People may be puzzled by the numbers "7456," "246" and "995" or the letters such as "GG," "GF" and "PLMM" appearing in internet chat rooms. Why?

The numbers and cryptic acronyms are internet language commonly used in online Chinese-language chat rooms, following a sharp rise of net users in China.

Consisting of Chinese characters mixed with English letters and words, images, symbols and number, the cyber words are commonly classified into four categories: number, Chinese character, letter and signal parts.

For example, "995" is roughly similar in pronunciation to the Chinese "jiu jiu wo," which means "help me". Where as something like "lol" is an English acronym that means"laugh out loud."

Over the past few years, Internet language has become common and consists of more than 1,000 newly-designed cyber words.

The use of internet language has caused a series of disputes, with supporters claiming that new net words may actually enrich the Chinese language.

But opponents say the abuse of Internet language will undermine standard Chinese, jeopardizing its purity.