Both free and paid e-mail users think that Internet providers should improve spam filters for their accounts, according to a survey released by China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) Tuesday.

Twenty-two percent of Chinese e-mail users complain that more than half of the mail they receive are junk mail, or "spam," and 11 percent say that more than 80 percent of their e-mails are junk, the survey shows.

Although paid e-mail users receive less spam than free e-mail users, nearly half of those surveyed with paid accounts still get more than 20 percent junk mail.

The survey also shows that 96.5 percent of Internet users have free e-mail accounts and eight percent have paid accounts. Both give low ratings to the spam filters of their e-mails.

The most used function by Chinese Internet users is e-mail, the survey says, with 28 percent who use it every day and 83 percent who use it at least once a week.

By the end of last June, China had 87 million Internet users, with 82 percent under 35.

The survey of 2,627 Chinese Internet users was conducted by CNNIC between Sept. 9 and Sept. 30 over the telephone.