The academy received funding of $5 million and $38 million from the Shaw Foundation Hong Kong and the Quality Education Fund, respectively, for the project. Sir Harry Fang Sin-yang, the academy's deputy chairman, said the Web site would be a present for the mainland and encourage students to learn via the Internet.

'When the site is completed, Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa is going to present it to the mainland's Ministry of Education so schools in China can benefit from it,' Sir Harry said.

The academy also plans to introduce an English version of the site so the rest of the world will have a chance to learn more about Chinese history and culture.

Nine million people have visited the Web site since it was launched a year ago. The site features more than 100 topics ranging from Chinese gardening to the life of Dr Sun Yat-sen, founder of modern China.

Another 90 topics will be added by June next year. Most of the research was conducted by mainland scholars.

Local students and teachers have found the site interesting and useful.

'I enjoy learning from the site more than from history lessons,' said Leung Tsz-hin, 14, of Christian and Missionary Alliance Sun Kei Secondary School.

'It's an interesting and interactive multimedia Web site.'

Classmate Kwan Chun-pong, 15, also finds the site helpful. 'It is very useful because it's hard to find information about Chinese history from other sources.'

Their teacher Wan Kit-ping said the site was a good one for students to explore.

'It is informative and comprehensive, and particularly useful for senior students,' she said.

However, the site's director and editor-in-chief, Hu Congjing, expressed slight concern over the students' choice of favourite topics revealed by the poll.

'It shows that those who visit the site - mainly secondary school students - have not made full use of its rich resources,' Hu said.

'We need to do more to help them appreciate history, philosophy and literature, but that's no easy task in a highly commercialised society like Hong Kong.'