1. On January 18, 2012, TD-LTE, proposed by Datang Telecom Technology & Industry Group and developed by China in the main, was listed as one of the fourth-generation mobile communication technology standards by the International Telecommunication Union.

2. On February 14, 2012, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued The Development Program of Internet of Things in the 12th Five-Year Plan Period, proposing to make remarkable achievements in the research, development and industrialization of core technologies, the study and formulation of key criteria, the establishment and improvement of industrial chains, and the demonstration and promotion of major applications, as well as to initially form the innovation-driven, application-led, safe and controllable pattern of Internet of things featuring coordinated development by 2015.

3. On March 27, 2012, the National Development and Reform Commission, together with another six departments, issued Proposals on the Development of the Next-Generation Internet in the 12th Five-Year Period, putting forward the goal of raising the Internet penetration rate to above 45% and the number of IPv6 broadband users to over 25 million during this period.

4. On May 9, 2012, at an executive meeting of the State Council chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao, the attendees discussed plans to promote informatization and ensure information security, and approved Proposals on Boosting Informatization and Safeguarding Information Security.

5. On June 19, 2012, at the International Multilingual-mail E-mail Conference, Qian Hualin with Chinese Academy of Sciences sent the first batch of International Multilingual e-mails via Qian Hualin@Chinese Academy of Sciences. China to other Internet experts across the world, including those from Beijing, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Germany, Australia, Canada, the United States and etc.

6. On July 9, 2012, the State Council issued The 12th Five-Year Development Plan for National Strategically-Important Emerging Industries, which put forward the implementation of “Broadband China” program, aiming at providing Internet bandwidth of 20 Mbps for homes in cities and 4 Mbps in the countryside by 2015.

7. On August 16, 2012, Qihoo 360 launched a comprehensive online search service, triggering the battle between Baidu and 360. On November 1, 2012, Baidu, Qihoo 360 and another 10 search engine service enterprises signed The Internet Search Engine Services Self-discipline Convention at the coordination of the Internet Society of China, which promoted the standardization of Internet industry.

8. On September 18, 2012, the Ministry of Science and Technology released The 12th Five-Year Special Plan for the Development of Cloud Technology in China, with a view to accelerating technological innovation and industrial development of cloud computing.

9. 2012 witnessed the rapid development of government microblogging. By the end of October 2012, the number of government accounts on Sina Weibo had skyrocketed to 60,064, an increase of 231% compared to the same period in 2011; up to November 11, the number of government accounts on Tencent Weibo reached 70,084.

10.On December 28, 2012, at the 30th Session of the Eleventh National People’s Congress Standing Committee, the attendees approved Decision on Strengthening the Protection of Network Information, requesting relevant parties to protect personal electronic information, to prevent spam e-mails, to establish a network identity management system, and to accord relevant authorities regulatory power.

11. According to the data released by Tencent, there were 270 million WeChat users up to December 2012, and the number of users has been increasing rapidly since the launch of Wechat on January 21, 2011.

12. According to the 31th Statistical Report on Internet Development in China, China had 564 million Internet users, with Internet penetration rate reaching 42.1% by the end of December 2012. At the same time, the number of mobile Internet users reached 420 million, exceeding the population using desktops to access Internet.

Regarding Major Events on China Internet Development

CNNIC compiled and published the first edition of Major Events on China Internet Development (hereinafter referred to as Events) in 1999, offering an all-round and accurate account of the course of Internet development in China. The Events has been widely quoted by government departments, research institutions, personnel engaged in the industry, and news media. Moreover, it has been translated into many languages, serving as a valuable document to study the early development of Internet in China. CNNIC is going to make additions to and revisions of the Events, with a view of keeping track of the highlights of China Internet development.

What is recorded in Events is of extensive and far-reaching impact upon the course of Internet development, which has a bearing on all works of life and even the whole society. In addition to CNNIC, the compiling of Events calls for the joint efforts of the whole society; meanwhile, the Events should be revised and improved step by step. Therefore, CNNIC sincerely hopes that general readers and especially experts from all sectors of society can offer precious comments and suggestions which we will draw on to make revisions and supplements. Please contact us via internet@cnnic.cn.

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