china_letterDespite constant media attention surrounding the Internet in China, people still know very little about this new Internet frontier. Hardly anyone can tick off the names of dotcoms that are a part of daily life for Chinese Internet users.

We know all about using MSN Messenger to chat with friends, Amazon.com to buy a book, and eBay to sell a vintage collection of Rolling Stones LPs. Not so in China.

Exit MSN Messenger. The young (typically urban) Chinese Internet community uses QQ to chat online and goes to Joyo.com (recently acquired by Amazon.com) or DangDang Bookstore Online to by the latest Harry Potter book in Chinese. For online buying and selling, Shanghai and Beijing websurfers log into TaoBao.com, the country’s leading online auction site with over 10 millions users—20 times more than are registered with its competitor eBay China.

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