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Search Engines Set To Vie For China
ackthpt writes "Could China be where the battle for top search engine is waged? Reuters is carrying an article on the play for the Chinese search engine market. Already the second largest internet market in the world, there are estimated 80 million users in China and the number growing fast. Yahoo's acquisition 3721.com, Google-styled Baidu.com and Zhongsou.com are already poised and profitable. Where is Google? Blocked at one time, Google has made its way into China. Their handy cached pages are not available, but they do offer the Ad Words service in chinese to lure business. Those unfamiliar with China's rapid adoption of the internet might like to read up on the success of DangDang.Com an online bookseller, on the BBC, where it's noted that houses without heat or running water may actually have internet access. Thanks to China coming in where many growing pains, suffered by the west, have already passed or obstacles such as competing vested interests aren't as influential, so internet infrastructure is going in at a rapid pace."
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(1) search all webpages (all languages)
(2) search Chinese webpages
(3) search (simplified) Chinese webpages
I think the last one refers to the simplified written dialect.
From their FAQ:
"Q: Where does the name 3721 come from?
The founders believed that 3721 was an appropriate name for the company, as 3721 is a Chinese saying that means "No matter 3 by 7 is 21, Just do it." The name is also suitable since it is a number, therefore the company's website URL is the same in English and Chinese - which is in line with 3721's philosophy of making the Internet simple for users."
>I think the last one refers to the simplified written dialect
Something like that - Simplified Chinese (GB2312) as opposed to other locales (Hong Kong, Taiwan) which use Traditional Chinese (Big5).
Google handles Chinese searches very well.
From CIA World Factbook on China:
Internet Providers: 3 (2000)
Internet Users: 45.8 million (2002)
Now I know these are dated, but c'mon ya'll, someone open up some ISPs there!! Do you think it's the government stifling competitior, or just that AOL can't afford to mail out 1.3 billion CDs there...