As Chinese Internet Market Enjoys its Dot-Com Boom, First-Gen Boomers Apply Lessons
Now that the world's largest country is getting serious about Internet content, the Web is doing for China what fifty years of Cold War could not do: open up a formerly closed society to free speech. As noted by the AP, the Chinese government is fighting a losing battle against keeping out dissident voices, even as it manages to set standards for Web site address quality control that could benefit the growth of the industry in the long run, according to Reuters. Yahoo! is very much in the fray in China, recently eyeing the purchase of an Chinese language Internet address firm, according to ZDNet, while it builds the popularity of its own offerings via Internet cafes in major cities in China. Love of freedom may drive use of the Internet by individuals, but its commerce at the heart of China's efforts to build both consumer markets and professional markets that demand state-of-the-art content and communications capabilities. While many native Chinese companies are thriving in this environment, there are plenty of lessons from the first wave of the Web companies such as Yahoo! that can be applied quickly and effectively to this market. How long before the Chinese begin to turn their second-generation lessons into more of a worldwide presence? Brush up on your Mandarin, we'll see where this all leads in the next few years.