iChinaStock reports that:

"China’s Internet giant Tencent has attracted more than 180 million users with its mobile instant messaging service Weixin"

With Sina's recent Weibo successes this is an ongoing clash of the Titans that doesn't look like it'll be resolved anytime soon.

Stay tuned.

Interesting piece in the WSJ today talking about Twitter founder Jack Dorsey's appearance at the AsiaD conferernce.

They quote him as saying:

"At the end of the day, we just can't compete. [Weibo] can compete in our markets, and we're certainly interested in what that means for us. I've looked at Weibo and it looks fascinating the way that people are using it," he said. "We would love to have a strong Twitter in China, but we need to be allowed to do that."

via WSJ 

Apple's Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has revealed that China accounted for about 16 percent of Apple's fourth-quarter sales (about $4.5 billion)

Cook said: “I've never seen a country with as many people rising into the middle class that aspire to buy products that Apple makes.... China, the sky's the limit there.”

Via businessweek.com

As has been noted in many places recently, China's fast-growing Microblogs have been coming under increasing governmental pressure to conform to regulations.

This week will see the annual meeting of the party's Central Committee where this issue will definitely be on the agenda.

We'll keep you posted as important news surfaces, but it's likely that the major services like Sina and Tencent Weibo will survive. (albeit in a slightly more regulated form)

via AP

Gmail and the Android market seem particularly affected.

Stephen Millward at Penn-Olson reports that the web-apps seem to be less affected.

More as we get it!

hat-tip to Duncan Leung.

In the WSJ there's reports of Fans laying flowers outside the Beijing Apple Store.

Sina has dedicated a Microsite to him.

According to the Economic Times Chinese netizens posted 35 million tributes within hours of the news breaking.

More as we get it!

As we draw ever closer to the iPhone 5’s release, more and more Apple related news seems to be slipping through the net.

We reported a short while ago on Apple’s new Hong Kong store, set to open at the end of this month. Now comes the news that the SIPO (China’s State Intellectual Property Office) has approved 40 design patents for the company. These patents reportedly cover 37 different Apple products.

Three of the patents were for Apple’s Shanghai store. These patents will no doubt protect Apple from the many counterfeit products sure to follow in their wake in China. Apple has faced many similar problems in the past (with fake Apple stores and such).

This time, it is prepared…

Stay tuned for more Apple news as China prepares for the launch of the iPhone 5.

Tip of the hat to MarbridgeDaily for the news.

Well, never fear because Tencent is here to make life easier for everyone. The company has launched its new App Centre to help its users do just that.

The new App Centre recommends apps and also provides advertising space for Tencent’s partners and subsidiaries. Its early days yet, but who knows where it’ll lead.

Stay tuned…

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

Rumours abound that the company would most likely look to partnering with an already strong Chinese company, like Tencent or Baidu.

With companies like Sina Weibo on the rise (and rise), it seems as though there may soon be no place for Facebook in China’s online world – or is there? While Sina Weibo and others are taking elements from Facebook (and Twitter) and re-appropriating them for the Chinese audience, the fact remains – they are not Facebook. Facebook is still the original innovator and you can never count the original players out.

Keep it here for future news and information on Facebook’s fortunes in the world’s largest online market.

If you want to succeed online in China and the rest of the world, then contact Ren Media today and see how we can help you.

Tip of the hat to Technode for the information.

500ccc.com was founded only a couple of months ago in June of this year. It shares many similarities with fellow ecommerce sites NewEgg and 360buy.com, only it utilises what it calls a ‘city-focus’ whereby it runs independent websites and services on a city-by-city approach, allowing it to tailor its stores to local customer tastes.

What will this partnership mean for both companies? Stay tuned to find out…

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

Well, we can’t answer that question just now, but we do know that Apple will open its new flagship store in Hong Kong on September 24th.

Apple are famed for their innovative and minimalist designs when it comes to their stores and Hong Kong will surely be no exception. With demand for Apple products skyrocketing in China this past year, this new store shows how serious Apple is about the Chinese market.

More on the Apple Store as we get it…

If you’re looking to get involved in the world of social media, whether in China or the rest of the world, we here at Ren Media can help. Why not contact us today.

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

We reported a few weeks back on Xiaomi’s new miracle smartphone, combining the high-spec dual core processor with a ridiculously affordable price. It seems that consumers have taken the bait and we could be looking at a true contender to Apple’s iPhone 5 (in China, at least).

With both handsets set to launch around October/November time (according to rumours), we could be in for a fascinating battle.

Stay tuned for more information.

Tip of the hat to MarbridgeDaily for the news.

Now, below the standard, Google-style search box, sit four new boxes: Favourite sites, Hot Topics, Applications and Social Feed.

‘Favourite sites’ is fairly self-explanatory – users will add their favourites into this box and any searches will be enhanced by them. Hot Topics gathers data from trending topics on Baidu, as well as the user’s interests. Applications will display recommended apps (lifestyle and information apps as well as games). Social Feed, like Favourite Sites, is fairly self-explanatory, displaying the latest news from various social sites connected to Baidu.

Baidu seems to be constantly expanding, adapting and innovating. Stay tuned for more news on the Chinese internet giant.

Tip of the hat to iChinaStock for the news.  

Named Baidu Yi, the service will also feature an electronic reader and maps, alongside the usual search engine. Baidu also plans to offer cloud storage to users.

Baidu’s figures this quarter also tell a positive story, with the company’s revenue up 75.9% in the last quarter. This week, we’ll have lots more Baidu related news for you, so stay tuned…

Tip of the hat to RTTNews for the information.

If you’d like to get involved in the Chinese social media scene, then Ren Media can help you. Contact us today for advice and social media services.

There are a lot of other interesting features in the article, namely that the many copycat phones that puncuate the Chinese market are still on the rise. It will be interesting to see how the top three cope with this in the coming months.

Also on the way is the Xiaomi Phone, which we reported on a few weeks back. Despite this and many other competitors, the official exponents of the Android OS still own the market.

Where is Apple in all this? Well, Apple is still the world’s biggest brand of phone (not to mention currently the world's biggest brand), but will the demand of the iPhone 5 match that of its predecessor in China, or will it not be enough to stop the rise of Android?

Stay tuned to find out.

The investment cost Sina 66.4 million dollars (U.S.) – quite an investment. Early rumours seem to be partly unfounded, however – namely that Sina would absorb Tudou into its vast and fast-growing corporate machine in order to enhance its own content.

It seems Sina is viewing Tudou as an investment, stating that the company will remain fully independent…for now…

Stay tuned for more on this top story as it develops…

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

Both companies share a similar focus. RenRen has had a fantastic year, with its IPO and other continued success. Being one of the most successful social media sites in China, it is perfectly poised to help MSN approach the kind of dominance it enjoys in the western world.

RenRen’s position, meanwhile, will be strengthened by MSNS’s technical knowhow and experience – exciting times for all.

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

China Mobile holds the lead, with 37.597 million users, while China Unicom and China Telecom are catching up, with 25.819 million and 23.56 million users respectively.

With nearly 10% of the Chinese phone market now 3G, this can only mean big things for the sales of apps and the increased success of social media.

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

America’s PC sales fell by nearly 5% to 17.7 million, while China’s PC sales rose by an incredible 14% to 18.5 million units.

While things may change over the next few months, China is expected to race ahead by the end of the year and lead the market through 2012.

This shows the incredible growth in the Chinese PC market, as China continues to be the worldwide leader in all things online. Exciting times for everyone involved in the world of Chinese internet business. If you want to get involved, then Ren Media can help you. Why not contact us today.

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

The site is going to be a new, improved and vastly upgraded version of Paipai.com, Tencent’s existing ecommerce site. Although Paipai isn’t going anywhere any time soon; both sites will operate simultaneously.

Tencent has also created a new ecommerce department to deal specifically with the two sites.

Tencent is in the news a lot at the present, with new announcement after new announcement. It certainly seems like an exciting time to be following the company. Stay tuned for more as we hear it…

Tip of the hat to MarbridgeDaily.com for the news.

Now, it is important to note that China is a much larger market, with even more people online than ever before, not to mention that Sina has taken a lot of lessons from Twitter, which had to prove itself in the early days, long before Weibo took its template and adapted it to Chinese tastes.

All that being true, however, doesn’t diminish the remarkable achievement that Sina has earned through hard work and dedication, and, of course through having a fantastic online microblog and SNS.

Where will Sina take us next? We can’t wait to find out.

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

Sina has purchased a 4% stake in Tudou, spending 40 million dollars on its 4% share. Although Tudou’s stock is fluctuating wildly at present, Sina sees this investment as the start of great things, as it hopes to have a comprehensive suite of video services on its Weibo site.

Sina may be feeling the pressure due to rival company Tencent’s recent rumoured interest in Tudou’s rival video company, Youku, who seem to be going from strength to strength.

Exciting times for both companies, but who will come out on top?

Stay tuned…

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

Yukou is seen as China’s YouTube, and is therefore a very hot commodity at the moment. Its main rival Tudou is also garnering a lot of attention lately, despite falling some way behind its main rival.

Now Technode is reporting that Thursday of last week (the 19th of August, to be precise) saw a 13% spike in their share prices. This is largely attributed to the rumours of Tencent’s involvement with the video company.

Is this the start of a beautiful partnership, or will Tudou break through with a surprise success of its own to turn the tables? When we know, we’ll let you know…

If you’re looking to get involved in the largest online market in the world, why not contact us at Ren Media today and see how we can help you through Chinese social media.  

Considered the Chinese equivalent of Youtube, Youku has gone from strength to strength these past few months and now it has caught the attentions of internet giant Tencent.

If the latest rumours are to be believed, Tencent would entrust the smaller company with its own video content.

It would be a major coup for both companies and the prospects of such a merger are exciting.

Stay tuned for more information…

Tip of the hat to MarbridgeDaily.com for the information.

Does this mean Sina is looking to eventually acquire the company whole? It certainly would be another feather in the cap for the highly successful company. Time will tell. However, Sina is the latest in a long line of companies who all seem to want a piece of the Tudou pie. Who will end up the victor in this new online battle?

Stay tuned for more information as we get it…

Tip of the hat to MarbridgeDaily.com for the news.

As well as that, the phone will feature 1GB RAM, 4GB ROM, a 4-inch LCD touchscreen, an eight megapixel camera and a 1930mAh cell battery.

Now, all this would be impressive in itself, but customers would surely by now be bracing themselves for the price. Well, they needn’t, as the Xiaomi Phone will retail at just 2,600 Yuan (around $310)!

With numbers like that, will the future of smartphones belong to Xiaomi, or will the low price cause them to operate at too much of a loss? We shall find out soon enough…

Thanks to engadget for the news.

The new Wei Search prioritises people in your social circles and pushes results related them to the top of your search, thus introducing a more social element to searching for information. Any Weibos in your social circle that are ‘trending’ will also be given priority.

It's innovations like these that keep Sina in the news and at the top of the food chain when it comes to online social media services.  

If you’re looking to innovate in China’s online social media space, then why not contact Ren Media today and see how we can help you get started online in China.

Tip of the hat to Techrice for the news.

Tudou’s main rival, Youku, China’s most popular and successful video content site, has sped up its own plans to acquire its main competition.

This new development has progressed to the stage where the two are in final talks.

Of course, this is, until someone signs on the dotted line, all rumour, but if Youku really does acquire Tudou, it will seal its place atop the mountain as the premier site for video content in the largest online space in the world.

Stay tuned for more as this story develops…

Tip of the hat to MarbridgeDaily.com for the news.

Unlike our culture, where online shopping is putting high street shops out of business at an alarming rate, China’s wide range of purchasing options seem to be able to co-exist side by side.

An interesting new figure, reported on Technode, however, shows that the online market for luxury goods is growing faster than anyone might have expected.

The current figure for the online luxury goods market is 3.45 billion yuan. This is the total reached so far this year, with end of year predictions at a staggering 16 billion yuan.

Despite some reservations, the online luxury goods market in China is, like everything else, growing. What does this mean for the future? Stay tuned to find out…

If you want to get involved in China’s online space, then don’t hesitate and contact Ren Media today. We offer real business solutions and services designed to get your business operating in the Chinese social media and online space. See how we can help you, today.

(Thanks to Technode.)

While this is still a rumour at present, it presents a tantalising opportunity for Baidu, who could look to boost their existing Qiyi site, possibly using Qiyi as a licensed film and television site, while Tudou could act as an exclusively user-generated-content site.

The two could also be combined to form one service, or any other number of interesting combinations.

Youku may have the current lead, but things could be about to change. Stay tuned for more as this story develops…

The service also features elements used by other successful companies like Sina Weibo, with an emphasis on ease of use (hence the term ‘Light-blogging’).

The rapid rise of light and micro-blogging in China would seem to suggest that this ease-of-use approach is successful, and a proven winner. Time will tell whether or not NetEase can compete in the market with something offering both old and new approaches in one package.

Stay tuned for more as this story develops.

If you’re looking to get started online in China, or are interested in using social media as a business tool, in China or the rest of the world, we at Ren Media can help. Why not contact us today and see how we can help you.

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

MabridgeDaily has reported on their site that rumour has it that the company is set to launch a new brand named ‘E-Surfing iTe’. The brand will be more fashion-orientated and is aimed at a ‘post 1990’ demographic.

Special branded phones will be released and new data plans will target the specific youth demographic.

Can China Telecom reach out to the youth of today? Time will tell.

More on this story as it develops…

Thanks to MarbridgeDaily.com.

B2C aims to refine and improve Tencent’s existing platforms and hopefully make it the leader in ecommerce.

The businesses to benefit from Tencent’s initial attentions include elong, Kela and Okaybuy. The businesses are all companies that Tencent has invested in.

Not too much is known yet about B2C, but Tencent has said that they expect big things from the ecommerce market and we will surely hear more in due course.

Stay tuned…

If you are looking to get involved in the Chinese social media scene, we at Ren Media can help you. Contact us today and find out what we can do for your business in the world’s largest social media market.

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

The iCloud has long been touted as the way of the future and offers huge possibilities for the future. If these rumours are true, then Kingsoft and Xiaomi could be about to see their businesses skyrocketing.

Of course, Kingsoft already has its own successful cloud service, but combined with Xiaomi’s mobile tech, it could prove to be a winning combination.

Stay tuned for more as this story develops…

If you want to get involved in China’s online space, Ren Media can help. Why not contact us today and see how we can help your business get started online in China.

Thanks to Technode.

Although the details of the iPhone 5 are yet to be fully announced, the rumour-mill has been in full swing since the iPhone 4 was released to tremendous success all over the world. With Apple now the world’s most recognisable brand, demand for the iPhone 5 is expected to hit fever-pitch, and China will be no exception.

The demand for the iPhone 4 (and its subsequently released white version) reached unprecedented levels in China, so all eyes will now be on Apple and China Telecom as we await further announcements.

Will Apple be able to repeat its success in the largest smartphone market in the world?

Stay tuned for more information…

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

At the centre of it all sits IOS and Android. The boom in the online gaming market is being partly attributed to these two systems, which have themselves risen by 66.1% to a worth of 980 million Yuan.

The gaming market in China is very different to the Western model, with the Chinese consumer preferring not to pay for goods over the internet. Chinese game companies have looked instead to social media, earning their money through advertising on SNS such as Tencent and through clever use of in-app purchases.

Are you looking to develop your own games or apps for the Chinese market? The smartphone and online gaming industry is booming and will only continue to grow from here on out. Here at Ren Media, we offer the expert knowledge you need to get started online in China. Contact us today and see how we can help you.

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

Angry Birds is currently the third-most-pirated brand in China. Angry Birds' ‘Mighty Eagle' Peter Vesterbacka admitted as much, recently. Now a new deal between Rovio and Madhouse is set to bring the series closer to its goal of 100 million downloads by the end of the year.

Not only will Madhouse be publishing the game in China, Rovio will also be adding a special ‘Moon Festival’ update, aimed squarely at the Chinese market.

With Madhouse currently penetrating 75% of the smartphone market, success, once again for Rovio, seems assured.

Stay tuned for more on Angry Birds…

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

Much like the rumoured iCloud system from Apple, the AliCloud service allows users to store their phone data in the cloud, although the amount of available storage isn’t yet clear.

The new OS runs on the Linux system and has been independently developed by Alibaba. Existing AliCloud customers do not need to install any additional software, but simply log in with their AliCloud password.

Stay tuned for more on the AliCloud…

Tip of the hat to MarbridgeDaily.com for the news.

Daren is Sina’s new ‘Expert’ user verification plan. Daren takes the form of a red star next to the user’s name. The red star is to be given to users with at least 100 followers and friends as well as more than 30 mutual friends with their mobile phone accounts. The users cannot be celebrities or organisations and have to supply their name, contact information and interests.

It’s a way for Sina to reward their most loyal and active users and should be an interesting new development for them that should strengthen their already growing community.

To find out how we can help you online in China, contact us at Ren Media today. We offer expert advice and solutions for businesses looking to get ahead in the Chinese online space.

Tip of the hat to MabridgeDaily.com for the news.  

Renamed Zynga City for the Chinese Market, CityVille has also seen some China-centric alterations, such as architecture and items more familiar to Chinese players.

Zynga City is appearing in beta form on Pengyou, but will then spread to Tencent’s numerous other platforms and services.

Having already taken the western world by storm, it’ll be interesting to see how Zynga fares in the Chinese Market. Certainly, the success of Zynga City would be a certain game changer for Tencent and another feather in the cap for Zynga.

Are you interested in seeing your business succeed in the world of Chinese social media? If the answer is yes, then contact us at Ren Media today and see how we can help you break into the largest online market in the world.

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

Baidu Connect is a third party login service. Third parties can use the service to gain access to all the other open platforms Baidu offers. Unlike many competing services, Baidu Connect works on both web and wap technology.

Some websites are already using the service – Sohu Weibo, Qiyi, Yesky and Lashou have all incorporated Baidu Connect, with surely more companies to follow.

Another step forward for Baidu…where next?

Stay tuned…

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

The latest success story comes from Chinese internet giant Netease, who this week announced that their email services have reached 400 million users. A phenomenal number, to be sure.

Netease has also announced that they plan on integrating several other services into its existing ones, including mobile and IM. Is this an inevitable move to yet another SNS? Only time will tell.

If you want to be a part of the online revolution happening right now in China, then don’t hesitate and contact us at Ren Media today. See how we can help your business online in China.

Tip of the hat to MarbridgeDaily.com for the news.

Much like other apps on other platforms, Game Center is a place where a user’s achievements and other data (such as friend codes) can be stored. Your friends can ‘Like’ your achievements, too, bringing another social aspect to gaming.

This is Sina’s latest step on the path to becoming an SNS (if it isn’t actually there already) and, if it’s integrated as well as its other existing features, it is a guaranteed hit.

Sina is currently offering 10 of its own games, with the promise of more to come. It is also inviting content from third-party developers (with the pledge that they will take no percentage of a third party’s revenue for the 1st year at least).

Do you have an app, or an idea for an app that you want to see on Sina’s new service and on smartphones across China? Contact us at Ren Media today and we can help you get started with expert advice.

Tip of the hat to Techrice for the news.

Compiled by the China Internet Network Information Center and released a couple of days ago, the report shows some fascinating numbers.

Chief among these is probably the 485 million headline: that’s China’s current internet population. Of those 485 million, 195 million of those users are using microblogs. Mobile internet users have reached 318 million.

The top mobile services were News, Online Music, Search and Internet Messaging. It’s that last one that shows the potential for social media right now in China’s online space. This is a huge potential audience, ready and waiting to be reached.

Here at Ren Media, we specialise in helping you to get the most out of Chinese social media for your business. Contact us today and see how we can help you.

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

Baidu has signed agreements with Sony Music, Universal Music and Warner Music to offer a streaming music service alongside its many others.

Also utilizing Baidu’s MP3 Search service, Baidu will operate a pay-per-play/download service as well as the aforementioned streaming service.

The music looks to be a mix of Chinese songs (in both Mandarin and Cantonese) and international tracks.

Stay tuned for more as this story develops…

Tip of the hat to MarbridgeDaily.com for the news.

Marbridge Daily reports that the Alicloud smartphone (so named for its cloud capabilities, obviously – with 500 GB of storage space rumoured) could be unveiled as early as the end of this month and is projected to hit stores in August.

The handset is being developed by Tianyu and features one of Nvidia’s Tegra 2 chipsets.

Also interesting is that the phone will not feature an Android OS, but an ‘Android-compatible’ OS developed by Alibaba.

More on this interesting story as it develops…

Thanks to Marbridgedaily.com for the news.

30 million of those sales were also in the last 2 months, with Google reporting 100 million Android phones sold as of May this year.

This also means that Android phones are selling 150,000 units daily worldwide.

The Android OS is fast becoming the Windows of phones (ironically, the ‘Windows of phones’ does not seem to be the Windows Phone 7 system). While Apple still sits at the top of the food chain with 200 million phones sold (this figure from a single company, rather than an amalgamation of many different companies), Android is fast becoming the OS of choice in the mobile world.

China is the biggest Android market in the world, with record numbers of apps downloaded everyday (despite Google+ currently being blocked in China, Google’s Android seems to be taking over the market). Are you interested in reaching this market? If so, contact us at Ren Media today, and see how we can help your business get started online in China.

Tip of the hat to IGN.com for the news.

Weishi runs off the user’s mobile phone contacts data and allows free video messaging, in a way similar to Tencent’s previous Weixin app, which allowed free instant messaging and the sending of text and photos between users.

Weishi adds video chat to Tencent's already impressive suite of online options. It is still in the early public testing phase, but looks very promising – another feather in the cap for Tencent.

Chinese social media is combining the best aspects of western social media to create new and exciting ideas. If you want to see your business succeed in the world’s largest online space but don’t yet know how, contact us at Ren Media today and find out how we can help you succeed in China.

Tip of the hat to Marbridgedaily.com for the news.

Many different companies have emerged since Google’s last unsuccessful bid to conquer China, all claiming to be next in line. Chinese company Sogou looks to have the numbers to back it up.

Sogou can currently claim over 300 million users, an 83.6% adoption rate. This is a huge figure, any way you choose to look at it. Now also comes news that Sogou is set to partner with Alibaba to further extend its business reach.

Sogou predicts it will hit 800 million users in a year and overtake Chinese Google in terms of profit. Bold claims indeed, but the company knows its success is all but assured.

Stay tuned for more news on China’s leading search engine…

Or, contact Ren Media and find out how we can make China’s social media work for your business today.

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

Called Weibi, the virtual currency will be launched on Monday, 18th July. Weibi is to be used for the purchase of content on Sina’s sites, including games and other features.

In the last 9 months, Sina Weibo has seen its user base increase 3 times over, up to 140 million users. With one Weibi being equivalent to one Yuan, the new virtual currency could prove extremely lucrative for the already successful company.

We’ll have more on this exciting story when the service rolls out.

Stay tuned…

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

The big number in the report is that, in 2011, China’s online shopping value will hit a phenomenal RMB 73.41 billion. While we all know that the Chinese Online Market is the biggest in the world, those numbers are still staggering.

The number of online shoppers is estimated at 193 million, with 52.4% of those placing orders being men and 47.6% being women.

A very important piece of data to be noted is that over 50% of all orders placed fell within the 19-30 age range. This shows the biggest target audience for online products is still predominantly young (China’s often much sort after ‘Student’ demographic).

Are you looking to make your mark in the Chinese online space? Well, Ren Media can help. Contact us today to see how we can help your business get started online in China.

The word is that Alibaba is set to partner with Beijing-based phone maker Tianyu to release its new smartphone.  Like Tencent before it, Alibaba’s smartphone will come preinstalled with the existing services Alibaba offers.

Also apparently in the works is a cloud-based storage system, whereby users could store data and applications that were accessible over the web, rather than being downloaded to their device.

With Tencent out to target the important student market with its Tianyi QQ smartphone, will Alibaba try a different route, or will it go head to head with its rivals.

Stay tuned for more information…

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

And it’s only July.

RenRen, of course, are the company most in the spotlight. We ran several stories on them on this site at the time of their debut. Being the first Chinese SNS to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, they’ve obviously taken much of our focus. The other six companies are all Tech companies, with the exception of men’s fashion company Zuoan Fashion Ltd and Zhenqxing Wheel Group Ltd.

Two of the remaining four companies are also SNS – Qihoo 360 and TaoMee Holdings (one of China’s largest SNS sites aimed at kids). Qihoo 360, in particular, raised its stock by 134% when it debuted.

Impressive figures, to be sure. The importance of Chinese technology companies in the global market cannot be disputed. And, it’s the SNS companies who are making the biggest waves.

Now is the time to get involved. Here at Ren Media, we can make Chinese social media work for you. Contact us today and find out what we can offer your business moving forward into the world’s fastest growing online market.

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

China Mobile is looking increasingly strong as of late. We’ve run several stories recently about their many successes. As they continue to dominate, innovate and escalate their business, one has to wonder whether world domination is possible in the future.

China Mobile is constantly adding features, smoothing out wrinkles and is permanently on the rise. It seems the company can’t put a foot wrong.

Whatever way you look at it, 66 million users is a phenomenal number. Will China Mobile continue to flourish, or is there somebody waiting in the wings to show a new hand? Only time will tell.

Stay tuned for more news…

Tip of the hat to Marbridgedaily.com for the news.

Like Google+, Baidu’s new homepage is an attempt to wrestle domination of the online audience away from companies like Facebook and Twitter – or, in Baidu’s case, RenRen and Sina Weibo.

The new homepage looks like the homepage of a SNS and integrates Baidu’s many existing services, including Baidu Open Platform.

It all adds up to a greatly increased ease of use for the user. Baidu has seen an opportunity in the market here, whereby it can combine its many services and offer something new from a proven template in order to compete. As of yet, it’s all in the beta stage, with only a limited number of users allowed access.

Only time will tell if it’s to be successful…

Google+ is the talk of the internet at the moment, but it’s been met with a wall in China. If you’re a business looking to make your mark in China through social media, but are not sure how to proceed, Ren Media can help you. Our expertise can help you get the most out of China. Contact us today to learn more.

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

The Android market in China is huge, and can look daunting to the western developer. Gateway to China hopes to change all that. It is to be offered exclusively to western developers, giving them free access to Chinese localisation services, marketing and distribution channels and payment options through Papaya’s social software development kit.

Developers like Connect2Media and Mindstorm Studios are already getting involved. The Chinese virtual goods market is set to hit $4 billion this year – now is the time to get involved.

Contact us here at Ren Media and we can help you get the most out of the Chinese app market. Are you a software developer with an app you think could sell big in China, or are you a business with its sights set on the android market? If so, we at Ren Media can help you.

Tip of the hat to thenextweb.com for the news.  

But another piece of news to emerge at the end of last week is equally important: Sina has set its sights on the equally important and elusive Japanese market.

Japanese internet company Find Japan has announced that they will be the sole name verification provider for Sina Weibo accounts in Japan.

Find Japan and Sina launched this service on Friday, 1st of July.

Stay tuned for more information as this service rolls out…

Tip of the hat to MarbridgeDaily.com for the news.

Baidu has currently denied the rumours, which say that the OS will be Android based, following in the footsteps of other successful China Android OS, such as MIUI and DianxinOS.

Baidu has already made many innovative steps in the market, with its unique search, maps and browser products for mobile. Also, it’s no secret that Baidu considers the mobile market as key to future success.

Would a Baidu OS be the best way of bringing together all Baidu has to offer and increasing their dominance in the Chinese market? Only time will tell…

Stay tuned for more…

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

The iPhone 5 has not been officially unveiled as of yet, but the rumour mill is in full swing. With Apple now the world’s most recognised global brand, speculation is rife and expectations are high.

With the iPhone 4 selling out and reaching record sales in mainland China, surely whoever gets to offer the new iPhone first will be set to make a huge profit.

The rumour started when an inside source within the company leaked the information on his Sina Weibo microblog. China Mobile quickly removed the post and has declined to comment since.

With many Chinese SNS looking to utilize the app service, now is a great time to get involved. Companies such as Sina Weibo already have a presence on the app store (not to mention the Android market, too). If you would like to see your business being advertised across Chinese social media, contact us at Ren Media today and see how we can help you.

Tip of the hat to MarbridgeDaily.com for the news.

Supporting Windows XP and up, Sina’s latest venture puts them in direct competition with their closest rival, Tencent. Sina’s IM service page is very similar to Tencent’s, with a clear sight set on carving out its own share, or even taking that of its rival.

As we’ve said before on this site, any competition between these two innovative companies is ultimately great news for anyone looking to get involved in China’s online space. If that’s you or your business, then why not contact us at Ren Media today and see how we can make Chinese social media work for you.

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.   

Taking its cues from Facebook, but tailoring things more towards the China market, Sina’s New Edition features a photo album, music and events on the user’s home page, as well as the opportunity to take part in polls with friends and other users.

As Sina edges closer and closer to its goals, will it face serious competition? We’ve been reporting lots of stories about Tencent on this site and now the focus may be shifting again. Will Tencent be able to answer back?

Stay tuned…

Whoever wins the hearts and wallets of China’s social media audience, it only means more opportunities for businesses to flourish in the China online space. Want to advertise your business through Sina Weibo, Tencent or across the board in China and the rest of the world? If the answer is ‘yes’, then contact us at Ren Media today and see how we can help you.

Tip of the hat to Technode for the news.

Its partners in this new venture are Netease and Kingsoft. Kingsoft will supply its PowerWord technology, which automatically translates text (in this case, microblogs) from English. Netease will provide its online dictionary service, Youdao, to translate Korean and Japanese for Chinese users.

Tencent says the primary concern of the uniting of these two technologies is to translate the blogs of international celebrities for its users’ ease of understanding. One cannot help but see the potential behind such a tool, however.  

Such ease of translation could have a big impact on the communication between foreign business companies. Companies from around the world could have a quick, detailed dialogue with their Chinese partners, thus increasing the ease of communication.

Another exciting new development from Tencent…can Sina keep up?

Stay tuned…

Are you looking to get familiar with the ins and outs of the Chinese online space? Do you want your business to reach out to China through social media? If the answer to those questions is yes, then contact us at Ren Media today and see how we can help your business.

Tip of the hat to MarbridgeDaily.com for the news.

By the end of 2010, the number of Chinese internet users using social networking services had reached 235 million (that’s 51.4 per cent of internet users in the country). Also, 150 million of those people are active SNS users (which is an increase of 33.7 per cent from last year).

The most popular SNS sites include renren.com and microblogging sites such as Tencent and Sina.

The numbers don’t lie – there is a tremendous business opportunity lying in wait here. Now is the time to get involved and find out just what SNS in China can do for your business. Contact us at Ren Media today and we can get you started in China – we offer expert knowledge and web skills that can be at your disposal to establish an online presence in the world’s largest online space.

Tip of the hat to chinadaily.com for the news.

The reason for such optimism? Well, the penetration rate for users of 3rd generation mobile phones (3G) in China is climbing at a rapid rate, with now 7.5 per cent of the total mobile phone users in China using 3G phones.

China Telecom itself currently has over 19 million users (19 per cent of China’s total users, with the total at 67.57 million). Most of these uses are now using 3G.

It’s looking more and more like China Telecom is poised for world domination, already being the largest mobile phone network provider in China (which technically makes it the largest in the world, due to sheer numbers).

This further highlights the importance of China’s growing mobile market. Social media should be reaching this platform as a matter of top priority. If you want to make China your top priority, then contact Ren Media today and see how we can make social media work for you to reach China and the rest of the world.

Tip of the hat to Chinadaily.com for the news.  

Well, now that new Enterprise Edition is here. All the stat-tracking and customisable options that you could want, now tailored more towards businesses, with branded ecommerce options.

Sina is opening the door for the first true ecommerce social networking site in the world. The potential is huge, the innovation, unprecedented.

Rumour also has it that there is a planned English language version in the works, too. This would seem to speak volumes about Sina’s goals for the western world as well.

These are exciting times for SNS – time to get involved! If you are looking to advertise your business through Sina’s new Enterprise Edition programs, we at Ren Media can help. Contact us today to find out how we can help you succeed online in China.

Tip of the hat to Techrice for the news.

Tencent is looking to add a new SNS search to its Soso search engine. This ‘people search’ allows users to search for specific people by using a range of different criteria. Data is gathered from Tencent’s own social network site Pengyou.

Users can search under the usual age, sex and location, but also company, position and school, making this a highly detailed and specific social search engine.

Tencent is currently only offering this service to its Pengyou users, but hopes to roll it out across other sites in the future.

Stay tuned for more…

Tip of the hat to MarbridgeDaily.com for the news.

ZTE, K-Touch, Huawei, Coolpad and Hisense have stepped up. The service will run off China Telecom’s CDMA 3G network. The phones will also be uniquely branded with the QQ logo.

Reports suggest that Tencent is mainly targeting the student demographic, one of China’s key mobile consumer groups.

With 1.2 billion people already using the QQ instant messaging service (with 484.9 million active users) the potential for success is huge. Sina Weibo may have signed its own deal with China Telecom, but Tencent is looking like the new king in town.

Do you want to see your business being talked about over China’s social networks? Are looking for a way into the world’s fastest growing online space? Then contact Ren Media today and see how we can help you.

Tip of the hat to ChinaTechNews for the information.

An interesting new feature recently rolled out by the company is data.weibo.com, a place where users can track and monitor their own accounts.

The data is presented to the user under five different headings: User influence rating, My followers, People I follow, Weekly Top Weibo and Top Trending Topics.

Sina is also set to release an ‘enterprise version’ of this data tracking for businesses.

This is yet another way in which Sina Weibo is innovating with its online services. Sina has turned from a microblogging service to a full SNS, with more innovation surely on the way.

If you’d like to know more about how Sina Weibo can work for your business, or want to utilise the Weibo service to help your company gain a foothold in China, then why not contact us at Ren Media today and see how we can help you.

Tip of the hat to TechRice for the news.

The deal is a strategic partnership deal that will see the two companies combining their resources to further develop both companies’ assets.

The two companies will work together on promotions and marketing, while, behind the scenes, Unicom will provide Sina with resources from its core business, such as value-added platform services and network resources.

Sina, on the other hand will jointly develop its many services with China Unicom, such as its microblogging and search services.

Another day, another new development for Sina…

Stay tuned for more…

Tip of the hat to MarbridgeDaily.com for the news.

So, what next for RenRen? Only they know as of yet, but with the continued successes of companies like Sina Weibo, Tencent and Baidu, anything could and probably will happen.

Will RenRen evolve into something closer to the SNS model innovated by Sina, or will they forge their own path?

At a recent RenRen event in Shanghai (as reported on Techrice), RenRen CEO Joe Chen talked of the difficulties his company encountered during the initial start-up process and how no one had attempted to be a real-name SNS service in China before. Whatever RenRen has planned next, you can be sure it will be innovative.

RenRen’s continued success highlights the growing importance of social media, and shows how reaching the audience in China can be the first step in reaching out to the world. Here at Ren Media, we’re waiting to help you reach out to China and the world through social media. Why not contact us today, and see how we can make social media work for you.

Since the fall in value of Sterling (by around 25%), London has become an attractive proposition for Chinese investors looking at the higher end of the property ladder.

With various restrictions on buying property at home, buyers from China are turning their attention towards London. More Chinese buyers are investing in London homes than they are in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing.

There are many reasons why foreign investors are drawn to London, aside from its cosmopolitan reputation and atmosphere. Whatever the reason, though, it’s clear that London remains a very attractive investment.

If you’re looking to attract investors to your property and want to find the best way to reach the China market, why not contact us at Ren Media, and learn how we can make social media in China and at home work for you.

Since the crisis, this number has increased, with it becoming necessary for more companies to move some of their operations to China.

While it is still important for Japanese companies to stay in Japan, procuring local investment, more companies are expected to move some production to China.

Japan has also long been a big investor in Chinese business and this looks set to continue. With Japan’s economy set to rise (according to the World Bank), this can only mean good things for China.

Tip of the hat to chinadaily.com for the news

By switching its focus to renewable alternatives such as solar energy and wind power, China is aiming to work with European partners to lower carbon emissions and combat climate change.

This green swerve is a massive investment by China and opens the door for yet more business opportunities in the fastest growing market in the world. The focus on clean energy and lowering emissions has already created and expanded many companies in the west, and with this increased desire for co-operation, companies from China and the west should seize upon the opportunity to work together.

China is once again making great strides in the global business market. Now is a perfect time to get involved. Contact Ren Media today and find out how we can help you navigate China’s online space and find the best ways to help your business.

+1 allows you to recommend the page you are viewing to your friends over Google’s various services. If you’re browsing and find something of interest, you can +1 it and send it to your social network of friends.

Why all this talk of +1? Well, it seems that China’s Google equivalent, Baidu, has come up with a social bookmark button of its own.

Called the ‘Baidu Share’ button, it allows webmasters, after adding it to their site, to share content from their site across 16 of China’s biggest social networking services, including Sina Weibo, RenRen and Tencent.

Like the +1 button, the Baidu button not only shares web pages between users, but also makes it easy for websites carrying the button to be found by Baidu’s search engine, as well as potentially increasing traffic to those websites. In addition, Baidu will also provide any websites who use its new button with free data on what is being shared and how much.

Have you started using the +1 button from Google? Maybe you’re a successful internet business looking to break the China market, or you simply want to find out more about features like Baidu Share.

Why not contact us today to discover how we can make social media work for your business, in China and at home.

Tip of the hat to MarbridgeDaily for the news

It’s another example of two big companies sharing resources and allowing customers to reap the benefits. Usually, it’s a Chinese company partnering with a western one. In that sort of circumstance, the Chinese company will gain expertise and a window to the western world, while the western company gains a possible foothold in the world’s fastest growing internet market.

Not this time, though. China Telecom and Sina will be teaming up – allowing customers of China Telecom to use their existing ID to log into Sina Weibo, while Sina will be embedded with China Telecom’s 189 mobile service. Sina customers will be able to combine the two services.

Not only will this hugely benefit customers, but the pairing of these two Chinese giants takes them one step closer to dominating the market.

Stay tuned for more information…

Tip of the hat to MarbridgeDaily.com for the news.

iCloud stores the user’s content in the cloud and wirelessly pushes it to all your Apple devices, Apple CEO Steve Jobs told a packed Moscone Centre in San Francisco, yesterday.

The service automatically backs-up users’ data to the cloud through Wi-Fi every time they charge their idevice. Also, the iCloud system supports Apple’s iWork, meaning documents and other apps relating to business will also be stored. 5 gigabytes in total is promised so far, with the possibility of more to come.

The service is free, replacing Apple’s current subscription service, MobileMe.

The new OS also incorporates Twitter, making for a closer connection with SNS.

The new OS is due out this fall (with the expected iPhone 5 surely to accompany it). Given that Apple is already the world’s most recognisable brand (currently with 44 per cent of the mobile market) will its domination continue? Or will the rise of Android be enough to stop it? Google already has a storage service, only it now faces a tough challenge from Apple.

Better integration of social media features and business storage in the cloud could mean big changes for businesses in China and the rest of the world. The potential is huge. If you’re looking to make your mark in China through social media, through Apple or Android, contact Ren Media today, and see how we can help you.

With Linkedin one of the few western SNS not currently blocked in China, it’s in-road would seem assured. But whether or not it can harness this advantage is yet to be seen.  

Tianji has been online for six years now (since 2005) and it understands the Chinese market. While its growth would seem small, Tianji’s CEO, Derek Ling pointed out that it’s only recently that Chinese internet users have started to see the potential for business networking inherent online.

This can be attributed to the rise of other social media in China, such as Sina Weibo and RenRen. Consumers enjoying those sites will see Tianji (and maybe Linkedin too) and realise the potential of social media as an advertising tool for business.

If you are interested in using Tianji or Linkedin to promote your business to China and the world, why not contact us at Ren Media today and see what we can do for you.

One story is that Sina has recently begun a closed beta to test its new ‘Qing’ light blogging platform. Qing allows users to access a variety of features and cross-post them to their other Sina microblogging accounts. Qing will allow you to post articles, videos and pictures, with simultaneous upload of up to twenty images at a time.

A rumour also points to a new service called Qweibo, which will reportedly contain many new features, pushing Sina further into the realms of profitability. Qweibo is rumoured to be offering users the chance to make value-added purchases, such as decorative content and extra/improved services in addition to the usual features they have come to expect.

Always pushing the envelope, stay tuned to hear what Sina Weibo does next…

Tip of the hat to TechRice and MarbridgeDaily.com for the news.

Following on from various recent successes and developments, Tencent last week made several key announcements involving improvements to its already comprehensive online service.

In July, Tencent plans to launch its new Q+ open platform. The new open platform is designed for third party developers and joins Tencent’s already wide range of open development platforms, which currently house more than 1,000 third party applications.

Another feature Tencent is now implementing is its one-click sharing for micro blog users. Users can share their information and content across all of Tencent’s platforms and services (including QQ instant messenger, group accounts and their micro blog)

It’s these constant changes and refinements that keep Tencent ahead of the competition. Understanding the changing needs of the market is one of the company’s many strengths. Are you a company wanting to make your mark in China? Whether it be through social media, developing an app for the market, or wanting to use the platforms of companies like Tencent to enhance your business, Ren Media can help you. Contact us today.

Currently banned in China, Google has stated that they still see China as a very important online market and that the country is crucial to the further development of the global internet market.

John Liu, head of sales for Google in China said as much at a recent technology conference in Beijing.

Google encountered its fair share of problems with China during its last attempt to integrate itself into China’s online space. Many of its competitors and various analysts have all suggested that Google didn’t understand or fully anticipate the market before getting involved.

Has the company learned from its mistakes? Will we see a new attempt to assert its dominance on the only market it has so far failed to impact? Stay tuned for more…

If you’re looking to make an impact in China, why not contact us here at Ren Media. We are waiting with expert advice, guidance and unrivalled understanding of China’s online marketplace. Why not see what we can do for you today.

Linkedin, the highly successful professional social-networking site, maintains a small presence in China. Unlike Facbeook and Twitter, it is not currently banned in the country.

The company announced recently that they are very much interested in expanding in China, but that they wish to tread carefully.

Linkedin seems to understand that accessing the potentially lucrative Chinese online market takes time and careful planning. The company is looking to talk with businesses and set up a dialogue before rushing in.

Opening its doors wider to China would surely be an important step for the company, whose primary focus is on connecting professionals on a global scale. With China fast becoming the largest business market in the world, it is a logical and necessary step for the company.

Are you on Linkedin? Are you looking to access the huge business potential waiting online in China? Contact us at Ren Media today and see how our expert knowledge can help you.

Well, Sina initially set itself up as a microblogging service, but more and more it is heading towards being an SNS.

Some of the additions are subtle, some not so much. Aside from little additions, like friend invitations, the setting up of groups and so on, there are the more obvious steps towards SNS, like Sina’s open platform to allow developers to develop games and other apps to further entice customers.

Sina has been moving closer and closer towards SNS status for a while and its dominance of the market (140 million of China’s 477 million internet users are logged in) seems to suggest it has that magic touch.

As we reported before, Sina also has an app on the western app store. Now is the perfect time to get involved. We at Ren Media can help you and your business to understand the best ways to work with Sina and its competitors to get the most out of this ever-evolving global market. Contact us today.

Using the traditional French methods, Moet plans to plant 163 acres of its vines in Ningxia, whose climate and conditions closely match the French region famous for champagne.

Although sales of wine and champagne in China have risen dramatically in recent times, with China now consuming over a million bottles of wine a year, many Chinese still prefer the traditional Baijiu drink. However, the wine industry, like many other Chinese markets, is growing dramatically, with China’s own wine production set to double over the course of the next four years.

With other wine growers now acknowledging the need to grow in China, will we see a dramatic shift in the market as yet another industry is swept up in the fastest growing global market in the world?

Want to learn more about China's fast-growing global market and how your business can get involved? Contact us today and see how we can help you.

Stay tuned for more news…

It seems that China Mobile is looking to invest CNY10 billion in its Wi-Fi business in China. The Chinese Wi-Fi market is growing rapidly and currently accounts for 30% of China Mobile’s overall data traffic, as of the first financial quarter of 2011. This is a 150 times increase on its previous figures, which shows remarkable growth.

Its 3G data traffic also increased, by 85 times. All this, together with China Mobile chairman Wang Jianzhou’s statement that over four million iPhone users currently use his company’s service, and the future looks bright indeed for China Mobile.

Tip of the hat to Chinatechnews.com for the news.

Indeed, it seems Unicom is set to surpass China Mobile as the leading network for iPhone in China, with many customers switching over to the network.

China Mobile continues to go from strength to strength, however, and the battle to dominate China’s iPhone and mobile market seems to be just beginning. China Mobile Chairman Wang Jianzhou has also revealed plans to partner with Apple in releasing a TD-LTE version of the iPhone.

One thing for sure with all of these developments is that the benefits will ultimately be for the consumer. Competition between companies always provides great service and also provides great opportunities for other companies who are looking to get involved.

Want to see your business flourish in China’s online space? Ren Media has expert advice and services tailored to suit businesses looking to advertise or operate through China’s internet. Contact us today, and see how, when it comes to the competition between China Unicom and China Mobile, everybody wins.

Together, the two companies plan to make Blackberry services available for small businesses in China. In particular, they are focusing on using the Blackberry Bold 9650 model.

The company’s tablet, the Playbook, hasn’t sold particularly well since its introduction to the market last month. But now, more and more retailers in the UK and abroad are beginning to stock the tablet and are expected to begin selling it on the 16th of June.

This latest news highlights the importance of partnering and co-operating with established Chinese businesses in order to find success in the Chinese market. Now, with China Telecom’s help, Research in Motion is far better poised to make its mark in China.

Are you a company looking to make your mark in China? If yes, then RenMedia can help you. Our expert knowledge is only a click away. Contact us today, and see how we can help you.

Tencent has purchased a 16 per cent share of eLong Inc, one of China’s largest online travel companies. This makes it eLong’s second biggest shareholder.

As well as expanding its horizons with new investments, Tencent is also looking to strengthen its core business, with multiple services in the works for QQ, the company’s instant messaging software, which currently boasts 674 million active user accounts and counting.

Expansion is also in the works for Sina Weibo, who yesterday announced that their microblogging platform would be merged with that of 3G.cn’s (named Bula.cn). This means that the two companies will now be working together to bring their customers news, search and mobile apps, among other things.  

These are interesting times for both companies. Sina, in particular seems to always be in the news with their latest success. For them, world domination seems entirely possible in the future. But, companies like Tencent are also growing and expanding, making the Chinese online space a very exciting place to be.

Stay tuned for future updates…

Tip of the hat to Chinadaily Europe and Marbridge Daily for the information.

At the end of 2010, NetEase.com reported their figures at 320 million. The additional 40 million users that have joined in the last five months is an impressive figure that should not be taken lightly.

NetEase.com has been operating their email business since 1997, continuing to innovate and improve their service year on year, with faster speeds and increased options for users.

NetEase.com is another Chinese internet company that continues to flourish. Along with Sina Weibo, Alibaba, RenRen and Baidu, it is blazing a trail and setting a high standard for other internet companies to follow.

If you have a business that you want to see flourish in China’s internet space, then RenMedia can help you. We can keep you up to date with all the latest information on China’s leading internet companies as well as provide you with expert guidance on how to get the most out of your business when trying to crack the Chinese market. Contact us today.

As of March 31st, 2011, China has 477 million internet users and 3.82 million registered websites, according to a statement from Wang Jianwen, China’s deputy director of the Bureau of Telecommunication Administration.

This can only be good news for the ever-growing online space in China. Get involved today and be a part of one of the fastest growing markets in the world. 477 million internet users are waiting…

Ever since Google withdrew from the Chinese Market, its former partner, Baidu, has been going from strength to strength. Baidu now dominates the search market (claiming 77.6 percent of the total revenue).

Rumours have now started circulating that Baidu is set to partner in China with Microsoft, one of the world’s biggest companies and most recognisable brands. The partnership could be mutually beneficial to both parties, with Baidu making use of Microsoft’s Bing English search engine and Microsoft in turn making use of Baidu’s Chinese ranking technology.

Baidu’s spokesperson, Kaiser Kuo has said that an announcement is imminent.

Stay tuned for more information.

Thanks to Penn Olson for the news.

Sina continues to go from strength to strength, also announcing plans for its own, Weibo-based, instant messaging service.

The number of new apps using the company’s open platform has also increased. The company now estimates that there are between 50,000 and 70,000 new apps that have used the service.

Once partnered with Google, Sina now stands on its own as the company to beat in China’s Social Media space. Having already released an app on the western app store, will it be a matter of time before they conquer even more markets?

Stay tuned…

Tip of the hat to Marbridge Daily for the update.

Companies are being asked not to access the illegal information, or to not visit overseas sites without first explaining the reason for the visit.

This really highlights the fact that China’s own internet providers, social media and mobile app developers are the best and only way of accessing the Chinese internet market. Learning the ins and outs of China’s online infrastructure and understanding the way business is conducted both on and offline is the only way to truly reach the Chinese market.

RenMedia is committed to helping you to do just that. Contact us today and make use of our expertise to help your business.

Stay tuned for further developments.

We’ve run a number of stories recently ourselves about Facebook and how it is still trying to secure the Chinese market by partnering with Baidu. So, looking at Silicon Hutong’s article, I found the following quite interesting.

The article points out that Facebook needs to state its intentions clearly so that there can be no backlash further down the line (such as what happened to Google). More importantly, perhaps, the article talks about rebuilding the Facebook model from the ground up in order to suit China. This is a key point and of the utmost importance. Simply assuming the Chinese market is the same market with the same needs has been the downfall of many a western company.

Entering into the Chinese market, particularly through the online space can be a very daunting prospect and one that needs to be handled with care and consideration. The Chinese market is a potentially fantastic opportunity for any business, but learning from other’s mistakes and careful planning are essential.

It’s what we do at RenMedia, and our expertise can be yours. We have a great deal of knowledge and understanding of the Chinese online space and are ready to help you and your business to flourish in this growing market. So why not contact us today.

Google remains in second place, followed by IBM. Social media site Facebook came in at a respectable number 35.

Also very significant is the information that 12 of the top 100 brands are from China. This shows how Chinese brands are becoming more and more recognised the world over. China Mobile, in particular, made the top 10 (at number 9).

Other significant entries for China included The Industrial Bank of China Ltd. (number 11) and Baidu, which rose an astonishing 46 places this year to sit at 29th in the world.

Apple is a shining example of a brand that has successfully breached the global market and is as recognisable today as McDonald’s or Coca-Cola. Apple understands the market and, despite the rise of Google’s Android Smartphones, looks set to dominate the market for some time to come.

Yesterday, we reported on Apple’s latest successes with its latest technology, and, with the iPhone 5 rumoured to be out this September, further success for the world’s most recognisable brand seems assured.

There has never been a better time to get involved in the mobile advertising space. Your business could be promoted through Apple’s brand and across the wide range of social media available on iPhone, and across the entire range of Apple products. RenMedia can help you now, so don’t hesitate to get involved in the future of technology and innovation – contact us today and we can help you to reach out to China and the rest of the world.

By the end of the first day’s trading, the white iPhone was only available by pre-order in most Apple stores. Customers could still walk in off the street and purchase a black iPhone, but many are still desperate to get their hands on the white version.

While the iPad 2 didn’t sell quite as well, the demand was still high for the tablet device. It seems to be smartphones, however, that are the preferred choice of the consumer in China. The number of smartphone owners in China has risen to nearly 230 million, making it one of the most important markets for smartphone companies in the world.

It is also fast becoming one of the largest, most important markets for businesses looking to compete in the mobile and/or internet space. With such a huge install base of smartphone users, understanding mobile OS companies and social media sites like Sina Weibo and Douban is key to understanding the market.

Are you a company looking to start up business relations with Chinese companies? Are you looking to reach the millions of Chinese consumers currently using smartphones? If so, then RenMedia can help you. We understand this market and are waiting with expert advice and knowledge that can take you that step further into China. Why not contact us today.

   With over 800 million mobile users in China, Rovio’s dreams may not be too far out of reach.

   Another interesting bit of news related to Apps and mobile business is the news that leading online video service YouKu is hoping to replace YouTube as a pre-installed app on Chinese iPhones. As YouTube is currently blocked in China, this may well become a reality.

   The mobile OS space is one of the fastest growing industries in the world and Peter Vesterbacka has said he wants to be ‘more Chinese than most Chinese companies’ – while this statement may sound slightly absurd, it shows not only Vesterbacka’s lofty goals, but also his commitment to the Chinese market. Whether or not Rovio can achieve its latest goals, however, may not even be in question as Angry Birds’ rise seems truly unstoppable.

   Here at RenMedia, we too are committed to the growth of the online media industry in China of both UK and Chinese brands. Think you have the business model to succeed in these diverse markets? Why not contact us and get expert advice and feedback on how to make your business a success and see how we can help you.

   While not the first Chinese media company of its kind to go public on the American market, RenRen’s high profile debut has thrown the spotlight firmly onto the continued rapid growth of Chinese media business. With many other companies, such as Sina Weibo and Baidu also making an impact outside of China, it seems that the first steps have been taken towards such companies sitting side by side with western social media giants and micro-blogging sites, such as Facebook and Twitter.

   Another important factor to consider is how this will impact the global economic market, particularly in relation to western businesses. These companies offer a window into China, through social media. A business that can learn to use these companies is one that will benefit hugely. Understanding the audience expectations and structure of sites such as RenRen and Sina is key to using them to reach the potentially huge Chinese market.

   Whether you are looking to attract more tourist business from China, increase the scope of your business outreach into these territories, or simply want to know the most efficient and interesting ways to advertise in China’s social media space, then contact us at RenMedia and find out how we can help you.

Alibaba is well-known for its rivalry with fellow internet company Baidu. So tellingly, after Baidu announced its own, Android-based mobile OS, Wang Jian announced something quite different.

   App-based browsing, he said, is good for many things, but cannot fully recreate the full web experience. He talked of an OS that could help companies to run their businesses on mobile platforms without compromise.

   Wang Jian did not present such an OS, but his proposal is one that is sure to shake the foundations of Chinese internet business. Could such an OS be possible at this point in time? If so, what would its implications be? Is it really possible to fully recreate the full web experience on a mobile OS platform? It is certainly something that would appeal to companies around the world, and, if implemented successfully, could seal the global dominance of mobile media.

Hopefully some answers will follow soon.

   There are many advantages of going public, not least the prestige. It sends a message that the company is to be taken seriously in the global market. Also, because a public company (as opposed to a pre-IPO private one) can always issue more stock, making mergers and acquisitions is an easier process.

RenRen, like SinaWeibo, is often seen as a Chinese Facebook. Like Facebook, RenRen started life as a social network that uses people’s real identities. Also, like Facebook, it has grown to accommodate online gaming and e-commerce features to encourage outside businesses. Aside from this, it also allows third party developers to create apps, as well as featuring a Connect program (which allows the sharing of content from other sites).

RenRen’s rise can be seen as a direct result of the company’s ability to mirror the services offered by Facebook in a country where Facebook is banned. RenRen’s latest figures suggest that more than 30 million users logged on to the service in the past month.

More on this story as it develops.

   Currently not accessible in China, Facebook is looking to partner with various existing social media companies that already have a secure foothold and share costs (and also profits) with them. A widely purported partner is Chinese Internet company Baidu, the latest company with whom Facebook hopes to cut a deal.

   With global domination so close, can Facebook reach out to China’s still growing millions of internet users?

   If it is to be successful in its goals, it would have to show a business model that could compete with Sina Weibo, which many view as already combining elements from different western social media sites and tailoring them to better suit Chinese tastes. Being already established, Sina has the edge and is also already beginning to encroach on overseas markets (such as with its iPhone app).

   The potential audience is waiting, but can Facebook work the deal it so badly needs to secure the last untapped market for western social media? And, even more importantly, will it be in time?

 Stay tuned…

Sina Weibo already has Chinese language apps on other major mobile platforms, like Android, so we can expect the English language version to be available for other platforms soon.

Sina have been talking a lot recently about expanding the Weibo brand internationally and this looks to be the first step.

Can we also expect a English language web version? Stay tuned.

via Gadgets Republic

Google continues to remain in China but also continues to experience problems.

The search giant claims growth, but this is primarily in advertising sales, with search and it's map business experiencing major obstacles.

"Google's revenue in China has grown year-on-year," said a company spokeswoman. "Our business in China is doing well. We have hundreds of partners - large and small - who we continue to work with."

Lots of articles this week about various British companies setting up shop in China.

Intercontinental hotels is planning a Chinese brand:

"The world's largest hotels company, InterContinental, is working on plans for a Chinese-style international brand in another signal of the importance of the yuan to global business."

"InterContinental reckons that Chinese demand for hotel rooms will overtake demand from the United States by 2025. The Chinese took an estimated 52m international trips last year and 2.1bn overnight trips within their own country – a figure likely to rise to 6bn by 2020."

Leading Mother- and baby-products retailer Mothercare UK is also looking to expand in China:

"The company intends to set up 15 new outlets every year in China over the next few years. It is an ambitious target considering that Mothercare only arrived in China in 2008 with a store in Solana Lifestyle Shopping Park, Beijing. The company had 11 stores in China, mostly in the affluent areas of big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou by the end of last year."

Also Hampshire comapny Stannah Stairlift has recently signed a joint-venture deal in China.

"Today, the bulk of Stannah's sales are overseas, driven in part by manufacturing's friend, the weak pound. The latest move, the Chinese joint-venture, looks set to open further doors. The company has had a sales and distribution partner in the country for some time but has now signed a formal deal."

Articles via Guardian, Telegraph and asiaone.com

Interesting article in the Telegraph, talking about the growing surge in Chinese tourists and the affect this will have on the retail and travel industry.

"The influence of Chinese tourists and consumers will become so great over the coming years it will become routine for the Yuan, known officially as the renminbi, to be stocked alongside the Pound, euro and US Dollar.

Dr Karl Gerth, from Oxford University’s Faculty of History, has studied the growing worldwide influence of the Chinese consumers in difficult economic times.

He predicts that a growing number of UK and US brands will soon come under Chinese ownership. He also claims that British shops will soon need to stock stocked due to unprecedented demand from Chinese tourists.

He makes his predictions in a new book titled “As China Goes, So Goes the World: How Chinese Consumers Are Transforming Everything, which is based on five years of research and his experience in the Asian nation over the past 25 years."

Read more here

Official Message from The UK PM.

Prime Minister David Cameron has sent his best wishes to people in China, the United Kingdom and around the world who are celebrating Chinese New Year.

The PM said Chinese New Year was a “time for friends and family, for new beginnings and old wisdom, and for hope and optimism”.

Mr Cameron paid tribute to the enormous contribution the Chinese community makes to the UK and praised their values of “hard work, enterprise and community”.

“These are values we need to create a strong economy and a strong society.”

The PM said the United Kingdom and China were “partners in growth” with more investment and economic development between the two countries creating new deals and new jobs.

Via http://www.number10.gov.uk

Now there's 457 million online in China. A whopping 303 million of those are mobile internet users.

This is with 34% penetration. Even bigger numbers to come.

More here

Reports that Groupon is in talks with China's Tencent.

"Groupon is in talks with Chinese Internet giant Tencent to form a partnership to accelerate its effort in the critical Asian arena, said several sources with knowledge of the situation.

Terms of the deal are unclear, but sources said that it is likely to involve some sort of co-branded joint venture effort between the two–a key strategic move for Groupon, given the hard-to-penetrate-if-you’re-not-Chinese Chinese market.

More typical for Groupon has been to buy a top local player abroad and rebrand it, such as its launch of Groupon Hong Kong, Groupon Singapore and Groupon Philippines and Groupon Taiwan through the early December acquisition of daily deal sites uBuyiBuy, Beeconomic and Atlaspost, respectively."

Original article here

Chinese mainland tourists were expected to make 54 million outbound trips last year, up 15 percent year on year, the China Tourism Academy said in its annual report on the national tourism industry.

Stronger purchasing power and the appreciation of the Renminbi helped boost overseas trips, the report noted.
Private trips made up about 90 percent of the total, as the government tightened checks on business trips funded by public money.

The report predicted that outbound tours would increase 5 percent to 57 million in 2011, while overseas spending would jump 14 percent to $55 billion.

Tens of millions of wealthier ordinary Chinese will continue to help boost economic growth and employment in the world's major tourist destinations, said Dai Bin, deputy head of the academy.

China Vice Premier Li Keqiang arrives in London today folllowing a successful visit to Scotland where a £6.4m clean energy deal was negotiated.

 "Stronger relations with China offer a real opportunity for Britain in terms of trade, jobs, and economic growth," the Prime Minister said ahead of today's visit.

Mr Clegg said: "I see the UK and China as partners for growth. Our economies are becoming increasingly complementary, with UK companies ideally placed to contribute to China's future economic development.

"They have the goods and services, experience and skills to match China's ambition to restructure.

"I, along with my colleagues across Government, look forward to discussing the full range of our interests during Vice-Premier Li's visit - everything from trade and investment to climate change and educational links. No subject will be off limits."

from Sky News

"Is China’s government going after Skype?

Media reports over the past week have raised that prospect in relation to a government clampdown on “illegal” voice-over-Internet-protocol, or VoIP, telephone services.

But it’s far from clear at this point that Skype is, in fact, a target.

The recent spate of reports has its roots in a brief notice (in Chinese), dated Dec. 10, on the website of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. “Currently, our ministry is working with relevant departments on launching an effort to strike against illegal VoIP services, and we are collecting clues from the public about illegal VoIP cases,” said the notice, which listed a phone number people can call to report such services. “We welcome people from all walks of life to report clues on illegal VoIP using their real names. Our ministry will do whatever is legally possible to protect the confidentiality of those who report.”

The notice made no mention of Skype, nor of any other company."

Read the whole article here

"China gained 36 million additional internet users last year meaning there are now over 440 million internet users in the country. English has long been the most widely used language on the internet but with Chinese Internet growth rising at the rate it is, it could be less than five years before Chinese becomes the dominant language on the internet."

Article and infographic at The Next Web

“While location-based service provider Foursquare is carving an interesting niche with its social network “check-in” services in the U.S., a motley collection of Chinese companies is rushing to cash in on the same idea with the world’s largest Internet population.

Essentially nonexistent two years ago, China’s location-based services market boasted three to four million active users by the end of the third quarter this year, according to a report from Beijing-based market research firm Analysys International. With the rise of mobile Internet use in China, a number of industry analysts have suggested location-based services could eventually become a massive revenue generator, and there’s no shortage of people hoping to position themselves in case that happens.

According to industry analysts’ calculations, China is already home to more than 30 Foursquare-like location-based service companies, many of which are growing at a decent clip.

As has happened in the U.S., Chinese businesses are trying to take advantage of location-based networks to promote their products. On its debut in May, Jiepang signed a deal with a café chain in Beijing to offer users free coffee the first time they check in at one of the stores. The site has also joined up with more than a thousand group shopping websites to help users enjoy bulk purchase discounts on a variety of goods.”

Full article at Wall Street Journal

“Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg started a visit to China on Monday with a tour of the offices of the country’s top search engine, while his own social networking site remained blocked on the mainland.

China censors Internet content it deems politically sensitive and blocks many websites, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. But curiosity has been high about Zuckerberg’s visit to China and any possible business angles.”

Zuckerberg has expressed a business interest in China, saying during a speaking engagement in October, “How can you connect the whole world if you leave out 1.6 billion people?”

Full article at Asian Correspondent

"Tencent, the world's third largest Internet company by market share, launched its popular instant messenger service in English, Japanese and French.

The launch of QQi Instant Messenger is an international version of its Chinese QQ instant messaging services, which has 600 million subscribers -- the largest instant messaging subscriber base in the world.

Versions in Korean, Spanish and German are planned to be released early next year, a company spokesperson said. Tencent is also planning the release of its first English language social networking site in early 2011.

Marc Violo, product manager for QQi, said the launch marks a tentative step toward bringing products from the hugely popular Chinese Internet company to an overseas audience."

"We have no intention of trying to compete with Skype or MSN instant messenger," Violo said.

"We're looking to expand our reach outside of China to get involved with people who are interested in China."

Full article at CNN

The telecom is closely followed by the nation's top four banks--Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (No. 2), Bank of China (No. 3), China Construction Bank (No. 4), and Agricultural Bank of China (No. 6), according to Millward Brown's inaugural BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable Chinese Brands survey released this week in Beijing.

Commissioned by WPP, the study used financial data and consumer opinions on brands to arrive at a dollar value. The views of more than 35,000 Chinese consumers are included in the BrandZ database, and financial and market information is from Bloomberg and DataMonitor.

China Mobile's ad budget around $700 million:

The top 50 brands on the Chinese list span 19 categories, including banking, technology, retail, apparel, food and beverages. They represent a total value of $280 billion, equivalent to slightly more than 5% of the Chinese economy.

China's economy is now at a tipping point, he said. "Consumers have an increasing number of brands to choose from. If you take all 11 giants on our list, they spend about $2 billion per year in supporting their brands. State-owned enterprises are very active marketers.

Some state-owned companies, such as China Mobile, have taken advantage of favorable market conditions to adopt sophisticated brand strategies and market segmentation. That should help them face greater competition in the future.

Innovator brands like Tencent and Baidu have developed great products. Other innovative brands are China Merchants Bank (No. 11), which has invested heavily in branding and rolling out new customer offerings; domestic auto maker BYD (No. 19), known for its electric car and green technology; and Haier Group (No. 29), recognized for energy-efficient products and consistent branding.

Package goods, beverage and retail brands operate in crowded categories where brand building is critical role. In this group, trust and product performance are key factors in successful branding. Wine and beer brands Changyu (No. 22), Tsingtao (No. 35) and Great Wall created strong brands. Sportswear and clothing brands also stand out, with Li Ning (No. 24), Meters/bonwe (No. 31), Anta (No. 43) and 361 Degrees (No. 44) ranking in the top 50.”

China Brand Ranking 01 – 26

China Brand Ranking 27 - 50

Full article at Advertising Age China

"There has been much debate about whether the Internet would bring democratic transformation in China. Optimists argue that the Internet has facilitated political mobilization and citizen activism, provided better access to information, created bigger space for free speech, forced more openness in government, and created opportunities for democracy advocates to spread their ideas and connect with each other.

While the broader, longer-term impact of the Internet may still be unclear, it has definitely led to some changes to Chinese politics already. One such change involves popular protests and their outcomes.

Of course, the Internet cannot guarantee that all individual or small-scale protests succeed in achieving their objectives, but with its assistance, protesters no longer have to gather a large crowd in the real world in order to make the government listen and yield to their demands. The Internet has empowered Chinese citizens by removing one major constraint on their political activism: the need for strong organizational backing.

Naturally, this also means that the Chinese government faces a more difficult challenge in maintaining political and social stability. If this forces the government to become more responsive to citizens’ demands, then the Internet has definitely had a positive impact on political development in China."

Full article at Wall Street Journal

"Millennials are considered to be the "largest, most diverse, educated and influential shoppers on the planet," according to Gen Buy. With an estimated 1.7 billion of us worldwide and 300 million in China, marketers would be crazy not to recognize us.

We [Millennials] are vocal, passionate, and big spenders...we're basically a marketer's dream, if we like you. Furthermore, we are active in social media and would be happy to advocate for your brand if you approach us in the right way.

Millennials' brand purchasing decisions are not made in silos. Even when considering some of the most basic buys, over 50% use four or more sources of information to help make a decision and a third use seven or more sources.

In the ever important digital world, the use of technology is a way of life for us as the internet and mobile internet provide endless sources to help us make choices. When my friend Belly Su was planning to purchase a car, she first went to Sina.com's auto channel to learn about its various features. Then she reviewed the conversations on Xcar.com, which provides a forum for car owners to review their vehicles, followed by logging onto Sina Weibo and asking her close friends to help her make the final decision. With our voracious appetite for information and engagement, brands should be sure to find us on various platforms.

While technology makes this constant connection possible, we build our own filters to sort out what's important to us. It is essential for brands to remember that digital media is only one part of the way in which we learn about, respond to, and ultimately engage with brands.

When Millennials were asked what they have done on behalf of a brand they trust and respect, 84% in China said they have recommended the products to their family and friends. They often friend or follow that brand on their social network (73%) or volunteer to test new products (55%)."

Full article at Advertising Age China

"China will continue to record stable and rapid growth in 2011, and the growth rate is expected to top 10 percent, according to the Chinese Economy Blue Book 2011 released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS.)

The blue book said that China's GDP growth for 2010 will be around 9.9 percent. Factors affecting the country's economic situation will not change significantly.

The basic drivers of domestic growth, world economic environment and the intensity of macro control policies are regarded as the major factors influencing China's economic growth, said the blue book."

Full article at People’s Daily

"A report by ZenithOptimedia (owned by the Publicis Group; PUB.Euronext) forecasts that China will overtake Germany as the world's third-largest advertising market in 2011, Dow Jones reported. Spending on advertising in China is expected to grow by an average of 51% over the next three years, reaching US$34.24 billion in 2013, and China is already the second-largest contributor to ad spending growth behind the US.

Ad spending growth is expected to be driven by two primary factors: increased spending in developing economies and on digital media platforms."

Full article at China Economic Review

"By the end of 2009, China had 670,000 households membered in the $1-million-wealth club, boasting the third-largest population of millionaires in the world behind only the US and Japan, according to a report released by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) on Thursday.

Also, according to the report, in 2009, the country's composite wealth reached $5.4 trillion, up 28 percent compared with only a year earlier (2008).

The report mentioned that compared with the rich in other countries, the Chinese prefer to keep their cash in form of deposit, rather than investing in stocks and bonds.

The Hong Kong area, has become a popular investment destination for the rich from the Chinese mainland to invest and live, as well as become an increasingly important offshore wealth center for them (mainlanders)."

Full article at Global Times

“A new dawn in communications is heralded by the launch of the UK's first English-language Chinese paper.

China Daily, China's leading English-language newspaper, will appear as a new weekly edition on UK news stands from Friday, December 3.

Eager to help bridge the current affairs gap that exists between China and Europe, China Daily European Weekly follows the highly successful launch of the China Daily US and Hong Kong editions. Today, China Daily has a worldwide circulation of nearly 400,000. The European edition will be distributed in the UK and from Brussels, building on China Daily's aspiration to be a newspaper which provides a window for China to understand and be understood by the world.

China Daily European Weekly is available from news agents and through distributors from 3 December 2010.”

Full article at China Daily

"Two Chinese online video companies, Tudou and Youku, are going public. According to iResearch’s latest data, China’s Q3 online video market in 2010 reached 1.39 billion yuan (about US$208 million), up 32.4% compared to the previous quarter.

The online video market in China is estimated to reach 16.99 billion in 2013."

Full article at China Internet Watch

A Chinese Twitter-style website that was shut down last year at a politically sensitive time appeared to have been resurrected Friday, though it wasn’t the same site users remember.

Although Fanfou’s revival comes just as microblogging is taking off in China, the service faces bigger competition than it did early last year. Sina Weibo, a microblog service from major Internet portal operator Sina, has grown to 50 million registered users, the largest service of its kind in China according to analysts.

Fanfou did not reply to emailed questions about the site’s status.

“It’ll be interesting to see if there is any loyalty” to Fanfou after its long downtime, said Duncan Clark, chairman of consulting firm BDA China. “It’s just such a blast from the past.”

If Fanfou does become a major service, it will face more pressure to follow government censorship expectations, Clark said. “To be able to stay big, you have to play by the rules of the game.”

Full article at Wall Street Journal

“By October 20,2010, just 14 month after its beta launch on August 28, 2009, Sina Weibo has reached 50 million registered users, and over 25 million updates (tweets) published every day. So far, over 2 billion tweets have been published on Sina Weibo platform.

Since its beta launch, Sina Weibo only took 66 days to reach its 1 million-user milestone; and by April 28, 2010, or eight months after launch, it reached 10 million users; then took another four month to reach 30 million users. Just in past 2 months, it got additional 20 million new users. It may be the fastest growing Internet product in China.

Currently, each second there are 785 updates on Sina Weibo, among them about 38% are made on mobile devices.

Youku, one of partners of Sina Weibo, witnessed its videos play over 1.3 million times on Sina Weibo every day.

On July 28, 2010, Sina Weibo opened its platform for apps, there are over 800 applications by now.”

Full article at China Web Radar

-----

Remarkably, as the number of middle to upper income consumers continues to grow towards an estimated 300 million-plus by 2015 the range of targeted media capable of gaining their attention has expanded relatively little.

Add to all this the high cost of Chinese media and the daunting size of the country and it's easy to see why few premium or luxury brands have established clear leadership in their respective categories.

Clearly these problems aren't easy or quick to resolve, but there are two emerging trends that offer possible solutions.

Firstly, digital media is probably the most effective medium for the premium or luxury brand in China both in terms of reaching the desired target and as a practical means of coping with national expansion.

However, in my experience most international luxury brands still rely on well-established traditional media and well-understood marketing models to reach their consumers.  They are on steep learning curves when it comes to digital media.

The second major trend in China is branded content, applied across multiple media. A typical campaign might involve the placement of a product such as a car in a key scene of a carefully selected TV drama. The film footage might then be spun across the web through social networking sites and forums, with radio 'phone-ins' to discuss consumer's reactions with a variety of magazine articles, traditional print or outdoor advertising to continue and develop the 'buzz'.

There are few rules here and the possibilities are exciting if you have cross-media access and influence. It also recognizes the potential impact of developing a 'dialogue' with consumers through a number of stages over time.  Just as importantly, this approach is re-focusing attention within state-owned media broadcasters on the importance and value of investing in content.”

Full article at TMT China

SINA Corp, which operates the largest web portal in China, is reported to have entered into a strategic partnership with MSN China, as Qihoo 360 –China’s biggest anti-virus vendor –and Tencent, maker of the country’s most popular instant messaging software QQ are still in the vicious cat-fight.

It is said that the collaboration between SINA and Microsoft’s instant messaging service will be limited with business operations, and SINA will not overtake Shanghai Alliance Investment as MSN China’s new partner.

Currently, users will be able to access SINA’s websites to download MSN, besides SINA’s own instant tool, the so-called UC.

The collaboration will include SINA’s Twitter-like microblog service, blog and instant messaging as well as portal news services.

Full article at Caijing

"Although officials insisted this week that Shanghai’s current family-planning policies aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, in the same breath, the Shanghai Population and Family Planning Commission announced that Shanghai is in the middle of a baby boom -- one child per family of course.

The boom, which started in 2006 according to officials, means an extra 4,000 babies in the city this year, totaling 168,000 children, up from 164,600 last year.

The number is expected to increase to 170,000 in 2011, and the city should expect the rise to continue through to 2017. 

The boom, according to the Shanghai Population and Family Planning Commission, is due to the rise in the number of people born in the 1980s who are now getting married and quickly starting families, and more migrant workers having children in the city.

Among those migrant workers who have children in Shanghai, 59 percent want their children to grow up and develop their future career in the city."

Full article at CNN

“This weekend, Candy Lin of the Beijing-based fashion label Candy & Caviar and Nels Frye of Stylites in Beijing appeared on CCTV’s “Crossover” to discuss key trends in the Chinese fashion industry. Definitely worth a watch for anyone interested in the Chinese fashion scene, specifically developments in the Beijing scene”

Video: Crossover 2010-10-31 Fashion in China

Full article at Jing Daily

This week, Fan Cheuk Wan of Credit Suisse spoke to CNN about the possibility that China could overtake the U.S. to become the world’s largest consumer market by 2020. Fielding questions about what could drive Chinese consumers to spend more and save less, an issue that concerns broader issues like the country’s lack of a social safety net, Fan says that income reform and “substantial” growth in labor wages will be the catalysts for more individual spending in the next decade….Additionally, Fan points out that the strengthening of the yuan will in turn strengthen the buying power of Chinese consumers, increasing demand for imported consumer products.

Full article at Jing Daily

“The Chinese shopper is finally becoming more like her counterpart in the rest of the world — at least, in some ways. Our recent research suggests that people in China are making fewer visits to stores and are spending more on each shopping trip. For instance, in 2010, Chinese shoppers went to a store every two weeks on average to purchase personal care products such as shampoo and soap — down from as many as 1.4 visits a week in 2006. Consequently, the average basket size has risen by more than 50%.

It's easy to see why this is happening. Busier people have less time to shop and want to make better use of their time. Rising home prices are also pushing young Chinese into suburban communities, forcing them to make fewer and longer shopping trips. Moreover, they can afford to buy more because disposable incomes have risen.

No one could be happier than China's retailers, who introduced modern big-box formats, and consumer goods marketers, who geared their products, packaging, and promotions toward a type of consumer that was elusive in the country until now. Smart marketers are using four strategies to capitalize on the new trend.”

Full article at Harvard Business Review

“China has launched an official online mapping service as US Internet giant Google continues to hold out on applying for a licence to provide a similar service in the country, state media said Friday.

The government-backed service Map World is free and allows users to search for two and three-dimensional images across the globe, the China Daily said.

"In the near future, Map World will grow to be a famous Chinese brand for online map services with proven reliability," Xu Deming, director of the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, was quoted as saying.

The technology and website construction for www.tianditu.cn and www.chinaonmap.cn are still "at a preliminary stage", the report added

The service is expected to update its geological data twice a year, while Google Earth is able to update every couple of minutes, said Jiang Jie, another official at the surveying and mapping bureau.

Google's mapping service in China has been left in limbo after the government introduced new rules in May requiring all firms providing Internet map and location services in the country to apply for approval from the bureau.”

Full article at The Independent

“The largest global research project into online behavior has concluded that the Chinese are some of the internet's most enthusiastic users. The survey, conducted by Digital Life, covers an astounding 90% of the worlds online population through 50,000 interviews with consumers in 46 countries.

Some of the interesting stuff they found:

- China, along with Egypt and Saudi Arabia, topped the list with about 55% of online users rated as "highly engaged", meaning people in those countries are more likely to post blogs, photos or videos online, and value internet access more than those in developed markets. Contrast that to Japan (20%), Denmark (25%) or Finland (26%).

- It's a country of bloggers: four out of five online users in China (88%) have a blog, compared to only 32% in the US.

- But all this internet use may be hurting our interpersonal skills. 64% of Chinese online users say they can better express their feelings on the internet.”

Full article at Shanghaiist

"Chinese online shoppers may be new to e-commerce compared with their American counterparts, but their expectations are high, according to Deutsche Bank analyst Alan Hellawell.

In a panel (on which this reporter was also a speaker) on e-commerce at Stanford University’s China 2.0 conference in Beijing this week, Hellawell said Chinese online retailers have achieved a level of service that far surpasses expectations for service in the U.S. In Beijing, for example, if a consumer were to place an order at 10 a.m., it would be possible for that order to be delivered by 3 p.m. “The threshold for excellence is already extremely high,” he said.

Companies hoping to compete in the space would need to make the logistics of payment and delivery a part of their strategy—something China’s biggest players including Alibaba Group, 360buy and Newegg have all been working on.

Hellawell estimates that e-commerce penetration will grow to become 7.2% of the total retail market in China by 2013, up from 2% now. In comparison, online transactions make up 6% of all retail in the U.S., he said."

Full article at Wall Street Journal

"The New York Times reports today that more top luxury brands — including Gucci, Fendi and Stella McCartney — are adding children’s lines to their collections, in a move that may indicate that the global luxury industry is moving beyond recovery and towards actual growth for the first time in two years.

Although the high-end children’s market is still centered in Europe, it’s no surprise that China is seen as a prime potential destination for top brands’ children’s lines, and not just because of the country’s population. China’s one-child policy has, over the past 30 years, brought the emergence of the “Little Emperor,” an only child who can best be described as “spoiled rotten” by parents and grandparents. Generally raised in China’s more prosperous coastal cities, “Little Emperors” present a huge opportunity for Western luxury brands that have already made fans of mom and dad.

This week, the Chinese news portal PCBaby looks at the prospects for top luxury brands in the Chinese children’s market, suggesting the industry has experienced three stages of development since 1990: product awareness (1990-2000), brand awareness (2000-2010), and high-end brand maturity (2010-).

Whether this luxury demographic proves a windfall for Western brands, domestic Chinese brands, or both, China’s “Little Emperors” are certain to make up a significant portion of high-end sales in coming years, and — given the country’s population and growing affluence in second- and third-tier cities — it wouldn’t be surprising to see China become the world’s top single market for luxury children’s wear within the next five to 10 years."

Full article at Jing Daily

Over the years, with a clear, clever brand positioning, Shanghai Tang has developed itself into an international brand offering contemporary Chinese chic. Each season, it looks for inspirations from its home country, from the Forbidden City buildings to contemporary Chinese art. Its clothes are decent, wearable and a witty mix of Eastern and Western cultures.

For long, perceptions of quality have haunted Chinese brands, making a joke out of everything from clothes to toys. However, things are changing these days, with more and more homegrown brands proudly announcing their top "made in China" quality.

Last month, Shang Xia, a new clothing and lifestyle brand conceived by Shanghai native designer Jiang Qiong'er and funded by the French luxury fashion group Hermes, opened its first boutique worldwide in the city's Hong Kong Plaza.

Full article at Shanghai Daily

"The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), a leading Chinese government think-tank, released a report Tuesday on the country's economic situation and forecast the country's 2010 GDP would expand by 9.9 percent year-on-year.

The report also revealed consumption in 2010 is on growing trend, but fixed-assets investments and export volume have declined.

The growth setback for fixed-assets investments predicted by CASS at 19.5 percent (13.8 percent lower than 2009) is to blame on a series of macroeconomic policies since April targeted at the soaring housing prices, which posed significant pressure on the property development sector."

Full article at Global Times

The Hong Kong and mainland China markets have consistently been some of the most lucrative for Swiss watchmakers, with Hong Kong becoming the world’s top individual market (with turnover of some $2 million in the first eight months of this year alone) and China moving into the top three national markets — behind only the U.S. and France — in the same time period. Following years of solid growth and sales figures in both Hong Kong and China, executives and retailers are rightfully bullish. Last month, the CEO of the LVMH-owned watchmaker Hublot said that his company predicts “30 years of growth” in China, with “no limit during [his] lifetime,” and during the ongoing Golden Week holiday, Hong Kong retailers have been inundated with mainland buyers.

Full article at Jing Daily

"An official news blackout in China surrounding Premier Wen Jiabao’s interview over the weekend with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria hasn’t kept it from becoming one of the hottest topics on the Chinese Internet. If anything, censorship has only made it hotter—possibly giving Wen additional political clout in the process.

“The longer the newspapers refuse to report it, the more need there is for us to discuss it vigorously,” one user on Sina Weibo, Sina.com’s popular Twitter-like micro-blogging service, wrote about the interview.

Information about the interview on the Chinese Internet appears to come almost exclusively from Phoenix TV, blogs and micro-blogging services like Sina Weibo. News portals in China are running a commentary on the interview from the official Liberation Daily newspaper that manages not to quote Wen at all, focusing instead on the differences in Zakaria’s questions from 2008 and 2010.

The irony of Wen’s statements on freedom and censorship being censored in official media was not lost on Chinese observers."

Full article at Wall Street Journal

In today’s China, the only system which permits some kind of appeal and checks and balances is the Internet…so, when Google and other western companies protest censorship in China, they really miss the big story. The Chinese Internet represents a channel for Chinese which they have not had before in the first 61 years of the People’s Republic. It represents a channel for protests and representations which did not exist during Mao’s lifetime. And it is VERY effective. This power comes from the Chinese people and their ability to swiftly organize on the Internet.

Google’s failure to grow significantly in China is based on its failure to understand how the Chinese would develop the Internet to suit their own needs. Sina is a company which is under very tight Chinese government supervision, yet they developed Sina Weibo. Why couldn’t Google have developed it? My guess is that Google’s management wasted so much attention and cycles on the government censorship issue that they failed to spot any other opportunities in China.

And western political pundits who support more freedom for Chinese miss the point by complaining about the Great Firewall of China. Most of the sites outside the GFW are in English anyway, a language the vast majority of Chinese just are not interested in. Instead of building more tools to go outside the GFW, they should focus on building tools to make it easier for Chinese to express themselves on the Internet within China. Ironically, Sina has done a much better job at this than Google.

Full article at Forbes 

"Chinese firms are increasingly viewing Western firms as a short-term partner, a medium-term customer or client and a long-term competitor. Operating a JV in China was tough enough before the crash in the US & Europe and China’s new ‘indigenous innovation’ policy came into force – but many international managers in China now see a bleak future.
Here are a few useful tactics for negotiating a long term relationship in China:

1. Plan first, negotiate after.
Don’t shy away from asking yourself hard questions about your basic plans for China. Do you really need a long term partner in China? Why? What’s the relative balance of power going to be through the life of your partnership?

2. Structure is everything in China.
Forget about NDAs and contracts. The deal that makes sense is the deal you’ll end up with. If you plan on having a long term relationship, structure accordingly

3. Consider a sunset clause. 
Your best relationship may be a short one with an option for some type of longer-term arrangement.

4. Don’t pay today for what may or may not come tomorrow. 
Cynical Chinese negotiators learned long ago that naïve Americans believe in the fantasy of ‘long-term guanxi’ and are more than happy to let you pay up-front for the relationship of your dreams. Their dream is being the sole patriarch of a family dynasty. You aren’t in their dream.

5. Use your words. 
If you have thought it through and decided that a long-term relationship is what you want, then make that part of your negotiation from the beginning. Be explicit and open."

Full article at Chinese Negotiation 

“Asian companies, especially those from the Greater China region, have emerged as big winners in shareholder returns despite, or perhaps because of, the global financial crisis and recent stock market depression, a new report says.

The report, from Boston Consulting Group, sampled a total of 712 companies between 2005 and 2009 and compared them on the basis of so-called “total shareholder return” (TSR), a measure that combines capital gains with cash payouts via dividends, share buybacks or debt payments. Among the top ten firms deemed to be the most rewarding investments for their shareholders based on TSR, seven hailed from either mainland China or Taiwan.

Shenzhen-based Internet company Tencent Holdings (TCTZF) topped the list with a stunning total shareholder return rate of 106.3% over the five-year study period.”

Full article at The Wall Street Journal

“Chinese citizens can voice their opinions in a wide variety of ways on the Internet. The Internet is given full scope in China, and has become an important channel for people to obtain various types of information and voice their opinions.

China's websites attach great importance to providing netizens with services that enable them to express their opinions, with over 80 percent of them providing electronic bulletin service. In China there are over a million bulletin board services (BBS) and some 220 million bloggers.

According to a sample survey, each day people post over three million messages via BBS, news commentary sites, blogs, etc., and over 66 percent of Chinese netizens frequently place postings to discuss various topics, and to fully express their opinions and represent their interests. At the same time, the Internet has become a new channel for the Chinese government to get to know the public opinion and amass the people's wisdom, and consequently exercise governance for the people and improve its work in this respect.

The leaders of China frequently log onto the Internet to get to know the public's wishes, and sometimes have direct online communication with netizens to discuss state affairs and answer their questions. It has become a common practice for governments at all levels to consult the public via the Internet before formulating policies of particular importance. For each of the past three years, as many as several million items of advice and suggestions have been received through the Internet, providing valuable reference for the government to improve its work.

The Chinese government attaches great importance to the Internet's role in supervision. Governments at all levels are required to investigate and resolve in a timely manner all problems reported to the government by the public via the Internet, and to inform the public of the action taken and the results. The great majority of government websites carry relevant email addresses and telephone numbers, so that the governments can be informed of problems in their work. Over the past few years, a great number of the problems reported through the Internet have been resolved.”

Full white paper report at Xinhua

"For foreign companies ranging from automakers to fashion houses to wine and spirits brands, localization in the Chinese market has become an accepted part of doing business there. Gone are the days where excess inventory could be foisted on luxury-starved Chinese consumers, as virtually every luxury brand worth its salt has entered the increasingly lucrative (although challenge-fraught) China luxury market in the last 10 years, increasing choice for consumers and competition among rivals.

Chivas, when mixed with bottled, sweetened green tea and ice, has at this point progressed from a drink favored by a small sliver of fast movers in Beijing and Shanghai to one seen even in the most remote bars. But despite the loss of any exclusivity this product had when it first appeared on the scene in China, or any apprehension that scotch purists at Pernod Ricard (owner of Chivas Regal) had about the brand’s (literal) dilution in China, the company has at this point fully embraced localization and seen Chivas-and-green-tea as a godsend. As Pernod’s chairman Patrick Ricard told the Wall Street Journalearlier this year, “If that’s the way [the Chinese] prefer to drink it, we’re very happy with that. Drinking our product with tea is a way of cultural harmony.”

So will other food and beverage companies in the luxury segment embrace localization as a “way of cultural harmony”? Or will purists prevail? While Chivas Regal has to accept the fact that its product won’t be widely appreciated as “a scotch drinker’s scotch” in China, other scotch brands new to the market — such as BenRiach and Glendronach — are marketing to the country’s burgeoning connoisseurs by hyping up the long history and Scottish heritage of their products. However, some companies are looking to walk the fine line between brand purity and all-out localization by keeping their product the same but changing its context."

Full article at Jing Daily

"New West End Company, the management agency of luxury goods retailers on London’s Bond Street, has launched an initiative called London Luxury to encourage more Chinese travelers to splurge in the city’s luxury shopping district.

“We expect Chinese visitors will spend 120 million pounds ($186 million) in London this year (36 percent higher than last year) after the launch of London Luxury in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong,” Richard Dickinson, chief executive officer of New West End Company, told China Daily."

Full article at China Business News

“China Mobile, the world's largest mobile operator by subscribers, plans to launch an Internet search engine next year, as the company looks to data services for growth in the slowing wireless market, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

China Mobile Chairman Wang Jianzhou said as the penetration rate of mobile phones in China is very high, it's normal to have a growth slowdown, and data will be the next source of growth, Bloomberg reported.”

Full article at China Daily

“Measured media spending in China is expected to reach RMB 306 billion this year, a 16% increase on 2009, largely driven by TV advertising.

A new report from GroupM China This Year, Next Year: China Media Forecasts,  shows TV advertising is expected to increase from RMB 165 billion in 2009 to RMB 192 billion this year.

But the largest percentage gain came in the forecast goes to online ad spending, which is expected to rise from almost RMB 21 billion in 2009 to RMB 27 billion in 2010, a 30% hike.”

Full article at Marketing-Interactive

“Hong Kong, with its favorable conditions, such as low taxes, investor protection and freedom of trade currency, was selected as the second best business environment in the world, up seven places compared with 2009, according to rankings recently released by Forbes financial magazine.”

Hong Kong is one of the fastest-improving regions among the listed 128 countries and regions, according to reports of Hong Kong media. Forbes pointed out that because Hong Kong benefits from tourism, trade, and financial cooperation with the Chinese mainland, its recovery speed has been much faster than other regions.”

Full article at China Business News

“SHANGHAI (AdAge.com) -- Faced with limited and pricey TV options, multinational marketers are flocking to popular online video sites to develop branded entertainment series for China, a market in which the most desirable consumers are likely to be online searching for content rather than watching the communal family TV set.

Branded drama series and entertainment programs are popping up all over China, funded by companies like Unilever, Burger King, General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., Kraft Foods, Beiersdorf, Nokia and Anheuser-Busch InBev.

"The new hot thing in China is to do something viral," said Seth Grossman, Carat's Shanghai-based managing director, China. Branded online programming "helps create connections for brands by making them relevant in environments where consumers have already chosen to visit."

Last year, the number of online video users in China climbed over 32% to 309 million, according to iResearch. The top players say they attract 200 million unique viewers per month.”

Full article at Advertising Age

“Among the world’s top 15 most attractive investment destinations, nine are in developing countries and transition economies, and China ranked first as the favorite investment destination for multinational corporations, according to “World Investment Prospects Survey 2010-2012 Report” released by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on Sept. 8.

The report mentioned that, according to feedback responses of the investment promotion agencies, China’s foreign direct investment growth is impressive, ranking after the United States, and China is the world’s second largest foreign investor with the greatest investment potential from 2010 to 2012, ranking ahead of Germany, Britain and France.

Zhan said outward investment by Chinese enterprises will transform into intensive investment and investment in the industrial chain.”

Full article at China Business News

"China’s mobile Internet users may more than double within five years as smartphones that can browse the Web and download music become more affordable, Lee Kai-fu, the former head of Google Inc.’s China division, said.

The number of people accessing the Internet on their mobile devices in China may grow to 800 million within three to five years, from about 300 million now, Lee said today in an interview at the Beijing headquarters of Innovation Works, the technology business incubator he set up after leaving Google.

The price of a smartphone running Google’s Android system is likely to drop to about 1,500 yuan this year and 750 yuan in 2011, making such devices affordable to more people, Lee said."

Full article at Bloomberg

“Ushi means ‘outstanding professionals’ in Chinese, with a double meaning of ‘competitive advantange’.

It is invitation only, so I got introduced by one of my LinkedIn buddies and joined Ushi.cn. I have been wondering lately whether this will be one field again on the Internet that a Chinese company will beat foreign parties as well. Think of Google losing from Baidu and Ebay from Taobao.com. Does Ushi.cn has the right strategy and features to be the number 1 social networking site in China and beat LinkedIn.com? Lets have a closer look 

Their mission is simple: to become the #1 networking site for professionals in China. In a 1.6 billion crowded country where people generally will not do business with you after building a genuine relationship during several dinners and drinks, called ‘Guanxi’ in China, the market potential is huge. We already had the Facebooks of China such as Renren.com and Kaixin001.com and the MSN Messenger of China, QQ but no similar site for LinkedIn.com.

Right now, Ushi.cn has the functionalities of the earlier versions of LinkedIn. But they are yet 6 months online now, so I am sure they are working on a new release with more cool features as we speak.”

Full Article at China Brand Guru

"Editor’s note: Several bank leaders met to discuss regional currency cooperation and RMB settlement at the recent Dianchi financial forum. Their speeches are featured here.

Wei Benhua, former deputy director, State Administration of Foreign Exchange:

   The most important reason Asia saw much less loss than America and Europe during the global economic crisis is that it has a good financial system. It is under strict supervision and has sufficient capital and good operating practices.

Cheng Zhijun, deputy director-general, Ministry of Finance:

   The internationalization of a country’s currency can increase its say in global economic affairs and lower the exchange rate risk. It can also promote the country’s economic and trade development.

Md. Ahsan Ullah, executive director, Bangladesh Bank:

   There is no doubt that globalization is occurring due to the tremendous development of communication networks...In addition to regional cooperation in trade & finance, bilateral cooperation is on the rise. Many countries are implementing free trade policies.

Zhou Jiangong, editor-in-chief, Chinese-language edition of Forbes magazine:

   China’s growing investment in ASEAN countries will promote the RMB’s importance in the free trade area.

Yi Huiman, vice president, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China:

   Cross-border RMB settlement...brings huge social and economic benefits. It meets the growing needs of the enterprises for easier transaction and boosts regional trade. It helps enterprises avoid risks as foreign exchange rates of major currencies continue to fluctuate. It also sets the stage for other creative financial products and services.

Guan Jianzhong, president, Dagong Global Credit Rating Co Ltd:

   Rapid development of cross-border RMB settlement surely will encourage more Chinese enterprises to invest overseas. Supported by a scientific credit system and rating system, China and its neighboring countries will be on a fast track towards closer cooperation."

Full article at China Business News

“Most Chinese people are unaware of the U.S.-based groupon.com website. But the Chinese clones of the site, called 团购网 (tuangou wang), are quickly becoming some of the most popular online shopping platforms in China.

RenRen, a leading Chinese social network and Facebook clone, also launched its own group purchase site called Nuomi. Its success was easily measured when it only took hours for 152,095 users to buy an offer for two movie tickets, two soft drinks, a box of popcorn and one Häagen-Dazs ice cream.

Dianping.com and RenRen, although major players, are not alone in taking advantage of the tuangou wang trend. Other major portal websites such as Sohu, Sina and QQ.com have launched group purchasing deals for Chinese netizens.”

Full Article at CNNGo

"Chinese netizens went virtually wild on Douban.com -- a popular online creative site -- when Forever, Shanghai’s legendary bike brand, announced the launch of the latest model, Forever C. The news about Forever C coincided with tidings from Jerry Tian, the owner of Shanghai sneaker shop Culture Matters, that Feiyue and Warrior sneakers -- supposedly based on the shoes worn by the Shaolin monks -- will be at an upcoming European fashion week."

Interesting that Douban (one of our favourite Chinese SNS) was chosen as the place to congregate, for fans of Forever C (The group attracted over 1,500 members in its first 10 days. )

Full article at CNNGO.com

People's Daily Online reports on remarks made at a national forum on "creating a civilized Internet" by Wang Chen (王晨), director of China's State Council Information Office (SCIO) and a deputy propaganda minister. Wang, China's top Internet control official, invoked the words of President Hu Jintao during a collective study session of China's Politburo last July, saying that the country must "firmly oppose the trends of vulgar (庸俗), cheap (低俗) and tasteless (媚俗) content" (ie, the "Three Vulgarities"). In his four points on how China should create a "civilized web," including "rational self-discipline" and "a correct view of the Internet," Wang did mention the need for "supervision by public opinion" (a term generally referring to public and media monitoring of power), but the term was used in this context to refer to Internet users informing on "illegal and harmful information" online.

Source: China Media Project | Full Chinese Article: QQ News

Earlier this week it was revealed that Tencent had acquired Comsenz.com, development company of the most popular Chinese BBS system, Discuz.net. With 80% of Chinese sites running BBS and 70% of these BBSs built on the Discuz system, Tencent is now connected with millions of local site owners which are in fact the core group of Chinese web market.

via @ Mobinode

An interesting sidenote, Edelman Digital APAC have recently revealed in an August report that social media networking has overtaken BBS in shaping online buzz (where technology brands are concerned). Brands have been leveraging SNS platforms such as Sina Weibo, Kaixin 001 and RenRen.com to engage and build outreach with consumers.

A number of technology brands shaped their online marketing around the 2010 FIFA World Cup which helped drive social media traffic this quarter. It will be interesting to see going forward whether or not SNS will be able to continue its marketing buzz lead over BBS.

via @ Edelman Digital

"China was the only country covered by the research to increase business travel spending in 2009, with growth at 8.5 percent. With an estimated compound annual growth rate for business travel spending accelerating to 16 percent during the next four years, researchers expect the country by 2015 to surpass the United States as the world's largest business travel market.

Just in the wholesale trade sector, China's business travel spending gains through 2014 "will be larger than the United States, Spain, South Korea, Italy, France, Canada, Brazil, Germany and Japan combined."

Most other Chinese industries are expected to show double-digit CAGR for business travel spending in that time, including the construction and utilities sectors, as "large funds will be poured into infrastructure" to handle the country's economic expansion."

In another article on the same report:

"China, the only nation that grew business travel last year (8.5%), and other Asian markets currently add business travel spending at about four times the rate of the United States. In fact, China is expected to grow by double digits in 2010 and add nearly $130 billion in new business travel spend by 2014, surpassing the U.S. market in size by as early as 2015."

The penetration of credit cards is directly related to consumers’ affluence, says Ivy Cheung, a Hong Kong-based executive director for Synovate, a market-research firm. So as Chinese consumers’ spending power grows, so will the size of the card market, she predicts.

Source: China Internet Watch

With the news of growing affluence, it was also revealed by the Shukan Economist that the Chinese consumers' desire to spend disposable income on importing goods from e-commerce sites such as Taobao was particularly high.

The top Japanese products imported were:

“Uni” branded color ball-pen set for 3.1 yuan/US$.50 - smooth writing instrument. (lack of Chinese copycat products due to heavy investment for such a cheap product.

Meiji  brand “Smile”  - Top Japanese powdered milk product for 218 yuan/$32. ~ much more expensive than local products, but 2008 milk powder mass poisoning incident and the recent 'baby breast' reports have damaged China-owned brand.

Kao “Merry” / Unicharm “Moony” brands - best-selling Japanese diapers for 128 yuan/US$19. ~ Chinese parents believe that the diapers contain no harmful chemicals that cause allergies or rash, and the materials are top-notch, preventing spillage.

Anti-insect repellent stick-on patches for 20 yuan/US$3. ~ perhaps safer option to anti-bug spray cans which are often inhaled by children. 

Tokai Tobacco Filter “bio-pipe” for 4 yuan/US$.60. ~ driven by a fresh market of 600 million Chinese smokers.

Lion brand “herbal cleansing action” shampoo - supposedly thickens hair during washing, as Chinese buying power increases, vanity product spending also rises.

Source: Forbes

No information was released for western products, but as you can see the potential is there to carve out plenty more e-commerce niches for western brands and products; we are already seeing this with western luxury brands in China. 

From www.pacificepoch.com

Beijing-based social networking service (SNS) site Kaixin001.com recorded sales revenue exceeding RMB 100 million in the first half of 2010, with advertising accounting for 80% of the site's total revenue, Oriental Morning Post reported August 5 citing Kaixin001.com statistics. The site has recorded a total of 86 million registered users and around 25 million average users per day, according to the report.

Previous reports said Kaixin001.com had recorded RMB 34.48 million in advertising revenues and 53.45 million registered users by September, 2009.

And from www.campaignasia.com

BEIJING – Advertising expenditure has grown 17 per cent to US$41 billion in the first half of the year for China, according to CTR Market Research.

The growth percentage for the first six months is the highest in four years. Based on that, CTR has adjusted its estimated growth rate for 2010 from 10 to 13 per cent following a prediction earlier this year.

Good times for China advertising indeed. 

Some of the figures being thrown around are 50 million users by the end of the year (a 10-fold growth) and 120 million (conservative?) by 2012.

For those who don't know, Sina Weibo (literally Sina Micro-blog) is one of China's hottest internet properties. A Twitter like site, it's seen huge expansion over the last year. It's owned by Sina Corporation (NASDAQ: SINA), a Shanghai-based online media company

As some commentators have noted, Sina Weibo has remained fairly immune to the recent crackdown by the Chinese government as it complies with censorship regulations.

With China's massive 420 million internet population seeking an outlet for their social media cravings, this is certainly a space that needs to be watched.

Sources: Business.financialpost.com

Stockhouse.com

420 million online

277 million mobile internet users   

140 million online shoppers

122 million online bankers   

265 million video users

Internet penetration rate rises to 31.8%

A Chinese version is here We'll link to an English version once it goes up.

Update: China Daily has a short piece in English

Yesterday afternoon Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang announced that British First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affair William Hague will visit China on July 14, at the invitation of Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi. This is welcome news as only last week had Hague placed attention on UK foreign policy which needs to adapt with a “networked world” by building public relations overseas. 

With China accounting for just 2.4 per cent of Britain's exports (a majority being from scrap metal) though nearly 8 per cent of our imports, Britain seems to be building a growing dependence on China goods that is not entirely reciprocal.  However, Hague has previously mentioned that, "Relations between states are now no longer monopolised by foreign secretaries or prime ministers. There is now a mass of connections between individuals, civil society, businesses, pressure groups and charitable organisations which are also part of the relations between nations and which are being rapidly accelerated by the internet."

During the visit, Hague will co-chair the Sino-British strategic dialogue with Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo; let’s hope that his visit to China will be a warm and prosperous one for both Britain and China.

via Telegraph and Xinhuanet

It was announced this Friday by Reuters that the Chinese authorities have renewed Google’s licence to operate their Google.cn website in China upon the agreement that Google would stop redirecting users to the uncensored Hong Kong-based search page.

While the China market generates only a small fraction ($300 - $600 million) of Google’s $24 billion annual revenue, the potential growth in revenue from doing business in the world’s largest internet market are staggering.

"China has renewed our license," a Google spokeswoman told Reuters. "We are very pleased that the government has renewed our ICP license and we look forward to continuing to provide web search and local products to our users in China."

 While the debate over internet censorship laws in the People’s Republic of China still remain, Google has swiftly steadied its future in the Asian market by compromising on censorship to secure their future with 400 million Chinese users; however, it may be a while before Google is on China’s good side again.

So what has Google’s defiance in January cost Google in the long-run? What concessions have they made to secure their future with China?

An official confirmation from Google is still pending but likely to be announced on Google’s blog shortly.

via Reuters and Justmeans

----------

Update: Google's response "We are very pleased that the government has renewed our ICP license and we look forward to continuing to provide web search and local products to our users in China." via Official Google Blog

----------

Update 2

Chinese government has confirmed the renewal. Reuters

The “Digital IQ Index” report by the L2 Think Tank in June recently highlighted the large growth opportunities found in China’s luxury market sector. “Prestige brands can do a mediocre job in every other market and still grow revenues and profits substantially by getting one thing right: China.” In speaking with Bloomberg News, L2 founder and New York professor Scott Galloway discussed the future of e-commerce and the areas of untapped market potential China.

By far the largest opportunity for Brands comes from China’s internet user base of 380 million, outnumbering USA and Japanese internet users combined (200 million, 90 million respectively). With around 80 percent of China’s luxury consumers below the age of 45 compared to the USA (30%) and Japan (19%), the statistics show that young internet savvy consumers in China are an e-commerce magnet that has still yet to be fully realised by a majority of western brands in China.

Facts & Figures:

·     The size of the e-commerce market has quadrupled since 2006

·     Luxury brands - Physical presence underperformed in comparison to social buzz and sales online

·     Within industries excluding Luxury brands, less than 10 percent are e-commerce enabled

·     There are 745 million mobile phone users in China but only 42 percent of brand websites are mobile-enabled

via Jing Daily

Google currently routes visitors to Google.cn site to Google HK, but not automatically. Users must click on a link. 

Beijing has threatened to revoke Google's China license which is now due for renewal.

Google said on its official blog that it had applied to have the licence renewed. however the Chinese authorities have so far shown no sign that they will oblige the search giant.

In a further blow, Google has not been shortlisted as a mapping provider. Google's map services have been among the most popular of it's China services.

Chinese buyers are really stepping up their game and starting to spread their wings.

- Data from real estate broker Knight Frank showed more than one in 10 new-build residential properties in London were sold to Chinese or Hong Kong buyers in the year to March, the highest share of the market by any offshore investors.

- UK real estate services company Curzon Investment Property say their client base is now 75% Chinese, from 95% expatriate UK investors five years ago.

- In Hong Kong, a fifth of luxury apartments are purchased by mainland Chinese, said Alva To, head of consulting for North Asia at property broker DTZ, citing industry figures.

- China's gross aggregate savings rate now tops 50% of gross domestic product, by far the highest of any big economy, with disposable income among the urban population rising 10% in 2009, official data showed.

- More than 90% of China's households own the home they live in. While more than a quarter own a second property, a report from Asian brokerage CLSA said.

from an article on moneycontrol.com

An update on China 6/28/2010 10:45:00 PM Ever since we launched Google.cn, our search engine for mainland Chinese users, we have done our best to increase access to information while abiding by Chinese law. This has not always been an easy balance to strike, especially since our January announcement that we were no longer willing to censor results on Google.cn.

We currently automatically redirect everyone using Google.cn to Google.com.hk, our Hong Kong search engine. This redirect, which offers unfiltered search in simplified Chinese, has been working well for our users and for Google. However, it’s clear from conversations we have had with Chinese government officials that they find the redirect unacceptable—and that if we continue redirecting users our Internet Content Provider license will not be renewed (it’s up for renewal on June 30). Without an ICP license, we can’t operate a commercial website like Google.cn—so Google would effectively go dark in China.

That’s a prospect dreaded by many of our Chinese users, who have been vocal about their desire to keep Google.cn alive. We have therefore been looking at possible alternatives, and instead of automatically redirecting all our users, we have started taking a small percentage of them to a landing page on Google.cn that links to Google.com.hk—where users can conduct web search or continue to use Google.cn services like music and text translate, which we can provide locally without filtering. This approach ensures we stay true to our commitment not to censor our results on Google.cn and gives users access to all of our services from one page.

Over the next few days we’ll end the redirect entirely, taking all our Chinese users to our new landing page—and today we re-submitted our ICP license renewal application based on this approach.

As a company we aspire to make information available to users everywhere, including China. It’s why we have worked so hard to keep Google.cn alive, as well as to continue our research and development work in China. This new approach is consistent with our commitment not to self censor and, we believe, with local law. We are therefore hopeful that our license will be renewed on this basis so we can continue to offer our Chinese users services via Google.cn.

Posted by David Drummond, SVP, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer

In his own words:

I'm eager to hear from informed people about what their problems with Baidu are. It's only by understanding people's perceptions are, whether based in reality or mere misperception, that I can do the job at all, right? I hope to bring increased transparency and accessibility to the company.

from a comment on Google Buzz

Congrats to Kaiser. It will be interesting to see what he can bring to Baidu.

Baidu.com's Search Box Now Supports Chinese Handwriting Input

The Chinese search engine company Baidu.com has launched a new handwriting input method for its Internet search engine service. 

When using Baidu.com's search engine, a netizen can use a computer mouse as a pen to write down the strokes of the Chinese character keywords in the search box. Based on the shapes of the Chinese characters, the powerful Chinese character recognition function, and Baidu's keyword association function, the smart Web word input system will provide several possible characters for users to choose. In addition, there are functions to allow users to make changes and deletions to the input content.

At the same time, the new service does not require the installation of any Web plug-in and can be started by a simple click on the search engine page.

A representative in charge of Baidu's corporate social responsibility program told local media that with the popularization of the Internet in China, Chinese netizen groups are also diversified. Some old and young users are not familiar with the existing input methods, which are mainly based on Pinyin, and it is hard for them to complete searches on Baidu.com by inputting keywords with keyboards. In addition, it is hard to search for information related to some rarely used words with the Pinyin input methods if people do not know the pronunciations of these words. Baidu.com's new web handwriting input method aims to solve these problems.

Robin Li, chairman and CEO of Baidu.com, said that everyone has the equal rights to gain information in China. Baidu.com is committed to shortening the distance between people and information with the help of technologies and it would like to make more effort to bridge the information gap.

via chinatechnews.com

Baidu Jockeys To Hold Mapping Lead In China

Baidu is hoping to tighten its grip on online mapping in China, a sector that is poised to be redrawn in the coming months.

The State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping plans to start issuing licenses this month for online map services. The bureau announced the new requirement in May, and any providers who do not obtain a license by the end of the year will have to shut down their service.

There are thousands of operators competing in China’s rapidly growing online map industry, and the licensing system will serve to pare down the overcrowding. But even ahead of the housecleaning, Baidu has emerged as the clear leader.

In April, the consulting group iResearch estimated that Baidu had control of over 55 percent of the online mapping market in China. That came about three months after Baidu added a link for maps on its home page, in a move that essentially announced the company would work to capture the industry. Since then, evidence of that effort has come in spades.

The product manager for Baidu Maps, Huang Wei, said the company has invested heavily in building and updating data for its mapping service. It was first in providing subway route information ahead of the Shanghai World Expo 2010, and it also released a 3D Expo map.

Last month Baidu released a beta version of its mapping service for the Windows Mobile operating system, which will enable it to gain support among the country’s mobile Internet users. The China Internet Network Information Center estimated there were 233 million mobile Internet users at the beginning of the year, double the amount from a year before.

The previous month Baidu released an API for its mapping service. The API has enabled other developers to embed Baidu Maps on their own Web sites and will help Baidu to increase both traffic and user loyalty.

Analysys International has projected revenue in the online mapping industry in China to grow to $72 million this year, compared to just $8.7 million five years before, and Baidu hopes its dominance of the Chinese search engine market will give it the upper hand in the increasingly lucrative online mapping industry.

via informationweek.com

This one from Drinks International

Chinese shoppers outstrip Russians

Chinese shoppers are outnumbering Russians according to a survey of shopping trends among retail outlets in Mayfair, London’s most expensive shopping area.

The study was conducted by FDKG, which describes itself as a consultancy that helps UK luxury goods business to develop a foothold in China.

It claims that Chinese luxury goods shoppers outnumber the equivalent Russians by almost 15:1. In fact the Russians come fourth after the Americans and Japanese as well. Fifty-eight percent of the luxury goods retailers stated that their most frequent visitors were Chinese.

FDKG managing director Ken Grant, said: “The strength of the Chinese economy, which is growing at 9% per annum, is not having a measurable impact abroad, with many luxury goods retailers and manufacturers benefiting passively from the enormous spending power of the Chinese ultra rich.”

The report, based on a sample of almost 800 wealthy Chinese businessmen and women, provided some other spending and consuming characteristics.

- One third of China’s ultra rich prefer to drink Dom Perignon champagne;

- The most popular watch brand is Rolex;

- 24.8% own domestically made Audis while BMW is the most popular imported car;

- After Hong Kong, Europe is the most popular travel destination- 98% own property and almost half own two residential properties and some own more than five;

- After China, the UK is the most popular country to send their children to be educated; twice as popular as the UK.

And this one from http://www.questsearch.co.uk

Tourists to boost West End retail sales

London West End retail sales are set for further growth in the coming years, fuelled by an upturn in spending by international visitors.

The New West End Company, which represents 600 retailers across Bond Street, Regent Street and Oxford Street, has announced that yearly spending in the West End looks set to exceed £6 billion for the first time during 2010.

Sales are expected to reach a total of £12 billion over the next two years, with spend increasing by ten per cent in a year, and international shoppers making the most of favourable exchange rates to bolster figures.

The number of international shoppers in the West End has risen significantly too, with Blue Global figures showing Australian visitor numbers were up by 54 per cent year-on-year in January, while Malaysian and Chinese tourist numbers grew by 48 and 46 per cent respectively.

Among international visitors, Chinese shoppers are also set to up spending the most, with growth of 35 per cent predicted for 2012. Yet as a result of current restrictions on UK visas in China, only 110,000 Chinese tourists visit annually compared to two million who visit the rest of Europe.

In an effort to encourage more people from China to visit the UK in time for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, New West End Company and VisitBritain have launched a campaign to try and help increase flexibility to the UK visa.

The Visa-ability Campaign aims to change the system, ultimately making it easier, more user-friendly and cheaper to apply for a visa. Together, New West End Company and VisitBritain want to speed up the application process, as well as implementing other improvements.

West End retailers think the 2012 Olympics could boost sales by ten per cent, as trading has typically risen by more than 60 per cent during recent Olympics. The latest campaign may well inflate this figure even further.

--

Looks like it's becoming more and more important to engage Chinese customers. Is your business ready?

The paper discusses the current state of the Chinese internet and looks forward to the future.

Some key points:

- "In 2008 Internet-related industries generated a turnover of 650 billion yuan, with sales of Internet-related equipment reaching 500 billion yuan-worth, accounting for 1/60 of China's GDP, and 1/10 of its global trade. Its software operations had a turnover of 19.84 billion yuan, up 26% over 2007."

- "Online retailing is expanding quickly, and its market is being gradually regulated. According to a sample survey, over 50% of big enterprises have established an e-commerce system, over 30% of small and medium-sized companies find their product suppliers through the Internet, 24% of them are engaged in marketing via the Internet, and there are over 100 million online buyers in China. In 2009 the trade volume of e-commerce in China surpassed 3.6 trillion yuan-worth."

-"In the past five years, the average annual increase rate of online advertisement has maintained a level of 30%, with its turnover reaching 20 billion yuan in 2009. The online gaming industry in China had a turnover of 25.8 billion yuan in 2009, an increase of 39.5% over 2008, ranking top in the world."

- "Over 80% of China's netizens mainly rely on the Internet for news."

- "China's websites attach great importance to providing neti-zens with opinion expression services, with over 80% of them providing electronic bulletin service. In China, there are over a million BBSs and some 220 million bloggers. According to a sample survey, each day people post over three million messages via BBS, news commentary sites, blogs, etc., and over 66% of Chinese netizens frequently place postings to discuss various topics, and to fully express their opinions and represent their interests."

- "The newly-emerging online services, including blog, microblog, video-sharing and social networking websites, are developing rapidly in China, and provide greater convenience for Chinese citizens to communicate online. Actively participating in online information communication and content creation, netizens have greatly enriched Internet information and content."

- "China advocates the rational use of technology to curb dissemination of illegal information online." (The Great Firewall will continue to be enforced) 

It has been reported in some media (WSJ for example) that the Chinese government had "Praised Twitter" in this report. This doesn't appear to be the case. Certainly there is no mention of Twitter in the version online.

See full text of the white paper in English here and in Chinese here

It's being reported that China has blocked the popular Location service Foursquare. Possibly this is due to people checking in via the service at a certain well known Square in Beijing.

For those who don't know Foursquare is a fast growing service that has seen tremendous growth recently. As such, it was only a matter of time before it came to attention of the Great Firewall, China's notorious internet filter. 

We'll keep you updated as we learn more......

Baidu, China's largest search engine has launched an API platform for it's Baidu Zhidao service ("Baidu Knows" similar to Yahoo Answers) 

Link here: http://zhidao.baidu.com/s/open/

Baidu had been expected to do well after it's rival Google departed from China. However figures show that traffic to the site has dropped.

According to April Admob numbers, Android phones outnumber iPhones in Mainland China.

Google's new subsidiary, Admob pushed out its latest smartphone analytics numbers today and there is a bit of an Android surprise from Mainland China.

The numbers Admob got in China were: 725,358 iPhones and 882,384 Android phones.  That's about a 20% advantage for Android.

What do these numbers mean?  Well, if you add in (surprisingly high) iPad and iPod touch numbers, iPhone OS manages to squeak by Android's OS by about 40,000 devices.  At launch, Apple was also forced to sell an unpopular version of its iPhone without Wifi as well.

It is also surprising that Google (GOOG) is doing so well in a country it ceremoniously left over censorship and hacking issues.  Google's Chinese search engine still points to servers in Hong Kong.  Apple (AAPL) on the other hand has been seeing phenomenal growth in China.

Admob calculates its data based on devices that hit advertising on its 35,000 apps and additional  websites.   Keep in mind that feature phones don't have apps or web browsers to hit Admob's services and even some smartphones in use might not have hit one of Admob's servers during the testing period.

While iPod touches (and gray market iPhones) have been on sale in China three years, iPhones only officially came to the Mainland last year and iPads aren't even officially sold.  Android devices are relatively new as well, being only 18 months as a platform and even fewer in China.

The United States was the leading country (75%) in unique devices on the Android platform, followed by China (8%), the UK (3%), France (2%) and Germany (2%). The top three Android devices in China were all from HTC: the HTC Hero, HTC Magic and HTC Dream.

Android's recent push is a global phenomenon.  As you can see below, iPhone has lost almost 10% of marketshare over the past four months while Android and (surprisingly) Symbian have surged 4% each.  iPhone 4/HD's release may change the game, however.

Some Eagle eyed folks spotted a couple of Craiglist ads for development positions suggesting that Zynga is looking at opening a studio in the Chinese Capital.

Source: Digicha.com

Each of the two companies will have a new section on its site, allowing for product listings from the other. This allows Taobao access to eight million Japanese products and Yahoo! Japan 50 million Chinese products as of the first of next month.

The aim is to allow small business owners to carry out transactions in a wider market. At the press conference announcing the deal, Yahoo! Japan’s chairman, Masayoshi Son, said that this would allow the two companies to beat eBay to become the largest marketplace online.

Taobao has plans to expand further with the deal with Yahoo! Japan being only the first part of a concerted bid to reach countries further afield.

The deal will also lead the two into conflict with China’s main search engine, Baidu, which recently inked a deal with a Japanese company, Rakuten, to set up an online shopping outlet targeting China. The competition between these two ventures is only likely to get more fierce as time goes on.

original article here

China's Internet users increased 20 million in the first quarter of this year, hitting the 404 million mark, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said on Thursday.

With the fast increase of Internet users, China's current Internet protocol (IP) addresses will run out in the next 2 to 3 years, and the country has to speed up the deployment of the new generation IP addresses - IPv6, said Zhu Jun, deputy director of the ministry's telecom development department.

But until now, the country still does not have a clear plan for the development of IPv6, neither is it clear on how to handle the relationship between IPv6 and the current IPv4 in the future, Zhu said.

China had 191 million users of social-networking sites at the end of March. And according to a report Friday by Chinanews, the most frequently visited social-networking sites are QQ zone, Renren, Kaixin001, Kaixin.com and other global social-networking sites.

The Chinanews cited a survey done by Dynamic Logic under Millward Brown and said China's netizens spend on average 22.2 hours a week on the Internet, mainly for entertainment and communicating with friends.

link to original article

Internet users in China's rural areas reached 106.81 million by the end of 2009, an increase of 26.3 percent year-on-year, chinanews.com.cn reported Friday, citing a report released Thursday by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).

The report said 68 percent of rural residents use desktop computers to get access to the Internet. Cell phones are also becoming important devices for rural netizens to surf the Internet, with 71.89 million people doing it this way, up 79.3 percent from the previous year.

A total of 69.2 percent of Internet users in rural areas are under 30 years old, and those younger than 19 account for 41.1 percent.

According to the report, 44.6 percent of China' urban residents use the Internet by the end of 2009, while in rural areas the proportion was only 15 percent.

According to China Hush this could be as soon as three months!

Facebook.cn has been registered (2006) and currently redirects to Facebook.com Additionally, a wealthy Chinese businessman Li Jiacheng has  invested more than 100 million U.S. dollars into Facebook.

It's well known that Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook) is an admirer of Bill Gates business methods and Microsoft has no qualms about remaining in China, despite censorship of it's search engine Bing.

Of course any Facebook venture would necessarily be heavily censored by the Chinese Government

Is Facebook preparing to Do Evil? Truth or rumor? Should be an interesting three months......

According to reports from Indian newspaper Hindustan Times, the world’s largest PC manufacturer, Dell, has allegedly announced that it is quitting it's operations in China and moving them to India. The announcement comes as a shock to China, just after the Internet search engine Google shut down most of its operations in China following censorship and hacking issues. Dell has confirmed the movement of $25 million in factories from China to India.

Dell founder & CEO Michael Dell apparently met the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Tuesday. Dell reportedly said that they were looking for a “safer environment with [a] climate conducive to enterprise.” Dr. Singh has told reporters that Michael Dell was looking for a country “with security of a legal system.” The Prime Minister has also directed the Planning Commission to work towards the development of computer hardware industry in India.

This is not Dell’s first foray in India. The company already has one factory in India. Michael Dell had previously said that “India is a great place to be in” and that “It is growing faster than China for us.”

After Google’s decision to quit the country earlier this week, a lot of other companies have expressed the desire to move their operations outside China. Two prominent names are GoDaddy and Dell. Google had previously mentioned that several big U.S. companies were facing cyber attacks in China. With this trend, we may see other major players pulling out of the Chinese market.

Update: Dell denies talks on shifting sourcing from China http://goo.gl/Zqlc

The art of hiring a Chinese Market Sales Manager

Recruiting a Sales and Marketing Manager for the Chinese inbound market may be a tricky task for U.S. hotels, CVB’s and destination management companies. Luring Chinese consumers is never easy, but naive missteps can be avoided.

In July 2009, an average of one article per day about the surge of Chinese inbound tourists in the United States was posted on Twitter. By November 2009, there were three articles per day, and in March 2010, more than ten new articles per day were posted about this subject.
Every day, all over the country, major hotel chains, luxury boutique hotels, holiday resorts and budget hotels suddenly realize that luring a few of the 50 million Chinese outbound tourist should be a crucial part of their financial salvation in recession and post-recession times.

Taking into consideration that the United States is the number one “dream destination” according to the 2007 Travel Industry Association Research Report on China, and the fact that only 400,000 Chinese tourists actually visited the U.S. in 2009, it’s easy to imagine the impact for the entire hospitality and tourism industry once the flux of Chinese tourist will have reached its natural level — anticipated to be a minimum of one million visitors per year.
Thanks to the realistic approach of the U.S. General Consulates in China, and particularly in Shanghai, the issuance of tourist visas has been recently simplified and accelerated for Chinese tourists travelling in groups and individually.
For each hotel and resort of the United States, and particularly in the four states of California, Nevada, New York and Florida, the bottom line challenge is how to convince Chinese travelers to choose their hotel over another.

Just counting on the presence into Chinese hotel booking engines is like finding a particular grain of sand in the bottom of the Chinese Sea. The probability that a Chinese tourist — or a Chinese travel agent– specifically picks your hotel when preparing his travel online is close to zero. The fact is that these outbound travel booking engines are just bourgeoning in China and won’t have the necessary maturity, reputation and exposure to be meaningful for another two to three years. They can’t yet be considered an efficient marketing tool.

In most cases, the most proactive and efficient solution is to recruit a dedicated sales and marketing manager in charge of this promising, largely untapped and fast-growing Chinese market.
This manager can be located at the hotel (for small / medium size hotels), or, for major hotel chains or big resorts, being an expatriate (or a local employee) located in China in a representative office.
The job description requirements generally follows this pattern:

-Implementing marketing strategies in China to lure the new generation of affluent Chinese outbound tourists preparing a holiday trip to the U.S.
-Developing relations with Chinese outbound travel agencies, mostly located in Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou
-Building the hotel’s brand image in China
-Doing Public Relations with Chinese journalists writing in Chinese
outbound travel magazines
-And, last but not least, understanding the behavior and expectations of
Chinese travelers to the U.S. when they select a hotel

Which profile fits the best with these arduous tasks? Here are the profiles Human Resources departments think are the best and actually recruit on a preferential basis, according to our experience and examples taken in many hotels, CVB’s and Destination Management Companies within the U.S.:
-A candidate who has learned Chinese language at university
-An American Born Chinese (ABC) person
-A Chinese citizen (in many cases a former Chinese intern)
-Generally junior people

This kind of profile springs from two basic myths: that having a Chinese background is an advantage, and that youth is an asset.
Having Chinese origins and/or speaking Chinese language are neither advantages nor disadvantages for this kind of position. They are just irrelevant criteria.
We have often seen hotels that have recruited a “Chinese Market Sales Manager” on the sole criteria that the candidate was a Chinese citizen, despite having no previous experiences in travel, tourism, or marketing.
China Elite Focus has seen also some candidates with no Chinese or Asian origins even specifiy on their resume the fact that their spouse is Chinese, or that they “like Chinese food” hoping that it will positively influence the recruiter!
It is striking to see how many recruiters in the hospitality industry still commit these kind of naïve mistakes today.
According to China Elite Focus’ five years expertise in assisting various hotels, golf resorts and incoming travel agencies to recruit Chinese Market Managers, good recruiting criteria should be based on the following three golden rules.

Rule #1 : Recruit a candidate at least 30 years old
First of all, this position is not for junior, inexperienced people. Negotiation with Chinese outbound travel agencies to sell the hotel and convincing a Chinese Editor-in-Chief to publish a story about a resort in a travel magazines require experience and judgment that comes with field experience. Moreover, Chinese people prefer to discuss business with senior western people rather than freshmen. Shanghai is full of these young expatriates, who are cut into pieces during negotiations with Chinese senior business people. The process may be effective field training for the young recruits, but a disaster for their employers.

Rule #2: Recruit a candidate with a previous field experience in China, even if he/she has never worked before in travel or tourism industry
Having field experience in China is essential. The ideal candidate should have a minimum of three to five years proven track record of field experience in China. That experience should include demonstrated negotiation abilities with Chinese businesspeople and Chinese officials, preferably in the industries of Hospitality, Travel, Consumer Goods, Retail, Wine & Spirits, Entertainment, Luxury goods, or Media.

Rule #3: Take in consideration exclusively the professional business background of the candidate in China, not his ethnicity, nationality, or fluency in Chinese
The nationality, ethnic profile or fluency in Chinese language, so often mistakenly valued by recruiters, are not relevant criteria in any way. Candidates from any nationality or any ethnic profile, Asian or not, can master and understand the marketing strategies which actually work in China. We have witnessed examples of highly talented people from all over the world, some speaking Chinese, some not at all, who had obtained awesome results in China because of their personal talent.

The counter-argument we often hear is “Speaking Chinese is absolutely necessary to undertake marketing operations in China.” The fact is that having studied ancient Chinese poems of the Song Dynasty, though remarkably interesting for the pleasure of the mind, does not translate into marketing and sales abilities in the fast-changing China of the 21st century.
For a sales and marketing executive in charge of the Chinese market, working in team with a Chinese translator and interpreter is the best solution, and gives the best operational results. That is what really matters.

Pierre Gervois
President & CEO of China Elite Focus Limited (Shanghai)
Twitter @chinaelitefocus

Link to original article

 

Official Response from China Daily:

 

 

 

BEIJING - Google has "violated its written promise" and is "totally wrong" by stopping censoring its Chinese language searching results and blaming China for alleged hacker attacks, a government official said early Tuesday morning.

 

The official in charge of the Internet bureau under the State Council Information Office made the comments about two hours after the online search service provider announced it has stopped censoring its Chinese-language search engine Google.cn and is redirecting Chinese mainland users to a site in Hong Kong.

 

"Google has violated its written promise it made when entering the Chinese market by stopping filtering its searching service and blaming China in insinuation for alleged hacker attacks," said the official.

 

"This is totally wrong. We're uncompromisingly opposed to the politicization of commercial issues, and express our discontent and indignation to Google for its unreasonable accusations and conducts," the official said.

 

Google's chief legal officer David Drummond made the "stop censoring" announcement in a blog post at about 3 am Tuesday Beijing Time, more than two months after the company said it had been attacked by hackers supported by the Chinese government and was considering pulling out of the Chinese market.

 

The Information Office official said relevant departments of the Chinese government talked with Google twice at its requests, on January 29 and February 25 respectively, to hear the company's real intentions and demonstrate sincerity of the government.

 

"We made patient and meticulous explanations on the questions Google raised (in the talks), ...telling it we would still welcome its operation and development in China if it was willing to abide by Chinese laws, while it would be its own affair if it was determined to withdraw its service," the official said.

 

"Foreign companies must abide by Chinese laws and regulations when they operate in China, " the official added.

 

7 things Sina Microblog (Weibo) has that Twitter doesn’t

Sina Microblog – better known in China as Weibo (pronounced ‘way-bore’) – is establishing itself as the leading Chinese microblog platform. According to Sina’s CEO, Weibo had more than 5 million users in early March 2010.

While Weibo is essentially the same concept as Twitter, there are a few differences:  

1) Blog-like comments. Unlike Twitter’s ‘replies’, Weibo’s comments do not appear independently in the feed; instead, they are listed under the entry, more like a traditional blog. All discussion around a single Weibo entry, therefore, can be seen easily in one place.

2) Focus on verified accounts. Although Twitter now has now brought them in, verified accounts are a much bigger deal in Weibo; they are given out far more readily, to all kinds of celebrities and brands, and a pretty “v” appears by every verified user’s Weibo entry. With 1,259,038 fans, Yao Chen, a young actress, is the most popular ‘Weiborer’:

3) The backing of a Chinese giant. Sina is better known in China for its blogging platform, which is one of the most widely read in the world. This not only connects Weibo to a huge user base and content source, years of self-censoring experience have earned Weibo acceptance from the government. For these reasons and more, Weibo is in a very strong position in China.

4) Embedded picture & video attachments. By clicking on thumbnails that can be easily added to any Weibo entry, pictures or video can be viewed without leaving the page. This is this handy for the user and provides opportunities for marketing, as brands can more easily associate visuals with entries. 

5) Stringent self-censorship. Unlike Twitter, users risk having entries deleted by Weibo,  without explanation, if they contain anything deemed politically sensitive.

6) A comprehensive portal page. Weibo’s portal page features far more than Twitter’s, with extensive lists including rankings for individual entry, topic, and user popularity.

7) An ‘eager’ automatic URL shortener. Enter any ‘http://…’ address — regardless of length — and it will be shortened to something like http://sinaurl.cn/kljlkj. While often handy, this will frustrate anyone that needs to make it clear to users exactly what link they’re following.

Link to original article

On January 12, we announced on this blog that Google and more than twenty other U.S. companies had been the victims of a sophisticated cyber attack originating from China, and that during our investigation into these attacks we had uncovered evidence to suggest that the Gmail accounts of dozens of human rights activists connected with China were being routinely accessed by third parties, most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on their computers. We also made clear that these attacks and the surveillance they uncovered—combined with attempts over the last year to further limit free speech on the web in China including the persistent blocking of websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Docs and Blogger—had led us to conclude that we could no longer continue censoring our results on Google.cn. 

So earlier today we stopped censoring our search services—Google Search, Google News, and Google Images—on Google.cn. Users visiting Google.cn are now being redirected toGoogle.com.hk, where we are offering uncensored search in simplified Chinese, specifically designed for users in mainland China and delivered via our servers in Hong Kong. Users in Hong Kong will continue to receive their existing uncensored, traditional Chinese service, also from Google.com.hk. Due to the increased load on our Hong Kong servers and the complicated nature of these changes, users may see some slowdown in service or find some products temporarily inaccessible as we switch everything over. 

Figuring out how to make good on our promise to stop censoring search on Google.cn has been hard. We want as many people in the world as possible to have access to our services, including users in mainland China, yet the Chinese government has been crystal clear throughout our discussions that self-censorship is a non-negotiable legal requirement. We believe this new approach of providing uncensored search in simplified Chinese fromGoogle.com.hk is a sensible solution to the challenges we've faced—it's entirely legal and will meaningfully increase access to information for people in China. We very much hope that the Chinese government respects our decision, though we are well aware that it could at any time block access to our services. We will therefore be carefully monitoring access issues, and have created this new web page, which we will update regularly each day, so that everyone can see which Google services are available in China. 

In terms of Google's wider business operations, we intend to continue R&D work in China and also to maintain a sales presence there, though the size of the sales team will obviously be partially dependent on the ability of mainland Chinese users to access Google.com.hk. Finally, we would like to make clear that all these decisions have been driven and implemented by our executives in the United States, and that none of our employees in China can, or should, be held responsible for them. Despite all the uncertainty and difficulties they have faced since we made our announcement in January, they have continued to focus on serving our Chinese users and customers. We are immensely proud of them.

Posted by David Drummond, SVP, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer

We've seen news everywhere that Micro-blogging service Twitter is "planning" to set up shop in China. The service is currently blocked by the Chinese government's "Great Firewall", along with other popular Western Social Media like Facebook and YouTube.

During a recent panel discussion, founder Jack Dorsey, when pushed, said that it was only a matter of time before the company entered the Chinese market. He also claimed that he had only found out a few weeks ago that Twitter was blocked in China.

We should take all of this with a very large pinch of salt. Jack Dorsey and Twitter must surely realise that any attempt to enter China will never be easy, especially since Google's current travails. All this talk of Twitter being "important" for China is largely meaningless as Twitter will face the same choice as those who have gone before, Censor, or Leave. It's even debatable that the Chinese government will let them through the door, after the outspoken dialogues of the last few days.

Will Twitter go along with censorship? Maybe we should ask if they will even get past the negotiating table.

"Derek Ling, head of Tianji.com, China’s largest business social network with more than four million users, claims that service-sector SMEs in China are crying out for links with Western businesses, offering legal advice on business issues, partnerships for the travel industry and local accountancy. Using a social network, he says, is a window on local businesses that previously have been very difficult to reach. Tianji has just launched an English-speaking version of the site to help fuel links with Chinese service-sector businesses. It can unlock doors, but it is up to Western businesses to push them open.

It brings into question the role of social networks in business. For China, social media has been a sticky issue recently. Facebook and Twitter have been banned and a row erupted with Google over privacy, but business social media is different. It is geared towards creating links, developing leads and recommendations for businesses. It is the recommendations that really drive these sites. It is important for CIOs to make a distinction as it is becoming a trend to ban social networking in the workplace.

Social networking has an opportunity to facilitate trade not just in China but in any country. Business social networks can thrive by offering users the ability to establish community trade groups, marrying local expertise with international opportunity. It is a unique position that traditionally would take months, even years to establish, during which time alien firms leave themselves open to abuse from unknown quantities. Business social networking goes some way to limiting the risk by offering a platform for recommendation, but those networks have to have local knowledge, to have been established with local connections in mind. Any international connection is therefore a window of opportunity on an already established community of businesses."

A good China social media strategy though will take in more than just a profile on Tianji. There's a whole eco-system out there just waiting to be discovered.

Microblogging is a big growth area for example. Even the Chinese government recognises this with the website t.people.com.cn that it set up recently. (see the Telegraph article here.

Take a look at our list of ten Chinese websites you must know to get more info on some of the big players in China.

In smaller towns, the corresponding number is 50 percent.

One in five consumers between the ages of 18 and 44 won’t purchase a product or service without first researching it on the Internet. 

Online advertising has been growing at between 20 and 30 percent a year—twice the print media’s growth rate—and the market was around $3 billion (20 billion renminbi) in size last year.

Companies that create microsites or stage online events usually find that consumers in China respond enthusiastically by posting comments, pictures, and videos. For instance, Nokia staged an online concert in partnership with Youku, a leading video content site, and tied up with Tudou, another online video site, to conduct a quiz that gave visitors a chance to win 1 million renminbi. In both cases, millions of users accessed the content over Nokia handhelds. 

Via www.mckinseyquarterly.com

Just a few early Sunday morning thoughts on the not-to-distant future of social media in China.

1) Social media will predominate the digital landscape in China.

2) Digital becomes a gateway into and across the Chinese social media networks.

3) Digital will be measured by its effectiveness to influence, contribute, and add value to social media.

4) All leading brands will adopt a Chinese social media strategy or they will lose relevance.

5) All agencies will build dedicated Chinese social media teams.

6) Social media will become the nexus for most digital strategies.

7) Social media will not be seen as a tactical or executional issue but a primary strategic issue.

QQ.com is one of China biggest websites. It offer services ranging from IM to SNS, blogging tools and games.

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Users of the site also sent each other 2 billion virtual gifts.

Renren.com has more than 120 million registered users.

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Some estate agents have been tweeting about the rise in interest and articles have been appearing all over, from the Wall street Journal "Chinese Investors Make Moves In London's Property Market" to the Times "Chinese super-rich eye London homes" .

There's been lots of speculation on the reasons for this, with some commentators even suggesting that British Healthcare and Education are the reasons behind Chinese buyers looking to the UK.

According to Dr. Isaac Mostovicz owning a million pound plus property in London is seen as an accomplishment, both personally and professionally. 

What is certain is China is shaping up to be a major influential player in the global real estate market and this is a trend likely to continue. If you work in real estate and property, what are you doing to engage with China?

View from China - Burston Marsteller Social Media Study

The number of Chinese Internet users has more than tripled to about 387 million since 2005, and Chinese consumers are enthusiastic users of social media, particularly discussion boards (‘BBS’), social networks, video sharing and online games.

China has large private firms and branches of major foreign consumer products firms that are aggressive users of social media for marketing and communication. By comparison, large state-owned firms have adopted social media very slowly.

China Mobile, which is busy promoting its new 3G services, is the most aggressive at using the Internet as a marketing tool. However, it tends to use its own website and is even constructing its own social network for customers.

Baidu is to launch its HD video portal site QiYi.com in March. It announced its ambition in HD video in early January this year and hired former 12580 COO Gong Yu to be its CEO.

QiYi.com aims to provide FREE and legal high definition video to Internet netizens and try to duplicate Hulu’s business model in China.

For a moment at the weekend it looked like Chinese President Hu Jintao had signed up to social media with a verified account on Sina micro-blog. 1,000 people an hour signed up to follow President Hu, but the account mysteriously disappeared a day later. We'll keep you posted as we know more.

Brands:

Japanese cosmetics maker Shiseido said it is targeting “double-digit” growth in China this year and will expand into lower-tier cities as developed consumer markets remain subdued and mainland consumer spending power continues to grow. (via China Economic Review)

China and Google are still at it, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang calling the hacking claims made by Google "groundless". Apparently talks are still underway, but China vows sanctions against US companies will go forward

Other News:

Notices attacking Oxfam Hong Kong as an organisation trying to infiltrate China have appeared on the websites of several universities in mainland China. (via BBC).

Jing Daily writes that:  "Major American tourist destinations like New York have recognized the huge opportunity that China’s growing ranks of outbound tourists present and have retooled their marketing appropriately."

Jing Daily quotes  From Huanqiu, via Xinhua

"It is estimated that the “Gathering of 1,000″ Chinese tourists will contribute roughly $6 million to the U.S. economy in this trip alone."

It's great that destinations like New York have woken up to the potential of the Chinese travel market and "have retooled their marketing appropriately", but when are other destinations like London going to follow suit? 

Simple measures like multi-lingual staff and signs are easy enough to implement and really appreciated by travellers. Online measures can be taken. Information on a website can easily be translated. A simple translated landing page and appropriate keywords, can bring in traffic from Chinese search engines. Social media can raise awareness and help engagement.

The Chinese travel market is here to stay. 55 million tourists are expected to travel out of China this year.

If you are a destination, a hotel, a shop, restaurant, a tourist attraction, a musuem, an art gallery, or any place that benefits from the travel trade, what are YOU doing to engage with China? 

In what could be seen as a indication of what's to come at the London Olympics in 2012, Chinese tourists have been spending big at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Visitors from China earned a silver medal in consuming by spending the second-largest amount of any country on the first day of the Winter Games, Visa Canada said Tuesday. Chinese tourists and Olympians used their Visa credit, debit and prepaid cards to the tune of $395,000 US across the province on Feb. 12, the company said.

"Chinese tourists the world over are great tourists. They're good spenders," Woodward said.  Visa's head of marketing and sponsorship communications. "They're getting things they can't get at home."

Tourist agencies such as Visit London are predicting as much as a 300% rise in Chinese  leisure and business travellers visiting London during the 2012 Olympics.

"I think China has been waiting for its exports to resume growth, which they started to do in December. That, I think, gives them the domestic cover they need to resume (a) gradual appreciation," John Frisbie, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, said during a panel discussion.

Charles Freeman, a former U.S. trade official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said he agreed Beijing would allow the yuan to rise gradually this year "as long as (its) exports don't drop through the floor."

Many within China who "are deeply upset that they continue to have to spend hundreds of billions of dollar every year" to suppress the value of the currency, Freeman said.

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Chinese ice skating stars Shen Xue and Zhao Hongo win their first Gold medal in four attempts at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Shen Xue: "This medal is not just for us, it is for the entire China figure skating team. There are so many people who have supported us and made incredible sacrifices."

Finance:

China slipped in December to the second-largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasurys behind Japan after holding the top spot for 15 months. 

"China is trying to send a subtle economic and political message to the U.S. through the deployment of its foreign exchange reserve holdings," said Eswar Prasad, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

China is set to become the world’s second largest economy in 2010, replacing Japan.

"For Nissan, I am placing my hope on China, whose contribution has become clear to the automaker's recovery," Takeshi Osawa, a senior fund manager at Norinchukin Zenkyoren Asset Management, told Reuters.

Nissan suffered huge losses last year, but has found it's way back to profit with a focus on the emerging markets of India and China.

Tuesday's German government figures only confirmed an open secret: China's runaway growth and resilience amid the financial crisis put its exports ahead of Germany, which suffered a severe recession before returning to growth in last year's second quarter.

Last month, China's customs agency said that total 2009 exports were more than $1.2 trillion, well ahead of the 803.2 billion euro ($1.1 trillion) that Germany reported Tuesday.

For Germany, the figure was a drop of 18.4 percent from 2008, although exports returned to year-on-year growth in December.

"The crisis has accelerated the shift in power in world trade toward the emerging countries," said Anton Boerner, the head of Germany's BGA exporters' association.

However, "the fact that we are passing on the title of world export champion to China doesn't cause us any worries," he added. "The growth of the Chinese economy will also secure our growth and jobs in Germany for long years."

Boerner noted that in December demand for German products from all parts of the world was up on the year.

Declining imports indicate that "large parts of the economy are still in neutral," Boerner said. "Everything must be done to encourage and stabilize the upturn in exports."

Germany took over the top spot in terms of exports in 2003, surpassing the US.

China's newfound status is mostly symbolic but highlights its growing presence as an industrial power, major buyer of oil, iron ore and other commodities and, increasingly, as an investor and key voice in managing the global economy.

Its ability to unseat longtime export leader Germany reflected the ability of agile, low-cost Chinese manufacturers to keep selling abroad even as other exporters have been hammered by a slump in global demand.

The change is the second time in three years Germany has been overtaken by China.

In 2007, China surpassed Germany to become the world's third-largest economy, just behind No. 2 Japan and the United States, which holds the top spot.

China's growth also benefits other companies and countries, particularly those in Germany, because of its voracious demand for raw materials, consumer goods and more.

Germany's leading luxury car makers, Mercedes-Benz, BMW AG and Audi AG, all have reported that their sales in China more than doubled on the year last month, helping them to improve their global performance.

Germany, and Europe, is also noted for quality and craftsmanship.

Nick Reilly, the new chief executive of General Motors Co's German-based European unit, Opel, said Tuesday he believes that "manufacturing must have and will have a bright future in Europe."

"Yes, wage rates are higher here than in other countries, but productivity, production excellence, logistics costs, quality and the work force's outstanding skill base largely offset that cost disadvantage," said Reilly, who was previously the US automaker's Shanghai-based executive vice president of international operations.

He pointed to "Opel's German engineering" as an asset to GM.

The warning issued to the "Goojje" website comes as Google is contemplating its future in China after saying it would no longer obey government censorship rules and could pull out entirely over alleged cyberattacks.

Google accused Goojje of infringing on its trademark rights, saying the logo of the Chinese website could make users believe it was authorised by or linked to the US company, the Shenzhen Economic Daily reported.

In a letter sent to Goojje by Google's lawyers, the US Internet firm demanded the Chinese site stop using the logo by Monday, the report said.

Google China did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.

Reports have said Goojje was launched last month by a 20-strong team led by a college student identified only by the surname Wen, after Google issued its threat to pull out from China.

The operators of Goojje have posted vague statements on the website construed by some media as offering support for Google.

Goojje's homepage imitates Google's design and its Chinese name ends with a character that means "big sister". Google's Chinese name, meanwhile, ends with a character that is a homonym for "big brother".

Google said last month it would no longer abide by Chinese government censorship and was mulling leaving the country with the world's largest number of online users, citing cyberattacks on it and more than 20 other companies.

The Chinese government has denied any involvement in the cyberattacks.

Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved.