Two of China’s most famous search engines, 3721 and Baidu have linked up with foreign web giants. After 3721 cooperated with Yahoo late last year, eight dotcoms, led by Google, invested $10 million to hold hands with Baidu. This signals that the competition among search engine providers is heating up in China and the competitors have changed their status from Chinese dotcoms to representatives of global players.

　　In a market attracting a lot of attention the competition and cooperation among search engines is only one aspect reflecting China’s Internet development. Some dotcoms, in the past referred to as money burning machines, have once again begun to make profits, a suggestion that China should pay attention to Internet development again.

　　China ranks second in terms of the number of Internet users, which reached 80 million last year, next only to the United States, with 185 million. If China’s developing impetus is maintained, the country will have the largest Internet user numbers within five years.

　　China’s Internet development comes from various levels:

　　The Chinese Government has raised the requirement of information construction, and the Internet will play a major role in promoting economic development.

　　People are eager for news, information, entertainment and communication. The Internet can help in satisfying the demands from China’s large consumer market for contents and media. Affordable Internet cafes can be seen everywhere. Internet services for mobile phone users have a large market and are reasonably priced. Nowadays, the number of mobile phones, fixed phones and cable TV users in China exceeds that of any other country. China is also becoming a leader in developing Internet messaging systems and games.

　　Internet can help small and medium-sized enterprises compete with large ones, by going global to promote their products.

　　China has a population of 1.3 billion with netizens accounting for 6.2 percent. Compared with developed countries, China still has a large space for Internet development.

　　Future opportunities in this market are clear, despite the corresponding risks brought by new enterprises, new technology, new economy and policy changes. Dotcoms should also make a greater effort to improve their products and services.

　　By LI JIANGUO