-learn internet skills, while 25.7 percent obtain such skills from school.

A unified and standard teaching system for internet literacy education has yet been formed, the report said, noting that internet operation skills, anti-addiction knowledge, awareness and capability of self-protection of minors should be enhanced.

More importance should be attached to the management of internet use by preschool children, the report suggested. It also called for a severe crackdown on illegal and criminal acts that use the internet to infringe upon the safety and rights of minors.

The internet penetration rates of left-behind children and migrant children are 77.7 percent and 83.6 percent, respectively, the report said.

It showed the group has relatively low internet skills, an obvious preference for mobile games and greater vulnerability to illegal infringement, calling for enhancing social care for left-behind and migrant children, as well as safeguarding their rights and interests in accordance with the law.