New figures show that the number of people using the Internet in China has increased more than four-fold in the past year.

According to a government agency, nine million people are now "online" in China and it predicts that number will at least double in the coming twelve months.

The BBC correspondent in Beijing says e-mail is one of the main attractions of the Internet among the Chinese because the country's existing communications network can be unreliable.

The authorities in Beijing have tried to limit access to some Internet sites which they deem politically sensitive, particularly overseas Chinese-language new services. The average Internet user in China spends seventeen hours a week "online" and the network is particularly popular among young, educated,single men.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service