THE CHINA INTERNET Network Information Centre is supposed to be the most authoritative body overseeing the development of the Internet on the mainland.
Its studies of the Net are widely cited and are perceived as having great strategic value for business. However, its latest surveys have been so embroiled in controversy that the information centre's leading position has been undermined.
Among other functions, the centre, which is under the Ministry of Information Industry, is responsible for administering domain names on the mainland.
According to the centre, there were 99,734 Web sites registered under the national domain of .cn as of last July. The number of citizens with access to the Net in China, on the other hand, is estimated at 16.9 million.
The centre's assessments of the popularity of Web sites on the Internet have far-reaching implications on how investors and advertisers perceive them.
It has become common practice for the major Internet portals to launch advertising campaigns at the same time as the centre produces its six-monthly Internet user surveys.