Internet in China

China has had intermittent access to the Internet since May 1989 and has been permanently connected since 20 April 1994, albeit with significant censorship in place. By 2008, China emerged as the country with the largest number of Internet users, a status it has maintained into 2024. As of December 2024, approximately 1.09 billion people, which accounts for 77.5% of the nation's total population, are using the Internet in China.

The country's initial venture into the global cyberspace occurred on 20 September 1987, when an email (not based on TCP/IP, and therefore technically not considered part of the Internet) was sent to the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. The message read, "Across the Great Wall, towards the rest of the world" (simplified Chinese: 越过长城，走向世界; traditional Chinese: 越過長城，走向世界; pinyin: Yuèguò chángchéng, zǒuxiàng shìjiè). This phrase gained considerable recognition in China and, by 2018, it was featured prominently on the desktop login screen of QQ mail.