China Digest: China’s IT industry closing in on US, Beijing Govt’s microblog real name registration, and more

Here are some startup news snippets from China, not only in its capital, Beijing, but also other startup hubs such as Shanghai, Hong Kong, Hangzhou, and many more.

(1) The future of computing in China is a frequently discussed topic in the tech community. Most recently, NY Times published an article by John Markoff and David Barboza that discusses signals to a near future where China’s computing industry could close in on the US.

(2) The Beijing city government has decreed that real-name registration will be required for microblogs, according to a news report on CCTV, China’s state broadcaster. The move comes amid a crackdown on “Internet rumors”, which the government has likened to drugs.

(3) On 1st December, Gaopeng—a joint venture between Groupon and Tencent— finally made a formal apology for the ‘fake Tissot incident’, over a month after their initial denial. They offered a full refund to everybody that bought a fake Tissot watch from Groupon China as well as an additional 200 yuan in credit.

(4) 2011 was the year of Sina Weibo, but 2012 will be the year of Weixin. Weixin, an instant voice messaging app, just turned one year old, and its development team just released a few staggering facts. It has made a major splash among smartphone users, pulling together all of Tencent’s services into a single mobile app.

(5) Andrew Left, head of Citron Research, joined Xueqiu’s investor community for a conversation on his firm’s latest short, Qihoo 360. Citron has released a series of four reports to-date, calling Qihoo a financial fraud and a terminal business.

We thank nordicfactory for the flag image.

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