Consolidated Statements Of Income And Comprehensive Income (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011
Sales
From unrelated parties	$ 46,403,000	$ 28,105,000
From related parties	197,000	626,000
	46,600,000	28,731,000
Cost of sales	31,558,000	12,027,000
Gross margin	15,042,000	16,704,000
Operating expenses
Selling expenses	2,683,000	3,506,000
General and administrative expenses	6,030,000	7,904,000
Research and development expenses	1,819,000	2,132,000
	10,532,000	13,542,000
Income from operations	4,510,000	3,162,000
Other income (expenses)
Changes in fair value of contingent consideration receivables	(160,000)	(70,000)
Interest income	186,000	13,000
Gain on deconsolidation of subsidiaries		925,000
Other (expenses)/income	(150,000)	5,000
	(124,000)	873,000
Income before income tax expense, equity method investments and noncontrolling interests	4,386,000	4,035,000
Income tax expense	529,000	1,035,000
Income before equity method investments and noncontrolling interests	3,857,000	3,000,000
Share of losses in equity investment affiliates	(449,000)	(219,000)
Net (loss)/income	3,408,000	2,781,000
Net (income) / losses attributable to noncontrolling interests	(412,000)	214,000
Net income attributable to ChinaNet Online Holdings, Inc.	2,996,000	2,995,000
Dividend of Series A convertible preferred stock		(407,000)
Net income attributable to common stockholders of ChinaNet Online Holdings, Inc.	2,996,000	2,588,000
Foreign currency translation gain	267,000	1,254,000
Comprehensive Income	3,675,000	4,035,000
Comprehensive (income) / losses attributable to noncontrolling interests	(418,000)	162,000
Comprehensive income attributable to ChinaNet Online Holdings, Inc.	$ 3,257,000	$ 4,197,000
Earnings per common share
Basic (in Dollars per share)	$ 0.14	$ 0.14
Diluted (in Dollars per share)	$ 0.14	$ 0.14
Weighted average number of common shares outstanding:
Basic (in Shares)	22,185,556	18,545,609
Diluted (in Shares)	22,185,556	18,759,240