China added 51 million Internet users in 2012

China's population of Internet users rose 10 percent last year to 564 million even as communist authorities tightened controls on content. Driven by a surge in mobile Web surfing, the country added 51 million new Internet users, a number bigger than the population of Spain, the China Internet Network Information Center reported. It said the number of Chinese Web surfers who go online from mobile phones, tablet computers and other wireless rose 18.1 percent last year to 420 million. Chinese leaders encourage Internet use for business and education but try to block access to material considered subversive or obscene and are tightening controls.