STUDIES ON THE REGIONAL DIFFERENCES OF THE INTERNET DEVELOPMET IN CHINA
WANG Ru-yuan1,2, JIN Bo1
1. Department of Urban and Environmental Science, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China;
2. Department of Geography, Sichuan Teachers'College, Nanchong 637002, China
Abstract：Under the bases of researches on the changing and geographic distribution of the domain names registered under "CN", WWW websites, and the Internet Users in China from 1998 to 2000, the research shows that there are great regional differences of the Internet development in China. Firstly, there are great disparities among the East, the West and the central part of Mainland China, but recently, the differences among the three parts are decreasing. Besides, sub-regional disparities appear in the East, West and Central China too. Beijing-Tianjin area, the Yangtse River Delta area, and the Pearl River Delta area are the most developed regions in the East. In the West and the central part, there are no distinct regionality, but the areas around the capital city of each province are the most developed regions. Secondly, at the city level of desegregation, the level and scale of Internet development is different too. According to the statistical data, the percentage of the domain names registered under "CN", WWW websites, and the Internet Users of Beijing made up 36.8%, 24.4%, 12.4% of the nation's total respectively in 2000, and then, follows Shanghai, counts for 9.2%, 10.6%, 9.0% the same year. Because of the tranditional culture, the present political system and the economic development level, the decreasing law of Internet development in cities has come into being in China, the capital city goes ahead, next, follow the municipalities directly under the Central Government(except for Chongqing), then, the provincial capital cities, large but non-provincial capital cities, the medium-sized cities and small cities take turns. Thirdly, taking cities and rural areas in consideration, the disparities are much greater. The fact that any statistical information about Internet development in rural areas can't be found shows that Internet development in rural areas lagged behind greatly. As for the reasons that caused the differences, the authors found that three reasons affect the development directly. The reason are the economic development level, the development of education, science and technology and people's attitudes to Internet.
王如渊, 金波. 中国互联网发展的地域结构研究[J]. 人文地理, 2002, 17(6): 89-92.
WANG Ru-yuan, JIN Bo. STUDIES ON THE REGIONAL DIFFERENCES OF THE INTERNET DEVELOPMET IN CHINA. HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, 2002, 17(6): 89-92.
