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Chinese actress and "microblog queen" Yao Chen [Photo: CFP]?

Chinese microblog queen Yao Chen, who is a popular actress outside the virtual world, has attracted more than 10 million followers on the country's Twitter-like microblog service Weibo, 23 months after she started tweeting.

Yao had 10,000,720 fans on her microblog weibo.com/yaochen at 9:41 a.m. Wednesday -- not far from the nearly 12 million Twitter followers of U.S. pop singer-songwriter Lady Gaga.

As of 9 p.m. Wednesday, Yao's microblog followers' figure further surpassed 10,034,300.

Chinese Internet giant Sina, which runs the microblog service, crowned Yao "queen of the microblog" when Yao's followers exceeded 5 million in January.

Yao is the first non-Twitter microblogger among the world's ten most followed microbloggers.

The 32-year-old actress rocketed to fame in 2006 for her role in the popular sitcom "My Own Swordsman." She also starred in the phenomenally-successful television series "Lurk."

She gained soaring popularity on Sina's microblog service soon after registering her account on Sept 1, 2009, mainly for her outspokeness and sense of humor, as well as a caring attitude, in many heatedly-discussed issues.

Some of her most recent comments on the microblog were prays given to a toddler girl who was orphaned by a deadly high-speed train crash in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province.

She also voiced support to a series of netizen-initiated campaigns such as freeing kidnapee-turned children beggars and rescuing stray dogs.

"I just to want to tell myself: never be fettered by that 10-million-plus figure. I wish the followers a safe, free and happy life," noted Yao, in a single microblog piece issued Wednesday morning referring to the latest update of her followers' figure.

The post has received more than 7,100 comments and been forwarded for more than 5,300 times online as of around 9 p.m., with many expressing congratulation as well as support to the microblog.

"You don't belong to those artists who only know how to put on a show," noted a netizen, besides thanking Yao for her well-wishing.

Microblog services enjoyed "explosive growth" in its number of users in the first six months this year, as the number surged by 208.9 percent to 195 million, according to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) in a report earlier this month.

The number of people using the Internet grew 6.1 percent to 485 million by the end of June, according to the report.

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