CHINA LEADS GLOBAL NET REVOLUTION

With the world's largest number of internet users, the country is a growing cyberspace powerhouse. Wang Keju reports.

On Sept 14, 1987, a computer lab in Beijing sent China's first email. It read, "Across the Great Wall we can reach every corner of the world."

Two scientists sent the message to counterparts in Germany through an "email node", a rudimentary system used to send emails at the time. The 12-word sentence tumbled through the network at a communication rate of just 300 bits per second, extremely slow compared with today's 21.31 megabits per second.