MUMBAI: In China, the daily average times spent surfing the net exceeds the time spent on watching TV. Net scored 2.73 hours ahead of TV's 1.29 hours, says a survey conducted by the Chinese Academy of Social Science.
 

The survey covered 2,367 residents, aged 16-65, in five large cities on the Chinese mainland, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Only 10.4 per cent reported using the Internet primarily to send and receive e-mail; 65.9 per cent read online news; 62.2 per cent often play games online. There are many takers for the entertainment opportunities online as well. Up to 56.5 per cent respondents quite often download music, and 53.5 per cent get entertainment messages from the net.
 
Still, TV got a breather as the survey found that television is still the dominant mass medium. 79 per cent prefer TV as an information source, while 75 per cent turn to newspapers. But only half of the respondents said they rely on Internet or books for information.