--FILE--Students from the Sichuan Film and Television College take an elective course of e-sports games at a classroom in Chengdu city, southwest China's Sichuan province, 29 September 2017. China added 56.5 million internet users last year to lift the overall number to 829 million for a penetration rate of 60 percent, up 3.8 percentage points from 2017. This was the conclusion based on statistics of a report issued today by the China Internet Network Information Center, China's agency with oversight of internet affairs. The report found the figure for those who access the web on their smartphones rose by 64.3 million last year, bringing the total to 817 million. The group now makes up 98.6 percent of all, up from 97.5 percent in 2017, indicating the increasing popularity of mobile internet. The ranks of online shoppers reached 610 million last year, up 14.4 percent from 2017 for 73.6 percent of the aggregate. Online payment users in China were 600 million last year, up 69.3 million from 2017, with their share increasing to 72.5 percent from 68.8 percent.
