Last November I ridiculed the Beijing-based research company Analysys when they said China has 33.4 million bloggers. I tend to be the most pathetic optimist on this issue, but assumed they made a counting mistake when they translated that figure into English.

Today, Xinhua is making the same claim. See: Chinese bloggers to reach 100 million in 2007: report. This article predicts -- based on academic research -- that in 2007 (just next year) China might have 100 million bloggers. That would include 60 million by the end of this year.

Are they crazy too, or am I losing my marbles?

Xinhua quoted Zhang Xiaorong, strategy development director of Bokee, one of the first blog service suppliers in China, who says Bokee adds 100,000 blogs per day. About 658 companies provide Web hosting services in China, the report says.

Even when they are counting blogs instead of bloggers, the figures are unsettling. I will go over my own assessments again.