The foundation-laying stage

1996

By 1996, Internet was no longer exclusive to senior intellectuals, but displayed its nature as public infrastructure. Therefore, how to make Internet better serve the public became a top issue on the agenda of the country. First, great attention was paid to support for and management over Internet on the national level and corresponding specifications on technology implementation and management were formulated to promote healthy development of Internet industry, drive the emerging technology of Internet to better serve the public in a wider scope and help make contribution to social civilization advancement. Second, in concert with government's active efforts for improving network management, construction of city network in local areas accelerated. Shanghai Public Information Network was built and CNINFO.NET launched its first group of stations such as Guangdong Gent, Sichuan Tanfo Online and Shanghai Online. Under such influence, Beijing's first Internet bar Spark Internet Café was opened for service, attracting a large number of netizens. These Internet service projects were close to people's life and released people's passion for Internet. Third, far-sighted start-ups and entrepreneurs with global vision predicted that Internet would play an unprecedented role in China and bring Chinese businessmen a tremendous market. Therefore, these pioneers devoted themselves into Internet without hesitation, with the hope of standing out and making great achievements.

To sum up, this year, the influence of Internet on Chinese people already expanded from ideology to realistic life. Government had an increasingly clearer mind on regulating Internet; the business circle was eager to have a try, attempting to seize the opportunity; ordinary people started to experience the magic that Internet did over their life. All these were closely related with people's passion for Internet, because netizens hoped to be able to freely enjoy the brand new experience of Internet in an increasingly mature network environment. The most distinct feature was emergence of business websites and rising network start-ups. They started the prelude to China's Internet start-up wave, which was to be followed by even more brilliant chapters.