“Ding” popular among Chinese netizens

  The most frequently(频繁地) used word on the Internet in China is the Chinese character(汉字) “顶”, pronounced “ding,” which means to support other people's Web site posts(帖子), the Beijing Morning Post said.
     The Ministry of Education and the National Linguistics Work Committee（国家语言文字工作委员会） has published 20 words that netizens(网民) use the most on the Internet. 
     The appearance rate（出现频率） of “顶” is 23.02 percent, which means a netizen uses “顶” once among nearly every four words. 
     Experts (专家)said that half of the most popular words were used on published BBS posts, rather than in online chats. 
     The research said netizens prefer using symbols to words when chatting online. “As expressions and other body language are missing in online chats, the expression symbols on QQ and MSN help people to communicate better,” said He Tingting, a professor from the Central China Normal University.(华中师大) 
     Experts said that Net language is rapidly(迅速地) spread over (传遍)the use of normal words. These unique (独特的)Net languages show the netizens' intelligence (智慧)and creativity. For example, they use “88,” which pronounces similar to “bye-bye” in Chinese, as well as “3166,” which sounds like “sayonara,” Japanese for “bye-bye.” 
     At the same time, the research also found that the number of frequently used Chinese characters is decreasing(减少的)