Internet users with a good command of Chinese but a poor grasp on English can now visit websites by typing in domain names in Chinese characters.

The service was introduced by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) yesterday.

"You can type http://domain name (in Chinese characters).cn' and you can visit your target website," said CNNIC official Zhang Jianchuan.

He suggested that Internet users should also install the necessary software, which leads to quicker and easier access.

For example, if somebody wanted to visit the China Daily website, they could type "http://chinadaily (in Chinese characters).cn." A window will appear for them to decide whether they want install the software or not.

If the user decides not to install the software, they have to type the full name each time they want to look at the site. But if they install the software, the process becomes much easier.

Zhang said millions of Chinese people have long been deprived of using the Web simply because they had to use English to find native language sites.

Zhang's center is busily promoting domain name registration involving the suffix ".cn."

Domain name registration has been increasing steadily in China. Statistics show that about 80 to 90 percent of China's users have registered their domain names with the foreign ".com" or ".net" suffixes.

The number of domain names with the ".cn" suffix had grown from 4,066 in 1997 to around 150,000 by the end May.

(China Daily May 27, 2003)