suidas - 5:21 pm on Aug 11, 2005 (gmt 0)

Some reasons for caution, in case you're thinking of doing the same.

1. China's economy is growing quickly, but keep things in perspective. In GNP terms the Chinese economy is the size of Italy's, and 1/7th the size of the US economy.
2. The Chinese economy is not growing quickly for the same reason that a western economy would. The country is *modernizing*, and when you start from a low baseline, you grow quickly. Most of the growth will not be in online widget purchases.
3. The Dot-Com boom was, in part, built upon the idea of "first mover advantage," that the first companies with an internet presence would possess an insurmountable advantage over late-comers—that Toys R Us and CVS could never catch up with eToys and Drugstore.com. Although some early internet pioneers have had staying power—Amazon, for example—the idea has been largely disproved. A company that jumps into the Chinese market in ten years will not be overly disadvantaged by late entry, and will have the opportunity to learn from previous mistakes.
4. "Independent Webmasters" face considerable barriers dealing with China. A large company willing to establish a Chinese presence can navigate the legal field in ways an independent webmaster cannot.