E-Commere in China is expanding more rapidly than a compulsive eater chained to an all-you-can-eat buffet for a week.

The research institute Data Centre of China Internet said in a report that Internet spending had risen 60 per cent in the first half of the year. Chinese Internet users laid out  US$37.5 billion in the first six months of the year, up 58.2 per cent from the same period in 2007.

Spending online for all of 2008 is expected to hit 587.4 billion yuan, up 47.3 percent from the previous year, the Beijing-based agency said.

China's online population is 221 million and outnumbers the United States.  Of course, if the U.S. took body weight factors into the equation it would still be a world leader.