Nearly 80 percent surf the Web in China via mobile devices

China's Internet population hit a record high of 591 million by the end of June driven by a growth in mobile Internet usage, which now makes up nearly 80 percent of all users.

The country's total Internet user base grew by 26.56 million in the first half of the year, according to a report on Wednesday by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).

China's mobile Internet user base comprised 78.5 of all users at 464 million compared with 72.2 percent a year ago, according to the government-affiliated research group. Such users have been actively using services like instant messaging platforms such as Tencent's WeChat and payment modes like e-commerce giant Alibaba's Alipay on handsets.

Web applications with strong growth included online music, video, games and literature, according to CNNIC.

This has led Chinese Internet companies to focus investments to capture the growing mobility trend. For example, earlier this year Alibaba raised its investment in China's Twitter-like service Weibo with an 18 percent stake purchase for US$586 million. Search giant Baidu has also been making heavy investments into pushing more mobile offerings.