BIZNEWS

                Chinese online shoppers soar（猛增） against（以....为背景） global downturn              The number of Chinese shopping online rose by （了）18.9 percent over（在...期间） the first six months（上半年）, even as （正当...时候）traditional retailers（传统零售商） struggled to keep their customers amid （在...状态中）the economic downturn.

The number of Internet shoppers increased by 14 million to 87.88 million, Liu Bing, director of the Internet development research department under the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), told Xinhua Friday.

"The growth rate remained（仍然是） level with the latter half of 2008（08年下半年）, which was 18.5 percent," he said.

The CNNIC, a State-run（国营） organization, released（发布） a report on Internet development in China in the first six months of 2009 on Thursday.

"People seemed to realize the advantages of online shopping amid the economic downturn. It is cheaper and more convenient," Liu said.

Taobao, China's largest online shopping site founded in 2003, reported an annual turnover（年营业额） of 99.96 billion yuan ($14.52 billion) in 2008, double that（两倍） of the previous（前面） year, the company said in January.

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Liu believed （认为）the biggest bottleneck（瓶颈） was security risks（安全风险）.

About 195 million Internet users were targeted（成为对象） by computer viruses in the past half year and 110 million had their user names or identities stolen, the report said.

"That's why only 29.2 percent netizens thought （认为）online transaction （交易）was safe," Liu said. "We need to build a sound cyber environment（一个良好的计算机网络环境）, which is not only useworthy（可以用的） but also trustworthy（放心的）."

Online retailers need to improve third-party payment accreditation（安全） and logistics（后续服务）, he said.

China's Internet users reached 338 million in June 2009, up 13.4 percent over the end of 2008.

But they accounted for just 25.5 percent of the population while South Korea reported 76.1 percent.