“The popularity of the Internet in China has driven the explosive growth of profitable Web companies and made fortunes for some Chinese entrepreneurs despite government controls on what the public can see online. The number of mainland Internet users rose to 513 million in December, up 12 percent from a year earlier, the government-sanctioned China Internet Network Information Center said”. – AP Business Writer

Photo: Shi Yongxin, abbot of the Shaolin Temple, works on the computer April 8, 2005 in Dengfeng, Henan Province, China. (Photo by Cancan Chu/Getty Images)

In this Saturday, March 21, 2015 photo, a porter rests carrying supplies for the upcoming climbing season, near the Everest Base camp, Nepal. Nepal has cleared more than 300 mountaineers to climb Mount Everest after they had to abandon last year's efforts when an ice avalanche killed 16 guides in the mountain's deadliest disaster, an official said on March 20. The three-month climbing season for Everest, the world's tallest mountain, begins in March. (Photo by Tashi Sherpa/AP Photo)

Rowdy Alexander watches from atop his horse as a hillside burns on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Wednesday, August 11, 2021, near Lame Deer, Mont. The Richard Spring fire was threatening hundreds of homes as it burned across the reservation. (Photo by Matthew Brown/AP Photo)

Tony Hilliard, left, and his family expose themselves to the elements as Hurricane Ida begins to make landfall, Sunday, August 29, 2021, in New Orleans, La. (Photo by Eric Gay/AP Photo)

American actress Tommy Dorfman and American Afro-Panamanian actress Tessa Thompson at Boom Boom Room's Met Gala After-Party on September 13, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Marc Patrick/BFA.com)

An Indian Hindu married woman offers prayers during Karva Chauth festival in Jammu, India, Sunday, October 24, 2021. Hindu married women decorate their hands with henna, wear colorful bangles and observe a fast to pray for the longevity and well being of their husbands during this festival. (Photo by Channi Anand/AP Photo)

A member of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) reacts as her mother (L) places a badge with stars on the uniform during the 34th batch assistant commandants pipping ceremony at the National Industrial Security Academy (NISA) in Hyderabad on October 29, 2021. (Photo by Noah Seelam/AFP Photo)

Steam comes out of the chimneys of the coal-fired power station Neurath near the Garzweiler open-cast coal mine in Luetzerath, Germany, Monday, October 25, 2021. The climate change conference COP26 will start next Sunday in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)