“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)

A girl holds a blossom in her mouth while posing for photos under cherry blossom trees at Wuhan University on March 11, 2021 in Wuhan, China. Tourists come to view cherry blossoms at the university during the spring. Wuhan University, first founded in 1893, is widely known as one of the most beautiful universities in China. (Photo by Getty Images/China Stringer Network)

A folk performer (front R) with make-up and props takes part in a “Blood Shehuo” parade, during a performance in Linyi county, Shanxi province March 21, 2015. “Shehuo” is the common name of Chinese traditional activities consisting of folk performances in northern China. The “Blood Shehuo” performers use make-up and props to re-enact scenes of horror in classic Chinese novels like Water Margin. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Paramilitary policemen carry tyres as they take part in a training session in Zhangye, Gansu Province, China, March 1, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A swimmer swims by a swan in The Serpentine in Hyde Park, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), London, Britain, May 26, 2020. (Photo by John Sibley/Reuters)

A woman wearing a traditional costume attends the celebrations marking the National Flag Day and the Day of Kyrgyz national “Ak-kalpak” hat at the central Ala-Too Square in Bishkek on March 4, 2021. (Photo by Vyacheslav Oseledko/AFP Photo)

A health worker dresses in a protective suit before starting to perform the coronavirus testing in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya, May 26, 2020. (Photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters)

This photo taken on May 20, 2020 shows elementary school students wearing wings to maintain social distancing amid concerns of the COVID-19 coronavirus, in a classroom in Taiyuan in China's northern Shanxi province. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)