In this article, we will talk about different web sites that are useful when doing business in China, includes search engine, business directories and some other websites.
According to latest research made in fourth quarter 2005, there are over 100 million Internet users in China. (China rank second just after U.S.) However, it just covers 7.9% of the population. More important is that 63% of these Internet users have performed online purchase. Over the past ten years, the growth rate of Internet user is 300%. We can expect that the online market in China have enormous potential.
First We will introduce different search engines in China and Hong Kong. (Hong Kong is always the gateway for your business to get into China, so we will get it in count). If you want to get your website be searched by 100 million Internet users, you'd better make submission to the following search engines. Most of these search engines welcome website in English too. It's much better if you have your website in Chinese.
You may find difficulties in submission to some of the websites if you can't read Chinese. You can try to email the web master about your site and leave them the related info, likes URL, site title, description, email address, etc. And you can submit to the Google & Yahoo directory first as some of the search engines will follow these two big players and crawled your website.
Baidu
Baidu is China's Google. It is the most popular search engine in China. To submit website to Baidu, click below:
http://www.baidu.com/
Netease
Netease is another big search engine in China. Similar to Yahoo, it provides search engine and portals with different nformation/services.
http://www.163.com/
Sina
Sina.com is targeted to serve the Chinese community, include China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. It has different portal for different areas. Sina.com provides large number of services; include directories, search engine, blog, chatroom, etc.
http://www.sina.com.cn/
Sohu
Sohu.com provides similar services as Sina.com. It has over 100 million registered users and has 250 million pages viewed daily.
http://www.sohu.com/
Timway
Timway is a Hong Kong based search engine. It also provides searching services to other Hong Kong's portal.
http://www.timway.com.hk/
Google China/Hong Kong
http://www.google.cn/
http://www.google.com.hk/
Yahoo China/Hong Kong
http://chinese.yahoo.com/
http://www.yahoo.com.hk/
To do business in China, you need to work with some business partners. You can locate your buyers/suppliers thought the business directories. If you just send emails to ask for co-operation, you may suffer with Spam. You need to find reliable partners to work with and get rid of those fake partners. Here we list some famous business directories/portal, which can help you find your buyers/suppliers in China.
Alibaba
Famous Manufactures/Suppliers/Exporters/Importers Directories, you can find all your business needs here.
http://www.alibaba.com/
ChinaBig
It formed by China Union, PCCW Limited, R.H.Donnelley and INFOSPACE. It provides yellow page services and you can find different categorized company information, selling leads and buying leads.
http://www.chinabig.com/
Hong Kong Trade Development Council
TDC provides different business information, includes sourcing guide, business matching, market information and trade events. The sourcing guide covers China, Hong Kong and Taiwan and is one of the biggest sourcing guides in the region. tdctrade.com also provides news about Hong Kong business economy and China trade. It provides different languages support, include English, Chinese, Japanese, Deutsch, Francois, more.
http://www.tdctrade.com/
Directory of Chinese Suppliers
It's an English directory listed over 250,000 Chinese suppliers in 30 categories.
http://www.chinese-suppliers-directory.com/
China Supplier Directory
It's another directory, which lists China Suppliers. The directory is well organized. You can find details company information; include company background, address, and contacts.
http://www.tradebig.com/
China Business Directory
It is a business directory but with over 170,000 Chinese companies listed in English.
http://www.chinainfo.org/
Of course, doing business in China, you need to know their law, culture and working style first before getting in. You may find following website useful.
This HSBS webpage covers different topics in doing business in China. It talks about how to setup different type of business entities in China. It also has a section to discuss the taxation, include corporate tax, personal income tax and indirect taxes. You need to understand the legal system to run your company better. The HSBC webpage provides introduction on the advertising law and labour law.
http://www.hsbc.com.hk/hk/commercial/chinabiz/default.htm
In this China-Window.com website, you can find a lot of business culture and tips. You can know how to addressing Chinese. You can know how to handle business gift-giving issues in China. You can understand how important of business networks in China. You are advised to explore the website if you want to have a deep understanding on the business culture in China.
http://www.china-window.com/china_business/doing_business_in_china/index.shtml
This is an Extract from Guide to Doing Business in China. Though it is dated as November 2004, it is a good reference. It talks about foreign investment management, import/export, taxation, foreign exchange, finance and account, staff recruitment, etc.
http://www.tdctrade.com/chinaguide/
ChinaToday.com provides general information about China. It provides information about trade & investment, cities, entertainment, travel and weather. You can find all the basic information over there.
http://www.chinatoday.com/
Isaac Chu is Project Director of Evinco Solutions Limited. Evinco provides innovative business softwares, include emarketing web solutions, email marketing software, e-catalog publishing software, invoicing software, and electronic cheque writer. Visit: http://www.evinco.com.hk