The Internet is changing Chinese life, especially for the young: over 60 percent of Internet users in China are under the age of thirty. With 110 million users in late 2005, that gives China one of the largest under-thirty online groups in the world (roughly 60 percent of whom are men).
Urban youth exploit peer-to-peer file-sharing software that allows them to download and share music and films. China’s leading search engine, Baidu, has an MP3 bar on its home page to make digital music searches as easy as possible. For these young people, their PCs are stereo, television, DVD player, and social networking and instant-messaging tool all in one. QQ instant messaging connects them with friends, and MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games) such as World of Warcraft or South Korea’s Lineage are hugely popular, with a major presence on television and billboards across the country. Games can sometimes draw up to one million concurrent players. There isn’t much in the way of other media entertainment in China for this age group, and online games and music have the additional advantage of being cheap and easily available.