MEDIA-I: Study reveals web weaving tale of three Chinese cities online

<p>By February 2001, approximately one-third of consumers in China's </p><p>first tier cities have accessed the internet. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Consumers in Beijing are twice as likely to have accessed the internet </p><p>than those in Guangzhou, and are three times as likely as those in </p><p>Shanghai. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Consumers who access the internet in Guangzhou and Shanghai are more </p><p>likely to do so from home than those in Beijing, who are more likely to </p><p>gain access at work. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>No single website provider has established a dominant position across </p><p>all three first tier cities. Consumers in Beijing are more likely to say </p><p>they have most recently visited Sohu.com, while those in Shanghai are </p><p>most likely to claim to have visited Sina.com.cn. In Guangzhou, 163.com </p><p>has the highest level of claimed visitation. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The websites with the highest levels of awareness across the three </p><p>cities are Sohu.com and Sina.com.cn. Nonetheless, awareness of both </p><p>sites is lower in Guangzhou than either Beijing or Shanghai. Aside from </p><p>these two sites, unprompted awareness varies substantially across the </p><p>three cities: </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>- Unprompted awareness of 163.com, China.com and 21CN.com is highest in </p><p>Guangzhou. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>- Unprompted awareness of Yahoo.com, and Eastday.com is highest in </p><p>Shanghai </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>- Unprompted awareness of 263.net, and FM365.com is highest in Beijing. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>