According to Forbes

, the online community in China is exploding, behind the United States.

A fast-expanding online population, estimated to hit 136 million by the end of 2006, has been the engine behind China’s explosive growth in the Internet industry despite the government’s water-tight control of the content that can be made public online.

This growth in the nation’s Internet population–now the world’s second largest behind the U.S.–has driven a 47% surge in total online spending, to 276.8 billion yuan ($35.5 billion), according to a comprehensive annual survey released by the Beijing-based Internet Society of China, a national industry business association.