Mainland portals may look like their US rivals but there are differences between the markets, as western firms are discovering
The website of Chinese search engine Baidu.com might mimic the clean, minimalist design of its American rival Google, but there are striking differences behind the homepage that set the two apart.
You might call it a search market with Chinese characteristics. Baidu is the preferred method for finding entertainment such as MP3 files, online games and videos - making it the most popular search engine in China.
Google, on the other hand, is used primarily for locating information on the Web, much like it is in the company's home market.
Across the mainland's internet industry, companies have adapted western business models to the peculiarities of the mainland market. Web retailers deliver orders by bicycle messengers because the state-run postal system is unreliable. Video-game operators charge players by the hour because of rampant software piracy.
Beyond the obvious challenges of developing software to trawl and index Chinese-language webpages, the search market also has unique characteristics.
