The number of Chinese female Internet users has exceeded 300 million for the first time, according to a report released by China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) on January 22.

By December 2015, China had 688 million people using the Internet, representing around half of the country’s population, the report said.

Some 90 percent of them surf the net through mobile phones.

Female Internet users accounted for some 46 percent of the total, compared with the ratio of nearly 44 percent in 2014.

The online population is seeing huge rises in growth overall. In December 2015, China added more than 39 million netizens, rising 6.1 percent from the previous month.