China, in just a few years, has made the leap from a nearly unwired country to one of the most wired on earth. This incredible transformation has resulted in one of the most internet-driven economies, and because of China's sheer size, its e-finance and e-commerce companies are among the world's largest.
Users and economic activity
In 2016 China had more than 700 million internet users, which made it the largest single-nation pool of internet users by an overwhelming margin.
In addition, China's online consumption spending is the world's second highest, behind only that of the United States. China's consumers spent US$967 billion online in 2016, compared to the US's US$1.13 trillion; third place Germany spent only around a third as much (US$352 billion).
Moreover, the proportion of China's GDP coming from the internet and e-commerce is among the world's highest, at 6.9%. This figure is second only to South Korea's 8.0% and significantly higher than the corresponding numbers...
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