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An influential Chinese academic who helped introduce the Internet to China has been inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame, an annual award established by the United States-based Internet Society (ISOC).

ISOC announced the names of 32 new inductees for the 2013 Internet Hall of Fame Wednesday. Hu Qiheng, the 79-year-old president of the Internet Society of China and a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, is the first Chinese to receive the honor.

Hu said her induction is not a personal honor, but one that belongs to all those who made efforts two decades ago to bring the Internet to China, which is now home to more than 500 million Internet users.

Hu led the National Computing and Networking Facility of China (NCFC) project team that brought the Internet to China.

In 1994, as vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and NCFC project team leader, she visited the U.S. National Science Foundation for talks that led to the establishment of the first direct TCP/IP connection in the Chinese mainland in April that year.

In 1997, she founded the China Internet Network Information Center and has chaired its steering committee for over 10 years. In 2001, she founded the Internet Society of China, which over the past 12 years has played an important role in promoting Internet growth in China.

"The Internet has brought great changes to China, not only facilitating people's daily lives, but also changing their habits and ideas little by little," Hu said.

The Internet has provided a great push for China's economic, social and cultural development over the years. E-commerce has been a particularly powerful force, creating large numbers of jobs and boosting the economy.

Hu said that because of the Internet, more young Chinese now have the chance to learn about social development and progress, which she said has made her more confident in China's future.

"China's Internet circles will also participate more in international Internet governance and development for the sake of world peace, cooperation and progress," she added.

ISOC launched the Internet Hall of Fame program in 2012 to recognize luminaries who have made significant contributions to the Internet development.

The inductees for the 2012 Internet Hall of Fame included Vint Cerf, designer of the TCP/IP protocol and the architecture of the Internet; Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web and Al Gore, former U.S. vice president and a key sponsor of legislation that funded the expansion of the Internet.